systemd

[Kubla]

I experienced a "systemd" error from which I have since recovered. Can
someone tell me why it probably occurred so I may try and avoid having it
happen again?

Thanks

 

[Steve Duff [MVP]]

I had to read your post a few times before I realized what you were talking about: You see "SYSTEMd" because it is overwriting
another line. The error is actually "SYSTEM".

That file is the system registry which is located in system32\config. (It is just "system" with no extension). This contains the
information in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry key except for software and security information which are in different files.
Windows is not able to boot without intact registry files. So you see that error.

Usually what happens is that the file -- which is a database -- becomes corrupt. This can happen for a number of reasons such as a
system crash while the system is writing to the registry, a hard drive problem and the like. It is possible for the file to be
missing completely if the file system suffers corruption, but this is rare - Windows goes to considerable effort to make it
difficult to delete this file.

The solution is to have an emergency recovery disk or system state backup available. Windows XP keeps recovery points but if your
hard disk fails your recovery points are gone also, so the occasional separate backup is really necessary to protect yourself.

Recovering from a missing or corrupt system registry without a backup can be hard but usually possible. There is a regcheck tool
around that can fix some problems, and often a simple setup-mode repair may do the trick to get your WIndows configuration back
(more or less).

Failures of the SOFTWARE file that can't be regcheck'ed or the SAM hive are pretty much fatal to the configuration and will
generally require a restore or clean reinstall of Windows. The setup-mode repair won't even run if it can't read SOFTWARE.

Steve Duff, MCSE, MVP
Ergodic Systems, Inc.

 

[Steve Parry [MVP]]

I experienced a "systemd" error from which I have since recovered. Can
someone tell me why it probably occurred so I may try and avoid having
it
happen again?

Thanks

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=822705

HTH

 

[Kubla]

Thank you, Steve, for the reply and Yes, I was able to recover because I did
have a backup. I had to restore the system about three times as the first
few recoveries experienced the same problem.

At first, I looked around and found some instructions to repair the error
but could not complete the repair.
The repair went like this:
Start the recovery console from you Windows setup disk by selecting C,
Type - the number of the Win install to repair, then type Enter,
Type - CD system 32\config,
Type - ren system system.old,
Type CD ..
Type CD ..
Type CD repair
Type - copy system C:\winnt\system32\config (When I did this, I got a
message saying "access denied")
So, this did not work so I had to rely on the backup. Can you tell me why
I got the message "access denied"?

Also, the message I got when the system went down was:
"Windows 2K could not start because the following file is missing or
corrupt:
\Windows\System32\Config\SYSTEMd startup option for Windows 2K /press F8

You can attempt to repair this file by starting Win 2K setup using the
original setup disk.
Select 'R' at the first screen to start repair."

I did suspect I had a hard drive problem but later I was able to check the
drives (I was running Raid 1 Array) and both appeared to be OK with no bad
sectors. I wonder if some sort of virus could have done this?

Again, I want to thank you for the information and I guess the only way to
assure that I can recover from this type of problem is to have a system
backup.

Kubla

I had to read your post a few times before I realized what you were

talking about: You see "SYSTEMd" because it is overwriting

another line. The error is actually "SYSTEM".

That file is the system registry which is located in system32\config. (It

is just "system" with no extension). This contains the

information in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry key except for software and

security information which are in different files.

Windows is not able to boot without intact registry files. So you see that error.

Usually what happens is that the file -- which is a database -- becomes

corrupt. This can happen for a number of reasons such as a

system crash while the system is writing to the registry, a hard drive

problem and the like. It is possible for the file to be

missing completely if the file system suffers corruption, but this is

rare - Windows goes to considerable effort to make it

difficult to delete this file.

The solution is to have an emergency recovery disk or system state backup

available. Windows XP keeps recovery points but if your

hard disk fails your recovery points are gone also, so the occasional

separate backup is really necessary to protect yourself.

Recovering from a missing or corrupt system registry without a backup can

be hard but usually possible. There is a regcheck tool

around that can fix some problems, and often a simple setup-mode repair

may do the trick to get your WIndows configuration back

(more or less).

Failures of the SOFTWARE file that can't be regcheck'ed or the SAM hive

are pretty much fatal to the configuration and will

generally require a restore or clean reinstall of Windows. The setup-mode

repair won't even run if it can't read SOFTWARE.