windows/system32/config/system is corrupt or missing

G

Guest

My Labtop is giving me
the message: Windows could not start because the following file is
missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

I read your advice and have even went to this website you suggested:
"How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry That Prevents Windows XP
from Starting"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q307545

Here is my problem. What can you do if your labtop or home computers
don't have floppy disks? They are no longer building them with the new
computers. Also when I put my WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION SP2 in my laptop
it doesn't take me to any page execpt the page that says this:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or
corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

It then tells me to put in my cd and run recovery from the disk, well
I have tried to do that, and my cd won't boot it for me to run
recovery. All my cd does is keep taking me back to the Windows could not
start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

I've tried every thing microsoft support site has suggested
and nothing is working. I even tried to put the boot up files on my USB
Memory stick and see if that would help, but it would only say
operating system not available. I even tried copying the system files
from my home computer on to my memory stick, but the system won't let me
copy them. I have tried putting in the WINDOWS XP CD that comes with my home
computer, but I still get the error page up top.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!! Any suggestions you could give me would be most
appreciated.

Ty
 
D

dave xnet

My Labtop is giving me
the message: Windows could not start because the following file is
missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

I read your advice and have even went to this website you suggested:
"How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry That Prevents Windows XP
from Starting"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q307545

Here is my problem. What can you do if your labtop or home computers
don't have floppy disks? They are no longer building them with the new
computers. Also when I put my WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION SP2 in my laptop
it doesn't take me to any page execpt the page that says this:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or
corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

It then tells me to put in my cd and run recovery from the disk, well
I have tried to do that, and my cd won't boot it for me to run
recovery. All my cd does is keep taking me back to the Windows could not
start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

I've tried every thing microsoft support site has suggested
and nothing is working. I even tried to put the boot up files on my USB
Memory stick and see if that would help, but it would only say
operating system not available. I even tried copying the system files
from my home computer on to my memory stick, but the system won't let me
copy them. I have tried putting in the WINDOWS XP CD that comes with my home
computer, but I still get the error page up top.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!! Any suggestions you could give me would be most
appreciated.

Ty
You have to enter your computer BIOS setup and modify the
boot sequence so that the CD drive is selected before the hard drive.
Then it will boot from the CD, and you'll be able to intiate the
repair.

Dave
 
C

cheryl_mb20

Did Dave's reply work? I am having the exact same issue with my home
computer where I put in the cd and I cannot get to the Window setup to do a
repair.

Please let me know if this worked for you but I will try it when I get home
late tonight.

Greatly appreciated!!! Cheryl
 
C

cheryl_cam

cheryl_mb20 said:
Did Dave's reply work? I am having the exact same issue with my home
computer where I put in the cd and I cannot get to the Window setup to do a
repair.

Please let me know if this worked for you but I will try it when I get home
late tonight.

Greatly appreciated!!! Cheryl
 
C

cheryl_cam

I have the same issue with the corrupt \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM file.
I am able to boot from the CD, but when I try to do the repair, I get the
following error: BAD_POOL_CALLER and I can't do anything else from there. I
am running XP Professional on a MACBook Pro with a partitioned hard drive.
I can't even reformat the drive and re-install as I can't boot up in safe
mode, or any other mode. What can I do?
 
J

JMBII

Good info, Dave. My problem is getting around the BIOS setup password.
Apparently, it has been changed from the factory-set default (000000). Any
way to get around this?
 
B

Bob I

Read the manual for the unit, or contact factory tech support are a
couple of options that would lead to corecting the issue.
 
J

JMBII

Thanks, Bob.
--
JMBII


Bob I said:
Read the manual for the unit, or contact factory tech support are a
couple of options that would lead to corecting the issue.
 
D

Dan Tech

You can pull your bios batter out of your motherboard for about 30 seconds.
this will cause it to reset all the bios default settings, therfore,
resetting your password.
 
D

Dan Tech

Chances are you are going to have to delete the partition that windows is
install on and repartition it and reinstall windows. This error could be a
harddrive or several other factors. If you need to backup data, go to another
system, and download ubuntu from www.ubuntu.com 32bit version, it downloads
an ISO. you then have to download isorecorder (search through google) find
the ubuntu iso you downloaded, then right click and select copy to cd image
or something. This will make a linux based ubuntu system. Boot to it, you
dont have to install, just test without making changes to the system. This
will load linux off of the CD and you should be able to copy files to a thumb
drive or something.
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

On Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:36:04 -0700, Dan Tech <Dan
You can pull your bios batter out of your motherboard for about 30 seconds.
this will cause it to reset all the bios default settings, therfore,
resetting your password.


Yes, except that 30 minutes is almost never anywhere near long enough.
10-15 minutes is more likely, and occasionally it's even considerably
longer.
 
P

Patrick Keenan

Dan Tech said:
Chances are you are going to have to delete the partition that windows is
install on and repartition it and reinstall windows. This error could be a
harddrive or several other factors. If you need to backup data, go to
another
system, and download ubuntu from www.ubuntu.com 32bit version, it
downloads
an ISO. you then have to download isorecorder (search through google) find
the ubuntu iso you downloaded, then right click and select copy to cd
image
or something. This will make a linux based ubuntu system. Boot to it, you
dont have to install, just test without making changes to the system. This
will load linux off of the CD and you should be able to copy files to a
thumb
drive or something.

Another very effective, safe, and fast approach is to just go get a new hard
disk of the correct type (IDE or SATA). REmove the old hard disk and set
it aside, install the new hard disk, use the XP CD to install. When done,
attach the old drive and simply copy the data back over.

This has the distinct advantage of reducing risk of data loss without
relying on backups made in the heat of the moment - the old drive IS the
backup.

Incidentally, you wouldn't be able to format in safe mode anyway; you cannot
format the system drive while Windows is running. You have to do that from
Setup - booting from the CD.

HTH
-pk
 
S

samoh

Hello,

Where do you go if you do not have the CD? I did not get one with my laptop?

Thanks.
Sue
 
R

R. McCarty

Call the computer manufacturer and explain your situation. Some
times they'll provide a disk free or at a minimal S/H charge.
 
J

Jose

Hello,

Where do you go if you do not have the CD?  I did not get one with my laptop?

Thanks.
Sue



Ken Blake said:
@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
Yes, except that 30 minutes is almost never anywhere near long enough.
10-15 minutes is more likely, and occasionally it's even considerably
longer.

If you have this issue on a store bought system with no CD (a common
occurrence), you can easily make your own bootable XP Recovery Console
CD and use it to verify the file system integrity and even perform the
steps in the Microsoft article if needed. Out of pocket cost: 1 CD.

Even if you have a bootable XP installation CD, booting it into the
Recovery Console and running chkdsk /r should be step 1 for this
usually simple to resolve issue. Attempting repairs on a corrupted
file system is a waste of time.

Your laptop computer manufacturer or retailer is unlikely to be
sympathetic to your situation.

Do you need help with this?
 
S

samoh

Jose,

Thank you for the information. I do not need any help. I have a CD being
shipped to me and will get help from the vendor ServiceDesk.

Sue
 

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