October 11, 2008 07:27am pdt

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	[x] Attachment Details

Cannot repair Windows XP installation using Recovery Console

[x]

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8.5

Zones: Windows XP Operating System, Operating Systems Miscellaneous, Drivers

Tags: Microsoft, Windows, XP, SP2, REGISTRY_ERROR STOP: 0x00000051 (0x00000004, 0x00000001, 0xE1071170, 0x000001E0), Related to STOP: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive (file): SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE

I have a Dell Dimention 8200 desktop running Windows XP Service Pack 2

Recently, I installed printer software for a Dell Laser 1720dn. There were two installation alternatives, one for the 1720 and one for the 1720dn which is the model I have. I mistakenly installed the drivers for 1720 and then installed the drivers for the 1720dn.

When my desktop rebooted after the installation, I got a BSOD with an error message
STOP: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}
The registry cannot load the hive (file): SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE
or its log or alternate.
It is corrupt, absent, or not wwritable.

I did some research on MS Support and on this site and everything pointed towards either repairing the installation using the Recovery Console or reinstalling the OS. We have data on the desktop that we don't want to lose, so I am trying to repair the installation using the OS software disk provided by Dell.

I can boot the desktop from the OS software disk and get to the recovery console, where I select "Repair". I am then asked which installation of Windows I want to login to. Only one option is available (e.g., 1: C:\Windows). When I select this option, I get another BSOD with a different message:

REGISTRY_ERROR
STOP: 0x00000051 (0x00000004, 0x00000001, 0xE1071170, 0x000001E0)

I have researched creating and using an Automated System Recovery disk (e.g., http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299526/en-us) using the XP Backup Utility. Using another desktop with the same OS, I did a back-up and then copied the files it specified (e.g., Asr.sif and Asrpnp.sif) onto a 1.44 floppy disk and attempted to use the Automated System Recovery option on the bad desktop. The system did not recognize or use the files.

I then tried to do a "System State" back-up onto the floppy disk but cancelled when the estimated file size for just the system state was around 300MB. I didn't have that many floppy disks...

I've also found and downloaded (but not yet tried) a hotfix on MS Support for this error message http://support.microsoft.com/kb/815265/en-us.

At this point I'm stumped - I may have to reinstall the OS but want to exhaust all other opportunities to fail before giving up on the data on the desktop. Any other ideas are welcome!

	#	Title
	1	Copied repaired SAM to system32\c…
	2	<windows root>system32\ntoske…
	3	CANNOT FINISH WINDOWS XP REPAIR …
	4	System32\NTOSKRNL.EXE is missi…
	5	repair and recovery
	6	recovery console password