cmlawson
asked on
...file is missing: \Windows\system32\config\system
OK...I got myself in a little trouble with XP on my Dell box and I need a little help. I was having some spyware issue and I had a program search my drive and find all the problems. When I choose to kill them the box seemed to hang on shutdwon. I powered it down and when I came back up it wouldn't boot. I got this error message:
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \Windows\system32\config\s
Now, I've already spent a more than a few hours trying some stuff out and I think I may have locked onto a solution but I do need a little help with it. Here's what I tried:
1) Start my box tapping F8 and chose the 'Boot from last known good configuration". To no avail.
2) Start my box tapping f8 then I chose to boot into Safe Mode. To no avail.
3) I put my Win XP CD into the CD Drive, chose F12, chose to boot from the CD ROM and booted into Recovery Console. From there I ran a chkdsk /r. When finished I rebooted but it didn't help.
Now, I've done a lot of poking around on the internet and I've found several helpful articles. Step 3 I got from here:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21696397/Windows-XP-could-not-start-because-the-following-file-is-missing-or-corrupt.html?query=windows+could+not+start+because+the+following+file+is+missing&topics=231
If you look at the Accepted Answer you find how I got to step 3. I did not do the 'fixboot c:\' because I researched it a little bit on the net and it looks like a bad deal. I don't want anything to go wrong here and I wasn't sold on fixboot.
What I really, really like is this solution:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21452705/Windows-could-not-start.html
If you look at the accepted answer you'll see that it's a pretty nice solution. I started to implement it but ran into a problem or two that I'm hoping you guys can help me on. The first half of his solution is DOS based. If you read from top to bottom you'll see what I did. I got all the way to this step:
xcopy c:\windows\system32\config
Now, there are 2 caveats to this procedure and that's where I'm having trouble. One, is that in Recovery Console, the xcopy command is NOT available. Second, in Recovery Console, there are no wildcards allowed with the copy command. I got past the first line of the sequence in his solution by typing in exactly what was in that directory. Where he has a star there is an awful long number. It looks like a hex number to me but I may be wrong? Not important. What is important is that I have several RPXXX that I could restore from IF I could figure out how to modify his sequence to work around the Recovery Console issue.
I'm hoping someone will be able to give me instructions on how to do all this with just the copy command. The reason I haven't done it myself is because I haven't used DOS in many, many years. And although I feel comfortable doing so, I'd rather have the benefit of someone who is very familiar with it so I don't screw anything up. I'm thinking if I can restore from one of those old configurations I'll be home free.
Now, after I ran into a roadblock on the above material I tried going the route on the second half of his solution. It involves BART PE. It seems great. I happen to have another XP box in the house and thought I could make a boot disk per the program. I couldn't. After I installed Bart's program it automatically searches for the Windows installation files. It didn't find them. I put my Win XP CD in the drive and it STILL didn't find them. I read the documentation again and it says you need Win XP SP1 and above. I looked at my disc and it just says 'Windows XP Pro' 2002 version. I'm guessing this is my version doens't have SP1 on it and that's why Bart's won't work with it.
Outside of all this I found this solution on MS's site:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545
I thought about trying it but I don't really trust stuff off of MS's site. It looks like I might have to restore all my old programs and stuff and this isn't desireable. Especially when I believe that I can restore from some old config files and only lose a day or two of stuff.
There's also an article here:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_sys32.htm
I didn't try it because I wasn't sure it would solve the problem.
Are there any experts who could chime in here and save my a##? I hope so. :)
CML
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \Windows\system32\config\s
Now, I've already spent a more than a few hours trying some stuff out and I think I may have locked onto a solution but I do need a little help with it. Here's what I tried:
1) Start my box tapping F8 and chose the 'Boot from last known good configuration". To no avail.
2) Start my box tapping f8 then I chose to boot into Safe Mode. To no avail.
3) I put my Win XP CD into the CD Drive, chose F12, chose to boot from the CD ROM and booted into Recovery Console. From there I ran a chkdsk /r. When finished I rebooted but it didn't help.
Now, I've done a lot of poking around on the internet and I've found several helpful articles. Step 3 I got from here:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21696397/Windows-XP-could-not-start-because-the-following-file-is-missing-or-corrupt.html?query=windows+could+not+start+because+the+following+file+is+missing&topics=231
If you look at the Accepted Answer you find how I got to step 3. I did not do the 'fixboot c:\' because I researched it a little bit on the net and it looks like a bad deal. I don't want anything to go wrong here and I wasn't sold on fixboot.
What I really, really like is this solution:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21452705/Windows-could-not-start.html
If you look at the accepted answer you'll see that it's a pretty nice solution. I started to implement it but ran into a problem or two that I'm hoping you guys can help me on. The first half of his solution is DOS based. If you read from top to bottom you'll see what I did. I got all the way to this step:
xcopy c:\windows\system32\config
Now, there are 2 caveats to this procedure and that's where I'm having trouble. One, is that in Recovery Console, the xcopy command is NOT available. Second, in Recovery Console, there are no wildcards allowed with the copy command. I got past the first line of the sequence in his solution by typing in exactly what was in that directory. Where he has a star there is an awful long number. It looks like a hex number to me but I may be wrong? Not important. What is important is that I have several RPXXX that I could restore from IF I could figure out how to modify his sequence to work around the Recovery Console issue.
I'm hoping someone will be able to give me instructions on how to do all this with just the copy command. The reason I haven't done it myself is because I haven't used DOS in many, many years. And although I feel comfortable doing so, I'd rather have the benefit of someone who is very familiar with it so I don't screw anything up. I'm thinking if I can restore from one of those old configurations I'll be home free.
Now, after I ran into a roadblock on the above material I tried going the route on the second half of his solution. It involves BART PE. It seems great. I happen to have another XP box in the house and thought I could make a boot disk per the program. I couldn't. After I installed Bart's program it automatically searches for the Windows installation files. It didn't find them. I put my Win XP CD in the drive and it STILL didn't find them. I read the documentation again and it says you need Win XP SP1 and above. I looked at my disc and it just says 'Windows XP Pro' 2002 version. I'm guessing this is my version doens't have SP1 on it and that's why Bart's won't work with it.
Outside of all this I found this solution on MS's site:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545
I thought about trying it but I don't really trust stuff off of MS's site. It looks like I might have to restore all my old programs and stuff and this isn't desireable. Especially when I believe that I can restore from some old config files and only lose a day or two of stuff.
There's also an article here:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_sys32.htm
I didn't try it because I wasn't sure it would solve the problem.
Are there any experts who could chime in here and save my a##? I hope so. :)
CML
Lee W, MVP
Boot to the recovery console and RENAME the SYSTEM file in that folder. Then COPY the SYSTEM file from c:\WINDOWS\REPAIR to that folder. This may work and it may not. If it doesn't you may need to try a repair install.
ASKER
What I'd really like to do is convert this code to something I can use in the Recovery Console so that I can just restore from a day or two ago:
Using the recovery console.
cd c:\system volume information\_restor*\
dir /p
*This will bring you to the folder with the restore points.
*Doing the dir you can see the rpXXX folders and choose a folder with a date from the time the pc last worked.
cd rpXXX\snapshot
*In this folder there are 5 files you want.
*_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM (will be renamed as SAM in the config folder)
*_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURIT
*_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWAR
*_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM (will be renamed as SYSTEM in the config folder)
*_REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT (will be renamed as Default in the config folder)
xcopy c:\windows\system32\config
copy _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM c:\windows\system32\config
copy _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY
copy _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
copy _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM c:\windows\system32\config
copy _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT c:\windows\system32\config
*Restart.
I really, really don't want to lose any more data than I have to. Since the computer was working fine, albeit with the spyware, 2 days ago I really want to try to restore to that point. When I read your solution and it says "This may or may not work..." it makes me a little bit nervous. If I have to do a repair install will it erase my programs and data? If so, let's try everything else first.
CML
Using the recovery console.
cd c:\system volume information\_restor*\
dir /p
*This will bring you to the folder with the restore points.
*Doing the dir you can see the rpXXX folders and choose a folder with a date from the time the pc last worked.
cd rpXXX\snapshot
*In this folder there are 5 files you want.
*_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM (will be renamed as SAM in the config folder)
*_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURIT
*_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWAR
*_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM (will be renamed as SYSTEM in the config folder)
*_REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT (will be renamed as Default in the config folder)
xcopy c:\windows\system32\config
copy _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM c:\windows\system32\config
copy _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY
copy _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
copy _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM c:\windows\system32\config
copy _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT c:\windows\system32\config
*Restart.
I really, really don't want to lose any more data than I have to. Since the computer was working fine, albeit with the spyware, 2 days ago I really want to try to restore to that point. When I read your solution and it says "This may or may not work..." it makes me a little bit nervous. If I have to do a repair install will it erase my programs and data? If so, let's try everything else first.
CML
First, I said RENAME - only a fool deletes - you can easily rename back if it doesn't work.
Second, a repair install does not overwrite your existing programs and files. A FRESH install does.
Second, a repair install does not overwrite your existing programs and files. A FRESH install does.
The recovery console is not going to let you do anything outside of the Windows folder. If you want to try what you posted, you'll need to do it from something else - such as a BartPE boot disk.
BartPE - available from:
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
Then be sure to get BOTH the driver add on and the software add on from:
http://www.ubcd4win.com/ (Overview)
http://www.ubcd4win.com/downloads.htm (direct downloads page link)
BartPE - available from:
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
Then be sure to get BOTH the driver add on and the software add on from:
http://www.ubcd4win.com/ (Overview)
http://www.ubcd4win.com/downloads.htm (direct downloads page link)
Why not just follow the directions here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545 all done in the recovery console make a tmp folder first with mk tmp then copy the files over then delete then copy the new files tis all there.
The solution from the ms site works great ive used it countless times without a hitch and as long as the instructions are followed to the t you will be up and running in no time.
Why not use the article? The article tells you:
Warning Do not use the procedure that is described in this article if your computer has an OEM-installed operating system. The system hive on OEM installations creates passwords and user accounts that did not exist previously. If you use the procedure that is described in this article, you may not be able to log back into the recovery console to restore the original registry hives.
When your computer comes with an operating system, it uses an OEM operating system.
Warning Do not use the procedure that is described in this article if your computer has an OEM-installed operating system. The system hive on OEM installations creates passwords and user accounts that did not exist previously. If you use the procedure that is described in this article, you may not be able to log back into the recovery console to restore the original registry hives.
When your computer comes with an operating system, it uses an OEM operating system.
and using bartpe or ultimate bootdisk you are copying the exact same files from the exact same places so describe the difference.
and in the recovery console you can jump all over the drive you are not restricted to just the windows folder you can even change drives as needed.
Using BartPE you bypass the recovery console - you don't need it.
correct but what im stating is that even using bartpe you are still going to copy the exact same files from the exact same places and you would from the recovery console so this statement Warning Do not use the procedure that is described in this article if your computer has an OEM-installed operating system. The system hive on OEM installations creates passwords and user accounts that did not exist previously. If you use the procedure that is described in this article, you may not be able to log back into the recovery console to restore the original registry hives.
When your computer comes with an operating system, it uses an OEM operating system.
Would hold true for bartpe also
When your computer comes with an operating system, it uses an OEM operating system.
Would hold true for bartpe also
BartPE you are not restricted to any folders - with the Recovery Console, see:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314058
Excerpt:
Restrictions and limitations of the Recovery Console
When you use the Windows Recovery Console, you can use only the following items:
• The root folder
• The %SystemRoot% folder and the subfolders of the Windows installation that you are currently logged on to
• The Cmdcons folder
• The removable media drives such as the CD-ROM drive or the DVD-ROM drive
Note If you try to obtain access to other folders, you may receive an "Access Denied" error message. Also, when you are using the Windows Recovery Console, you cannot copy a file from the local hard disk to a floppy disk. However, you can copy a file from a floppy disk or from a CD-ROM to a hard disk, and you can copy a file from one hard disk to another hard disk.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314058
Excerpt:
Restrictions and limitations of the Recovery Console
When you use the Windows Recovery Console, you can use only the following items:
• The root folder
• The %SystemRoot% folder and the subfolders of the Windows installation that you are currently logged on to
• The Cmdcons folder
• The removable media drives such as the CD-ROM drive or the DVD-ROM drive
Note If you try to obtain access to other folders, you may receive an "Access Denied" error message. Also, when you are using the Windows Recovery Console, you cannot copy a file from the local hard disk to a floppy disk. However, you can copy a file from a floppy disk or from a CD-ROM to a hard disk, and you can copy a file from one hard disk to another hard disk.
So you trying to get to what folder cut out the middle man and hit the system volume infomations folder
ok i see im bout half asleep i see what your accomplishing now
ASKER
Guys,
Thanks so much for your post. I have a much better understanding about what's going on now and that's what I wanted from this forum. I have one more question: How do I find out if I have an OEM installed OS? I can't seem to remember at this point and given the warning it seems like it might be important. Is there an easy way for me to check this?
CML
Thanks so much for your post. I have a much better understanding about what's going on now and that's what I wanted from this forum. I have one more question: How do I find out if I have an OEM installed OS? I can't seem to remember at this point and given the warning it seems like it might be important. Is there an easy way for me to check this?
CML
Did XP come with the computer? If it did, then it's an OEM copy - OEM is original Equipment Manufacturer.
ASKER
Thanks. That's WAS my question though. I can't remember and was wondering if there is any way to check?
CML
CML
How old is the computer? Look up your service tag at Dell's web site - you should be able to get a copy of the packing slip (essentially) and see what it came with. And any computer shipped since 2004 should have come with XP (Dell won't ship a dimension system without an OS and they only provide Microsoft OSs).
ASKER
System Type: Dimension 2400
Ship Date: 11/15/2003
1 R2527 KIT, SOFTWARE, OVERPACK, WXPPSP1A, COMPACT DISKETTE W/DOCUMENTATION, ENGLAND/ENGLISH
I believe that is the relevant information but if I've left any of it off please ask and I'll copy it over to you.
I've been poking around on the net and it seems that the Admin passwords on Dell systems are usually left blank. I don't KNOW this is the case but I'm bringing it up in case you might?
In light of this, is the MS article going to work for me or is it going to kill me?
My ideal situation is to get the computer like it was a couple of days ago before all this junk happened.
CML
Thanks for all your help! I'm not able to respond as soon as I want sometimes because I have Cox at Home and it's not always reliable. :(
Ship Date: 11/15/2003
1 R2527 KIT, SOFTWARE, OVERPACK, WXPPSP1A, COMPACT DISKETTE W/DOCUMENTATION, ENGLAND/ENGLISH
I believe that is the relevant information but if I've left any of it off please ask and I'll copy it over to you.
I've been poking around on the net and it seems that the Admin passwords on Dell systems are usually left blank. I don't KNOW this is the case but I'm bringing it up in case you might?
In light of this, is the MS article going to work for me or is it going to kill me?
My ideal situation is to get the computer like it was a couple of days ago before all this junk happened.
CML
Thanks for all your help! I'm not able to respond as soon as I want sometimes because I have Cox at Home and it's not always reliable. :(
ASKER
Any chance anyone would know?
Also, if I do it and it doesn't work, will I still be able to use the drive as a secondary drive so that I may get the data off it?
CML
Also, if I do it and it doesn't work, will I still be able to use the drive as a secondary drive so that I may get the data off it?
CML
ASKER
anyone?
ASKER
I finally decided to just go ahead and risk it. I followed the MS article you referenced but I got hung up. On part one, the last stanza of DOS commands is where the problem occured.
copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config
I get this error:
The system cannont find the file specified.
Now I'm all jacked up. I haven't shut the computer off so if anyone knows how to recover from this point let me know.
CML
copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config
I get this error:
The system cannont find the file specified.
Now I'm all jacked up. I haven't shut the computer off so if anyone knows how to recover from this point let me know.
CML
Before playing more with this installation, I would suggest you to take a Ghost image of this HDD and then play arround without any fear since you will have the Ghost Image as a backup. Since you are very much concern about your data, I think many of the solutions you may not be able to try so take a Ghost image backup first
If the files are missing, the system then you might be looking at a parallel install: http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winxphome/installxpcdparallell/index.htm
Reason being is there are no restore points for it to roll back to.
With a parallel install you can wipe out the old windows folder, but that's kind of nasty.
Reason being is there are no restore points for it to roll back to.
With a parallel install you can wipe out the old windows folder, but that's kind of nasty.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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resolution outline from:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21846404/file-is-missing-Windows-system32-config-system.html
--------------------------
FriarTuk
cd c:\windows\repair\
dir
you should see these files (default, sam, security, software, system) list their dates, these will probably be very old as in when the system was first installed
cd c:\"system volume information"\_restore*\
dir
you should see subfolders like rpXXX, pick the 2nd to the last folder & do
cd rpXXX\snapshot
you should now see the below files, list their dates
_registry_user_.default
_registry_machine_sam
_registry_machine_security
_registry_machine_software
_registry_machine_system
--------------------------
cmlason
I think I'm in step 2 above because I can 'dir' into the 'repair' folder and see the files you mentioned. They have old dates from 2002 and 2003.
I can also get into step 3 above and see all the RPXXX folders. I can go into the 'snapshot' folder and see what you specifiy.
The files in the 'snapshot' folder that I'd like to use are from 5-05-06.
--------------------------
FriarTuk
stay in the snapshot folder & try one of these commands to see if it will copy, if so do the rest (space after copy & before c:\windows)
copy _registry_user_.default c:\Windows\System32\Config
copy _registry_machine_sam c:\Windows\System32\Config
copy _registry_machine_security
copy _registry_machine_software
copy _registry_machine_system c:\Windows\System32\Config
--------------------------
cmlawson
OK...done.
--------------------------
FriarTuk
now do below & make sure you see those files in there dated 5/5/06
cd c:\windows\system32\config
dir /p
if they are then type exit & reboot your computer to see if it boots up ok
--------------------------
cmlawson
Anyway, I did everything and it booted up just fine. Looks like I'm like I was before all this went down.
Great!@
Also, post in the other thread I have on this so I can give you those points too!
--------------------------
i'm glad your up & running
that's extremely generous! thank you again!
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21846404/file-is-missing-Windows-system32-config-system.html
--------------------------
FriarTuk
cd c:\windows\repair\
dir
you should see these files (default, sam, security, software, system) list their dates, these will probably be very old as in when the system was first installed
cd c:\"system volume information"\_restore*\
dir
you should see subfolders like rpXXX, pick the 2nd to the last folder & do
cd rpXXX\snapshot
you should now see the below files, list their dates
_registry_user_.default
_registry_machine_sam
_registry_machine_security
_registry_machine_software
_registry_machine_system
--------------------------
cmlason
I think I'm in step 2 above because I can 'dir' into the 'repair' folder and see the files you mentioned. They have old dates from 2002 and 2003.
I can also get into step 3 above and see all the RPXXX folders. I can go into the 'snapshot' folder and see what you specifiy.
The files in the 'snapshot' folder that I'd like to use are from 5-05-06.
--------------------------
FriarTuk
stay in the snapshot folder & try one of these commands to see if it will copy, if so do the rest (space after copy & before c:\windows)
copy _registry_user_.default c:\Windows\System32\Config
copy _registry_machine_sam c:\Windows\System32\Config
copy _registry_machine_security
copy _registry_machine_software
copy _registry_machine_system c:\Windows\System32\Config
--------------------------
cmlawson
OK...done.
--------------------------
FriarTuk
now do below & make sure you see those files in there dated 5/5/06
cd c:\windows\system32\config
dir /p
if they are then type exit & reboot your computer to see if it boots up ok
--------------------------
cmlawson
Anyway, I did everything and it booted up just fine. Looks like I'm like I was before all this went down.
Great!@
Also, post in the other thread I have on this so I can give you those points too!
--------------------------
i'm glad your up & running
that's extremely generous! thank you again!