Retrieving corrupted files through Recovery Console?

Hey there,

A friend of mine just got this message:

"\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM - file missing or corrupt"

On her machine, which is running XP.

We went to the recovery console to figure out what's what, but it's only allowing access to E:\miniNT and E:\i386.

Now I imagine all I need is the i386 to grab what she needs to replace the corrupted files. However, I can't find any elaborate Console command to tell the machine to find the files XP needs from the i386.

The Recovery Console is the only thing we can get into, so if I can't grab what she needs from the i386, she's gonna be forced to reinstall--which is a last resort.

Any ideas?

 

Hi,

Recovery Console should be showing you the C: drive. That E:\miniNT is part of the recovery partition from her PC manufacturer.

When you first go to sign into Recovery console it gives you a list of Windows installations to sign into--is there only one choice or is there a 1 and a 2? Choice one would most likely be the C: drive.

If there is no choice and the E: drive is number 1 then it could be a problem with the way the partitions are being read.

 

Just 1 and 2 are only showing up. No C:\ drive is visible. That's why I'm so confused.

So if this means the partition isn't being read correctly, is she doomed to just reinstall?

 

At the E:\miniNT> prompt (or the other one doesn't matter) if you type C: and hit enter does the prompt change to C:>?

If it does type dir and hit enter. Do you see Windows folders/files?