\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM corrupt, recovery console won't recognize windows

Discussion in 'Software' started by dep187, Apr 21, 2006.

  1. dep187

    dep187 Private E-2

    My apologies if this has already been covered. I've been searching, but can't seem to find this exact thing.

    Rebooted the other night after a Windows update (of all things), and Windows wouldn't come back up. Got the "Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" message. I tried to put in my Windows XP Pro CD, but the PC wouldn't recognize it. I went into the BIOS and made sure it was set to boot from CD, still nothing. No message or anything.

    Went to work yesterday and created the 6 Windows boot disks on floppies. Used those last night, and was able to get to the Startup Screen. When I hit R to get into the Recovery Console, it gets there, but it doesn't recognize that Windows is installed on the hard drive. I just get a C: prompt. It doesn't prompt me to log in or anything. It goes straight to the prompt. I tried to type in the command(s) that it tells you to on the Microsoft site anyway, and it says "access denied." I went back to the Startup screen, and went along like I was going to re-install windows. When it shows the availabe partition, it says nothing about Windows. It shows that there's "something" on there, because there's not a whole lot of space left. No Windows, though.

    I just stopped there, because I REALLY don't feel like overwriting what's on there. I'd like to recover it, if at all possible.

    Is my hard drive fried?

    It's an older Dell Dimension desktop. I can get the model and specs if necessary.

    Thanks!
     
  2. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

    Unless you have an XP CD, there isn't a whole lot you can do.


    Try typing dir and see what error you get.
     
  3. dep187

    dep187 Private E-2

    I do have an XP CD. That's what I tried first, but it didn't do anything. I'll try typing dir when I get home. Does it seem like I'm SOL?
     
  4. dep187

    dep187 Private E-2

    OK. After typing in the dir command, it says:

    The volume in the drive C has no label
    The volume Serial Number is 2055-5f1b

    Then it shows a bunch of my files with dates and times.

    So, I guess it's not totally gone... Any way I can get XP going again on this hard drive?

    If I can get another hard drive in there, I guess i could put the original hard drive in a USB enclosure, and extract the files. That might be more trouble than it's worth. And more money (new hard drive + enclosure).

    Is there some kind of easy fix that I'm missing? Anyone have any idea why I can't get the XP CD to work?

    I would greatly appreciate any kind of help whatsoever.

    Thanks.
     
  5. theefool

    theefool Geekified

  6. dep187

    dep187 Private E-2

    Sorry. I already tried that. When I try to type in the first command in the recovery console (md tmp), it says: Access is denied. But, as I said before, it just a C: prompt (not a C:\WINDOWS prompt).

    It never asks me to log in or anything, though. As soon as I press R at the Setup screen, it goes straight to the recovery console.

    Any other ideas? Thanks again for the help. I appreciate it.
     
  7. theefool

    theefool Geekified

    what happens when you type in:

    cd windows (press enter) ?
     
  8. dep187

    dep187 Private E-2

    Access is denied.

    Thanks for helping with this.
     
  9. theefool

    theefool Geekified

  10. dep187

    dep187 Private E-2

    Um... Please excuse me if I sound kind of dumb.

    I can't seem to get the attrib command(s) to work. Can you tell me EXACTLY how to type them? Also, the article says to Run "Attrib -H -R -S" on the C:\Boot.ini file. Do I need to do anything to run it on the C:\Boot.ini file? I've just been typing it at the C:\> prompt it's been giving me when I first get into the recovery console.

    I also tried to do the "official "fix that he describes, and I typed in bootcfg /rebuild. After it scans, it says "Failed to successfully scan disks for Windows installations. This error may be caused by a corrupt file system, which would prevent Bootcfg from successfully scanning. Use chkdsk to detect any disk errors"

    When i use chkdsk, it doesn't seem to find anything, It just shows how much space is left.

    So, what's next?

    Thanks!
     
  11. theefool

    theefool Geekified

    try:

    chkdsk /r c:
     
  12. dep187

    dep187 Private E-2

    It's checking REALLY slowly. It's at 65%. Any idea what it will come up with? Any ideas what the next step will be? I'd like to get your input before you go to bed, if possible ;) .

    Thanks again.
     
  13. theefool

    theefool Geekified

    I'm hoping that by running the chkdsk it will fix any issues you are having. Which are unique btw. :(

    I'd reboot and see if you can access your system. If not, go back into recovery console and see if you can access cd\windows.....

    I'll probably won't go to bed for an hour or two. Drinking some beers as I type....
     
  14. dep187

    dep187 Private E-2

    Chkdsk found nothing, same as before. i tried to reboot from the hard drive. Didn't work. i tried to boot from the XP CD, just for fun. Nothing. I had to use the floppies to get back to the Startup screen.

    Once I got back to the recovery console, i tried to access cd/windows like you suggested. Still says Access denied.

    I was just thinking...Is it possible that my floppies are wrong? While I was waiting for it to load all 6 disks back up, i was checking the microsoft site where i got them from. I didn't realize that there was a different version for XP SP2. I think I might have downloaded the disks for the original version of XP. Could this be why it's not detecting windows?

    BTW... i am drinking while typing too. Cheers, and thanks!
     
  15. Bold Eagle

    Bold Eagle MajorGeek

    My goodnes I had a very very similar experience. After update (~15/04/2006) and installation mine started out with 3 sperate error messages like cannot load winlogon.exe cause SHELL32.dll is "missing", then exactly same for services.exe and lsass.exe. Rang a friend and at least could get into recovery console and have access to CD were we expanded and reinstalled SHELL32.dll but then I had exactly what is occuring to you happen!!!!!

    Basically the registry had become corrupted, thankfully I could get full access to recovery console! Anyway I followed this link and it has saved my bacon:

    http://www.apcmag.com/apc/v3.nsf/0/065BF246BBB0EF9BCA256E7500133F82

    It is almost identical to that "the fool" posted but a lot easy to read and they don't seem to need to baffle you with BS.

    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;307545

    Fred Langa has been discussing "Rebuilding XP" in his last couple of articles so maybe these can help:

    http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2006/2006-04-17.htm

    http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2006/2006-04-20.htm

    What firewall (FW) do you have the reason I ask this is I have Outpost and it quizzed me about a couple of Windows services and did I want to allow them to change. This made me believe that the FW may have impaired the update installation and lead to the corruption of my registry?????!!!??? But just not sure. I was confused that a Windows Update caused this and searched this site to see if others had same experience and well here you are. Hopefully langas' links will help.
     
  16. dep187

    dep187 Private E-2

    Hello and thanks for replying.

    Sorry , but none of these are working (unless I'm missing something). The problem, is that i can't get the recovery console to see that there's a windows install on there. I just keep getting the C:\> prompt. When I try to type in the suggested commands, it says Access is denied.

    And for some reason, it still won't recognize my XP cd. I keep having to boot from the floppies, and it's making me a little crazy.


    Any ideas? Thanks! :)
     
  17. Bold Eagle

    Bold Eagle MajorGeek

    It's very complicated for myself but it if you goto www.langa.com and use the search window for "recovery console" or other "keywords" you may find appropiate he may have the info in a solid no-nonsense manner. Sorry I can't provide more help. Also look at google and try "inplace XP upgrade".
     
  18. dep187

    dep187 Private E-2

    Thanks for the advice. I'll try it tomorrow, and let you know what i hear. Off to bed for me.

    Good night and thanks again. I appreciate the help.
     
  19. Bold Eagle

    Bold Eagle MajorGeek

    HEY I just thought of something what is your "boot up sequence" set-up in BIOS? It should be floppy first, CD 2nd and HDD 3rd. You have probably already assessed this but maybe it is going to HDD before CD and thus impairing access to CD, just a wild stab in the dark but I'm sure anything and everything should be explored.
     
  20. dep187

    dep187 Private E-2

    Yeah, i already had the boot order all set in the BIOS. Thanks anyway :) I'm still getting the same thing. I downloaded the boot disks for XP SP2, and tried to boot from those, and it won't even take the first disk. it tells me their's a boot error, and to insert a valid disk. I also did some digging on the Langa site, but I didn't come up with anything.

    I just can't get it to recognize the windows install for some reason. Grrrrrr.

    i'm getting a little tired of messing with this, and I'm about to just sacrifice what's buried on there and re-install XP.

    Anyone have any last suggestions? Thanks to everyone that tried to help.
     
  21. Matacumbie

    Matacumbie Rocky Top

    See if this makes a difference being a Dell, if you haven't tried it.

    1. Insert the Windows XP cd into the CD drive.
    2. Turn the computer off.
    3. Setup the computer to boot from CD: press F12 on Dell computers to launch the Boot Device Menu .

    Steve
     
  22. dep187

    dep187 Private E-2

    Sorry. Doesn't work. Even if it did, wouldn't it be the same as setting the boot priority in the BIOS?

    Thanks anyway :)
     
  23. Matacumbie

    Matacumbie Rocky Top

    Probably......but, you never know. ;)

    Steve
     
  24. Matacumbie

    Matacumbie Rocky Top

    See if these get by,

    CD C:\Windows\System32\Config

    REN system system.old

    COPY C:\Windows\Repair\system


    press ENTER after each command.

    Steve
     
  25. Matacumbie

    Matacumbie Rocky Top

    Second thought, do not try my last post. I tried to edit and to late.

    Wait for some other responses.

    Steve
     
  26. theefool

    theefool Geekified

    I hate giving up on this situation. But, withought a bartpe type of solution, I can't think of anything that could fix this.
     
  27. Bold Eagle

    Bold Eagle MajorGeek

    Okay last ditch suggz:

    Can you borrow and XP CD from someone else (yours maybe scratched)?

    Can you copy they one you have and try that?

    If either can you reinstall XP OS into a new partition leaving your data, maybe?!?

    Did you google for "XP Inplace upgrade"?

    Search Langa.com and google for HDD data salvage from corrupt OS?
    (I've heard there are ways to do this)

    Sorry I don't have any more, goodluck.
     
  28. dep187

    dep187 Private E-2

    Bold Eagle,

    I've tried some of what you said, but not all. I'm burnt. I'm just going to do a clean install.

    I've realized that all of my really important stuff is on my PC at work. I'm just going to lose some music and some pics.

    I'll just have to forget about that picture of me shaking hands with Mr. T :(

    Thanks to everyone that tried to help. I really do appreciate your efforts.

    Rob
     
  29. sire011886

    sire011886 Private E-2

    I'm in a similar situation.

    I've decided to slave my HD to another comp and reinstall XP (I have a Vaio, so the Recovery software is installed on my HD, no disk).

    Why didn't anyone suggest this route?
     
  30. sire011886

    sire011886 Private E-2

    & could someone give me some pointers?
     
  31. theefool

    theefool Geekified

    Cause, when you take that hard drive back to the original machine, xp probably will not boot, since the drive is using totally different hardware.

    Please start a new thread, if you are asking for help in a new situtation, instead of re-viving an old thread. :)

    If you wish to link to an old thread, we could re-read what we have done in the past.
     
  32. rajeshnayyar

    rajeshnayyar Private E-2

    chkdsk /r works , i was getting error when booting windows 2003 server "Windows\System32\Config\System is missing or corrupted. so i boot the server from Windows XP Professional cd and choose repair option and i ran teh chkdsk /r and it fixed the problem now i can log in to my server again...

    Thanks
     
  33. Major Attitude

    Major Attitude Co-Owner MajorGeeks.Com Staff Member

    To members: We changed the policy on old threads. Unless it adds nothing or someone asks for help in the same thread *unless someone can answer it) then old thread replies are fine. It's too much moderator work all for nothing.

    This thread is a great example. How many came here, read it and got no answer? A lot. Maybe this guys answer will help someone searching, hence it meets guidelines to stay put.
     
  34. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

    Filesystem problems are common with this error, so chkdsk /r was a good choice.


    I'd like to offer a warning though:

    Do not ever repair the OS through an in-place upgrade with this error. If there is a registry problem, this will make it permanent.
     

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