Hard Disk read-only - cannot delete files

Hi
I would appreciate any help - how can I get past read-only settings when I use a boot cd?

I'm trying to recover a crashed XP Pro install and have been unable to get at the registry files in \windows\system32\config

I cannot access recovery console and doing a repair to the system files from an XP installation disk does not fix the error.

So I created a boot CD and tried to access the files (to replace them) but the entire hard drive is read-only.

Any idea how I can get past this?


Note: the exact error is
System error: Lsass.exe
When trying to update a password the return status indicates that the value provided as the current password is not correct.

The pc is stuck in a rebooting loop and because of this error I cannot login to the recovery console as admin (it is not recognising the admin password).

Tried Ophcrack and it doesn't work - it is an OEM installed OS so that might be the problem.

 

Hello, welcome to MajorGeek's Forums!

Have you tried this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

Nice name, btw!

 

thanks Aphelion5, tried that and it didn't work initially because it has "an OEM-installed operating system"

But I downloaded a Knoppix live CD .iso and that gave me write access to the files and then I was able to get the backup registry files, sorted!

cheers