missing file windows\system32\config\system

ok i am in the recovery mode and it wants to know which windows installation would you like to log onto?
I can only type in one letter and I don't know what that is.
can someone please help me. thanks.

 

You see a list of windows installations. You probably only have one so type 1.

 

thankyou, i did that and got into windows finally but now have lots more problems. now i need drivers. i think i reinstalled windows or something lol.

 

don't know what your system is, or who your vendor was, but i had to download my basic drivers from Dell (for my specific model/system) so i could get online. you need these BEFORE you reformat/reinstall or you can't get online.

don't download a ton of them, just get the basic ones that are required for your system. hopefully you have a flashdrive or external usb drive to save them to. you need something; even a bunch of floppies (if the downloads are small enough) or re-writable cd's.

after that, right click on My Computer, click on Properties, click on Hardware tab, click on Device Manager, expand (click on the "+" sign) each item, right click on the ones with the yellow "?", click on Update Driver and let it do a web search unless you have a specific product cd/dvd. there's a quicker way to get to the Device Manager but i forget.

one thing, if you reinstalled, did you do a "clean" reinstall...reformat the partition & then install...or did you install over top of your previous installation? if you just installed over the top of your previous installation, you could have some some continuing problems. especially if you had any malware (virus/trojan) issues.

best to re-do it (yes, i know it's extra time) and reformat the largest partition; should be the NTFS patition, depending on your OS (operating system). don't touch the small FAT/FAT32 partition; you need that. after that, continue with the installation. soon as that's finished, install the minimal required drivers then get the rest and install your other software/programs. be sure to install your security software (anti-virus/firewall/security suite) before you go online.

this information is specific to what i did with my 6 year old Dell Dimension 4700 WinXP Home SP2 installation cd. there's a lot more you may need to do, but these are the basics i needed to get back to my desktop and get online. your specific system may be different.

check your vendor's website for specific info on doing a "clean" reinstall and what specific drivers you need. if you inherited your system, or got a refurbished one, you'll need to post that info for others to give you more detailed help.