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Hi,

After running my XP home OS smoothly for about nine months, I have suddenly and without a warning ended up with this common error, which prevents me from booting into windows. Initially, I could not boot to the safe mode either.

I have spent some time searching for possible solutions online, with no success. Things that I`ve tried so far:

1. Used a bootable BartPE CD with Kaspersky Antivirus. Performed full system scan, no viruses detected.

2. Tried the "Last known good configuration" option from stratup, nothing happens (it just restarts and I am back right where I started).

3. Looking for possible backup copies in the system32\restore folder, I`ve only found one file (older version of the "system" file). Replaced the "corrupted" system file (5,5 mb) with the older file (4,5 mb). Upon reboot, the "corrupted or missing" nag disappeared, but right after the XP welcome screen I got a new error, which had something to do with lsass.exe password configuration. At this point, if I press any key the system reboots automatically, etc.

4. While I don`t have the XP home installation disc, I do have a copy of the student`s XP edition. Following instructions on the Microsoft database, tried to perform the suggested recovery steps (by pressing "r" at the welcome screen). However, there is a problem. I have only one file in my \restore folder, and what`s worse, I don`t have any "snapshot" folder at C:\System Volume Information\_restore{D86480E3-73EF-47BC-A0EB-A81BE6EE3ED8}\RP1\. I only have one RPxx folder with a couple of files there, none with the vital registry_user or registry_machine files which you are supposed to convert to appropriate system, software, sam & security files. Thus, it does not seem that I am able to complete the recovery process (oddly enough?)

5. Finally, I`'ve tried to copy the entire \config folder from a healthy laptop via Bart CD to the damage desktop (as both of them are running XP home). I am no longer getting the "corrupted or missing" and password configuration errors, however, I am still unable to boot normally (it just restarts right after the XP welcome screen, followed by a very briefly flashing blue screen), all I can do now is boot in the safe mode.

6. Booting in the safe mode, I`ve tried the "If you prefer to use System Restore to restore your computer to a previous state, click no" promt, with no success. When I click "no", I am given the "Restore my computer to an earlier state" option, followed by a calendar where I am supposed to pick up an earlier version of the registry to restore from. However, the list is empty for the entire calendar, with the error message "There are currently no restore points available" displayed.

Please help!!

Hello again everyone,

After a struggle yesterday I finally managed to solve my problem completely, without any loss of data or existing software configurations! It seems that this particular issue is much easier to solve than what the How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting article seems to suggest.. And you DON'T need any XP installation discs!

So, if you're having the "Windows cannot start, File missing or Corrupt, \Windows\System32\Config\System" or "software" or "lsass.exe" error messages, and there's nothing wrong with your harddrive, here's what might be a quick and safe way to solve this problem:

1. Try to obtain a copy of the BartPE emergency boot disc image (do a google search on "BartPE+download"). Make sure your BIOS settings are set to allow booting up from the CD.

2. Once the BartPE menu is loaded, select "run" from the start menu (it looks like an ordinary XP start menu). Then select "browse" and "display all files".

3. Navigate to your C:/System Volume Information folder. You don't have to worry about being unable to view hidden system files as none of the Windows restrictions apply if you're browsing with BartPE (you can also delete/move/copy any files without restrictions).

4. Once in the C:/System Volume Information folder/, navigate through the > _restore{D86480E3-73EF-47BC-A0EB-A81BE6EE3ED8} folder > RPXXX (three random digits after "RP", with the highest value being the latest registry backup) > Snapshot folder. The RPXXX folders are earlier copies of the registry files located in the c:/windows/system32/config/ folder. There might be several of them, make sure to select only the folder created prior to the crash. What you have to do is simply replace the five corrupted files located in the /config folder (system, software, default, sam & security files) with the eariler copies located in the /snapshot folder. The copies need to be renamed from:

•_REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT to DEFAULT•_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY to SECURITY•_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE to SOFTWARE• _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM to SYSTEM• _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM to SAM


Finally, copy the renamed files above to the /config folder (make sure to click yes to the "overwrite?" prompt).

That's it!

Regards,

Alex