Hi all

Just went to boot up our laptop and a blue screen came up with this message .....

STOP: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}
The registry cannot load the hive (file)
\SystemRoot\system32\config\SOFTWARE
or its log or alternative.
It is corrupt, absent, or not writable.

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance

I cannot boot in safe mode
I cannot boot in Last Known Good Configuration
I cannot boot Normally
I cannot boot with any of the options

Has anyone got any idea how to fix this?

Thanks
~Paul~

Hi,

There is a fix for this. Let me see if I can dig it out.

Swatkat's rants: "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM"

A little different to yours but I think the same in principle.

Have tried all suggested fixes but none worked so decided to restore back to factory settings.

While trying the fixes and restoring back to factory default the laptop keeps shutting off on me for no reason.

This is really driving me up the wall now LOL .... please help

Err Msg: STOP: C0000218 ...Registry Cannot Load the Hive

Do you have the install disk?


Easy Method

1/ Restart your PC

2/ Keep tapping the F8 Button until a menu appears

3/ When the menu appears use the UP and DOWN arrow keys to select the ‘Last known good configuration’ option.

4/ Once selected press Enter

5/ Your PC should now reinstall the ‘last know good configuration file’

6/ Restart your PC and see if the problem has been solved

7/ If it hasn’t go on to the Harder Method below.




Slightly Easy Method

This fix was contributed by Peter Hayes.

While this fix is not 'guaranteed' to repair the problem it is worth going through the procedure before stepping up to the harder method.

1/ Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM and restart your pc

2/ At the 'Welcome to Setup' screen press R to start the recovery Console

3/ The Recovery Console will now open and the list of Windows installations will appear

4/ As you only have one installation on your PC you need to press the number which is relevant to your installations location. This, obviously, will typically be 1

5/ When requested type in your Administrator password. If you haven't set an administrator password, then simply press Enter

6/ The Recovery Console command prompt window will now appear

7/ At the Recovery Console command prompt type: CHKDSK

8/ If CHKDSK reports file sectors run CHKDSK again only this time type CHKDSK /R instead

9/ Fixing bad sectors on the hard disk can take some time, so please be patient.

10/ After CHKDSK has finished, remove the XP CD from the CD-ROM and reboot

11/ Hopefully your PC should boot as normal.

Harder Method

Step One

1/ Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM and restart your pc

2/ At the ‘Welcome to Setup’ screen press R to start the recovery Console

3/ The Recovery Console will now open and the list of Windows installations will appear

4/ As you only have one installation on your PC you need to press the number which is relevant to your installations location. This, obviously will typically be 1

5/ When requested type in your Administrator password. If you haven’t set an administrator password, then simply press Enter

6/ The Recovery Console command prompt window will now appear

7/ At the Command prompt type the following, pressing Enter after you have typed each line.

md tmp

copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\tmp\security.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\tmp\default.bak

delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
delete c:\windows\system32\config\default

copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default

8/ Now type Exit to exit the recovery console

9/ Finally restart your pc

Step Two


10/ When the PC restarts log on as Administrator. if you are using Windows XP Home you can only log on as Administrator via Safe Mode.

11/ The next step is to copy the registry files from their backed up location using system restore. However, before you can begin you need to set the folder options in Windows Explorer to Show Hidden Files and Folders

12/ Open Windows Explorer

13/ Click the Tools option on the main toolbar

14/ From the drop down menu click on Folder options

15/ In the Folder options window click the View tab

16/ Look down the file list until you come to a section marked Hidden Files and Folders

17/ Click on the Radio button on the left of the option Show hidden Files and Folders to enable this option

18/ Next move down two lines and remove the check mark next to the option Hide Protected operating system files (Recommended)

19/ You will receive a message informing you that editing or deleting these files could cause damage to your system. Click Yes to confirm that you want to display these files.

20/ From the folder/directory list in Windows explorer click on the drive where you installed Windows XP

21/ Open the System Volume Information folder (The folder appears dimmed) If you receive a System volume Information is not accessible. access denied Error message see Microsoft Knowledgebase Article 309531

22/ Inside you will find one or more folders that look something like this "_restore{87BD3667-3246-476B-923F-F86E30B3E7F8}".

23/ If the folders are displayed as icons or thumbnails click the View option on the main toolbar and click on Details to give a more detailed view of the files

24/ Select a file that was not created at the current time and that starts with RPx (these are Restore Points)

25/ Open one of these folders and look for a Snapshot folder - for example: C:\System Volume Information\_restore{D86480E3-73EF-47BC-A0EB-A81BE6EE3ED8}\RP1\Snapshot




26/ From this snapshot folder copy the following files to C:\Windows\tmp folder

• _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT
• _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY
• _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
• _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM
• _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM

27/ Now rename the files as follows:

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

Step Three

28/ You now have to delete the existing registry files and copy the system restore registry files to the C:\Windows\System32\Config folder: You can do this either by using Recovery Console or (if you file system is FAT32) by using a Windows 98 Start Up Disk) Whichever method you use you will be presented with a command prompt. At the command prompt type the following, remembering to press Enter after you have typed each line.

del c:\windows\system32\config\sam

del c:\windows\system32\config\security

del c:\windows\system32\config\software

del c:\windows\system32\config\default

del c:\windows\system32\config\system


29/ Now type the following, pressing Enter after you have typed each line:

copy c:\windows\tmp\software c:\windows\system32\config\software

copy c:\windows\tmp\system c:\windows\system32\config\system

copy c:\windows\tmp\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam

copy c:\windows\tmp\security c:\windows\system32\config\security

copy c:\windows\tmp\default c:\windows\system32\config\default
Please Note

When inputting the above copy information, if you get a 'file not found' error try adding a .bak extension to each copy operation, as follows:

copy c:\windows\tmp\software.bak c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\tmp\system.bak c:\windows\system32\config\system

copy c:\windows\tmp\sam .bakc:\windows\system32\config\sam

copy c:\windows\tmp\security.bak c:\windows\system32\config\security

copy c:\windows\tmp\default.bakc:\windows\system32\config\default


You should only add the .bak extension if you get the 'file not found' error message, otherwise follow the instructions at step 29.

30/ Finally Exit Recovery Console and Restart your PC (If you are using the Windows 98 startup disk simply press CTRL-ALT-DEL to restart your pc
Step Four

31/ After your PC has rebooted click the Start button followed by All Programs

32/ From the All Programs menu click Accessories

33/ From the Accessories drop down menu click on System Restore

34/ From the System Restore window click on the Restore to a Previous Restore Point option and restore your pc to a previous restore point

Yes I have, i was just trying to restore back to factory settings and laptop just shut off on me. It's been doing it the whole time I've been trying to sort this problem out. Get in the middle of something and just shuts off

It is a hardware issue,did you read the link?

Laptops are harder to sort out than computers.

Are you able to enter BIOS/Setup and load fail safe and defaults?

I'm just trying the CHKDSK its only on 28% but will try and get into BIOS after. I think I got into it earlier

I've already tried this

Option 2 (Using backups from System Restore feature): From the Recovery Console, navigate to the folder \System Volume Information\ folderof the root drive, using the command:
cd "C:\System Volume Information"

Here, locate and navigate to the folder whose name begins with _restore using the command:
cd _resto~1

This folder contains many subfolders which have names of the form RPxxx, where xxx is a number indicating the restore point. Locate an RPxxx folder which has the highest number as its suffix (highest xxx) using the command dir command. Then navigate into that folder using the command:
cd RPxxx (don't forget to replace xxx with the corresponding number!)

Now, there will be a folder named snapshot. Navigate to this folder using the command:
cd snapshot

There should be a file named _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM, copy this file to the \Windows\System32\Config folder with the name System using the command:
copy _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM C:\Windows\System32\Config\System

Reboot the system and check whether Windows loads properly.

So I fear things may have been messed up LOL