Friends corrupt Win XP - What command do I use in recovery console?

[Yodums]

My friend's system w/ Win XP Home Ed. won't boot up because it says WINDOWS/SYSTEM32/CONFIG/SYSTEM is corrupt and you should use the recovery console to fix it however, when I'm in the recovery console, what command would I use?

Thanks.

[redduc900]

Unfortunately Yodums, your friend has a corrupted Registry. The following MSKB article describes in detail 'How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry that Prevents Windows XP from Starting'...

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q307545

The following is a quote taken from the above article...
When you try to start or restart your Windows XP-based computer, you may receive one of the following error messages:

Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE

Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive (file): \SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate
The procedure described in this article uses Recovery Console, System Restore, and lists all the required steps in specific order to ensure that the process completes fully. After you complete this procedure, the system should return to a state very close to the system before the problem occurred. If you have ever run NTBackup and completed a system state backup, you do not have to follow the procedures in parts two and three; you can skip to part four. This next MSKB article describes the installation and use of the Recovery Console...

HOW TO: Install and Use the Recovery Console in Windows XP (Q307654) (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q307654)

Your friend might also be able to do a repair install of XP, instead of having to manually type in all the commands listed in the above article...I would probably try this first. The following MSKB article explains in detail how to perform a repair install...

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;315341) ;)

[Arkaine23]

Try fix mbr or fix boot.

You can also try to go thru like you're installing XP onto the same partition and see if it will detect the current installation and offer to fix it automatically. Win2k recovery is so much easier. :rolleyes:

[DaBigJ]

Yep... I've repaired my registry MANY times. When I first got this computer, the memory was set to 100 mhz (ddr) instead of 133. Apparently, this made it very unstable, and frequently corrupted my registry. I finally figured out what was wrong, fixed it, and haven't had a problem since.

[mbentley]

Originally posted by Arkaine23
Try fix mbr or fix boot.

You can also try to go thru like you're installing XP onto the same partition and see if it will detect the current installation and offer to fix it automatically. Win2k recovery is so much easier. :rolleyes:

whenever i have some sort of problem, i always just re-install xp over itself and it just repairs the same installation keeping all the files... i find that it is the best way... and that way i don't have to worry about all the little commands... repairing it will fix almost any booting problems and corrupt files.