Translation:
You cannot start your computer due to an error message. You experienced the same problem before and reinstalled Windows XP to resolve the issue that time. You wonder if there's a better solution. This problem is most likely caused by a corrupted Registry. Reinstalling the Operating System is a viable solution, provided you have a recent backup of your important data. An alternative that lets you rectify the problem without completely overwriting the hard drive is to replace the existing Registry with an original uncorrupted copy.
Keep in mind that this solution carries plenty of risk, so you should proceed only if you are aware that you may lose all data stored on the hard drive and have to reinstall WinXP from scratch again anyway.
(NOTE: If your PC contains any files that you cannot afford to lose, you should first boot the computer with a DOS startup disk and employ the DOS COPY command to back up each file to a floppy diskette, second hard drive, or any other backup drive you can access.) |
Solution:
Start the process by inserting the WinXP installation CD-ROM in your computer and rebooting the computer. If prompted, press any key to boot from the CD-ROM. The Welcome To Setup page will appear onscreen. Press R to access the Recovery Console and then type the administrator password at the prompt. (Leave the password blank if you don't have an administrator password.)
The next step is to back up key system files, delete the originals of these files, and then overwrite the originals with fresh copies. Be sure to back up and replace the following files: System, Software, Sam, Security, and Default. These files are normally located in the WINDOWS /SYSTEM32 folder.
When the computer restarts, let it boot into Windows (not the CD-ROM). As soon as the PC begins to start, press the F8 key repeatedly to access the Windows Advanced Options menu; highlight Safe Mode on the menu and press ENTER.
Now you must move and rename some archived Registry files. To start, open My Computer, select Folder Options from the Tools menu, choose the View tab, select the Show Hidden Files And Folders option, and then deselect both the Hide Protected Operating System Files (Recommended) option and the Use Simple File Sharing (Recommended) option, if available. Navigate through My Computer to locate and open the System Volume Information folder (normally located on drive C).
The contents of the System Volume Information folder will appear on-screen. Open the _RESTORE folder or, if more than one _RESTORE folder exists, open the oldest of these folders to view a list of restore points. Each restore point is identified as a folder labeled with the letters "RP." Double-click any of the restore points to open another window that contains a Snap-shot folder. Open the Snapshot folder and, while holding down the CTRL key, click each of the following subfolders: _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT, _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY, _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE, _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM, and _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM. With these five subfolders highlighted, open the Edit menu, select Copy, and deposit the copies in the C :\WINDOWS\TEMP folder by navigating to this folder, right-clicking inside it, and clicking Paste.
Next, you need to move these fresh system files into their appropriate locations on the Windows drive, after deleting the system files that are there already. To accomplish both tasks, reboot into the Recovery Console and type the following commands (where c represents the letter assigned to the Windows drive) at the resulting prompt (press ENTER after each one):
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
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
After removing the CD-ROM, type exit and press ENTER. The computer will restart. Finally, access the System Restore utility and follow the on-screen instructions to restore a previous restore point. This should eliminate the problem. To minimize the likelihood of Registry errors, follow a maintenance routine that involves scanning for viruses and cleaning the Registry. For more about keeping the Registry clean, see "Wring Out The Registry" in the See Also section below.
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