XP repair install question

I'm trying to help my son's girlfriend repair her laptop, it's a Dell Inspiron E1505 running WinXP Media Center Edition 2005. No matter what mode you try to boot into, you get the message 'the following file is missing or corrupt, C:\windows\system32\config\system' and that's as far as it will go. I was going to try a repair install on it, but of course being a laptop it didn't come with the WinXP install CD, only recovery CDs. I was wondering if using my XP Pro CD to do the repair install would work, I don't think it will but figured it was worth asking. If not, I'll have to see if I can get the data files off the drive that she needs and do the full recovery.

 

Hi, most of the times when you have a computer with windows already installed, comes with an OEM version of windows so if you try with a Pro version you won't be able to repair the installation I recommend you download a copy of windows OEM from any torrent site, it is a valid copy as long as you have the CD-KEY which is always stamped in any side of the computer, since what you purchased with the computer is the original CD-Key not the CD itself.

 

Lets try something before you make an attempt (as indicated in your thread title) to do a repair installation. You seem to indicate that you really just want to fix this, so here goes.

I believe you can use an XP Pro CD for this and yes, I understand you have Media Center installed. Try booting from the CD and select the repair option (second R prompt) to get into the recovery console. Once there, type the following from a command prompt :

CD C:\Windows\System32\Config

REN system system.old

COPY C:\Windows\Repair\system

Press ENTER after each command.

Then type EXIT.

Reboot to your Hard drive.



edit: make careful note of the spaces in the commands above

 

Hello miranto and welcome to the Board,

I don't think the issue is OEM or not OEM, the file error is a basic XP system file, one that an OEM wouldn't touch and is common to all XP's.

The issue is whether it's Pro. I've never tried to repair an installation using a different version.




Hi Bill,

I would wait a while for others to chime in. Given the situation and if no input from others, I would give it a try. At the very least, try booting into MCE using your Pro disc and see what happens.



Hi Rock, glad you chimed in

 

Rockster, I tried the fix you suggested, however, there is no system file in the repair directory, only a system.bak that is over 4 meg in size.

Arie, I had a look at the link you posted, I was going to give it a try if the suggestion by Rockster didn't work, but with the system file not being in the repair directory I don't think that fix will work either as there is a step there also to copy it to the config directory.

Am I basically stuck now with trying the repair install or is there something else I can try first?

 

BillB:

Sorry to learn that this can't be found in the repair directory. My next move in a situation like this would include the use of a Bart PE Disc and then searching elsewhere for the file but that approach isn't going to do you much good without a Bart PE Disc and some basic utilities.

I'll PM surferdude2 and noahdfear (The Brain Trustees). Perhaps others may have an idea too. You may want to call Dell and find out where this file may be stored (my guess is the MCE computer you are working on was loaded from an image) but you will probably need to work your way up the food chain to a level 2 or 3 supervisor. I doubt that your first level of tech support is going to have any idea of what you are talking about.

Lastly, you may want to head back into the recovery console and name that file back to its original nomenclature.
CD C:\Windows\System32\Config
REN system.old system
exit
At least we haven't exacerbated the problem if we reset things to their previous state. You might also get lucky and find that you can boot back up after that change (I've only experienced that once and it shouldn't correct the problem but I have had it happen on one isolated occasion).

Good Luck - lets see what unfolds here. I'd send you an MCE disc if I was anywhere near home but Thanksgiving is the next time I'm back there.

Regards,

 

Hi Bill

I'm going to recommend we make a boot cd (alot like BartPE) that will give you a GUI to work from. You should then be able to easily navigate to the System Volume Information directory (where system restore points are kept) and grab a recent copy of the system hive. You'll find this cd handy in the future too, with the number of computers you clean up. Here we go ........


Download and install the ISO Recorder version for your operating system.


Download and install the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset

Insert a blank cd into your cd/dvd burner. Browse to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset and right click erd50.iso, then select Copy image to CD. Follow the instructions in the following link to finish creating the bootable cd.

http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/HowTo.htm

Once finished, restart the PC with the cd in the drive and boot to the cd. If successful, restart the computer but remove the cd upon startup and boot back into normal mode. Now you're ready to use the boot cd on the downed machine.

Boot the laptop to the cd and using the explorer interface navigate to;
C:\System Volume Information\_restore{long-string-of-numbers-here}\RP**\snapshot

** = numbered folders. The higher the number the more recent the restore point.

In the snapshot folder you will find a file named _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM, among others. Copy that file to C:\Windows\system32\config, then rename it SYSTEM (rename the original to SYSTEM.old). Done! Restart the laptop and remove the cd upon startup.

 

Dave,

I downloaded everything you said, created the CD and rebooted my PC with it. I get an error that says the usage period has expired, when I click OK, the PC just reboots. Any ideas what I may have done incorrectly?

 

That happened trying to boot your computer, the same one you made the cd on? Shouldn't happen, and I doubt you did anything wrong, but I don't have an explanation for you either.

Did you try to boot the laptop with it yet? Try it and let me know. We may have to customize the ISO a bit and burn a new cd. Have you got WinRAR?

 

Yep, it happened on the same PC that I created the CD with. I then tried it on the laptop with the same results. I also tried burning the ISO with Nero and it gave me the same results.

Yep, I do have winrar also.

 

First, place a copy of erd50.iso on your desktop. Right click the desktop copy and select 'Extract to erd50\'
Now delete the erd50.iso from the desktop.

When complete, open your registry editor. Click the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key once to select it, then click File>Load Hive
Browse to the Desktop\erd50\I386\system32 folder and select the setupreg.hiv file then click Open. You will be prompted to give the key a name. Name it test and click OK.

Now expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\test key and click the Setup key once to select it. Double click the CmdLine value in the right pane and change the data from winpeshl.exe to windowsshell.exe then click OK.

Click the test key once to select it, then click File>Unload Hive. Answer Yes to the prompt.

Now right click the erd50 folder on your desktop and select 'Create ISO Image file'. Select Directory and verify the first path is to the erd50 folder and the Target is the desktop\erd50.iso, then click Next.

When complete, create a new boot cd as previously instructed using the new iso on the desktop.

 

Looks like ERD Commander may also have the ability to run system restore on the dead horse laptop. Look for the option under System Tools on the disc.

 

I must not be holding my mouth right or something, I followed your instructions to the letter, created the new CD but it will not boot, the system reads it at power up, but it then tries to boot from the HD.

I had a BartPE CD that I had created some time ago. I booted with that and was able to do the file copy that you mentioned earlier. After that, I was able to boot into safe mode and safe mode with command prompt, but nothing else. So, I did a system restore from safe mode to the last restore point taken on 11/3 at 18:45. When the system rebooted, it got as far as showing Windows on the screen with the little progress bar, then it just freezes. I tried to get back to safe mode, but now that won't work, everytime I put in the user password, it tries to logon, then logs off and returns to the password entry box.

Do you have any ideas on what could be happening to the ERD CD?

Right now I'm going to try to use the BartPE CD to follow the MS article that Arie mentioned in his post. I'm about out of ideas at this point, I was going to just put the machine back to original condition with the restore CD but as luck would have it she doesn't have the CD. There appears to be a restore partition on the drive but the key combination that is supposed to invoke it doesn't work, of course.

I always seem to get these troublesome machines.....

 

I have no idea what the problem is with the ERD cd. I've made several in just the same way(s) with no problems.

Since you have a BartPE disc (wouldn't have bothered with ERD had I known that ), try replacing the system, software, default, sam and security hives from an RP*** folder, preferably not the last but one or two away from last. There are also snapshots of user hives there, and those could be replaced for the current user as well. The current user hive is located in C:\Documents & Settings\user and is named ntuser.dat
You would need to determine which hive to use from the RP*** folder.

If nothing else, maybe you can get back into safe mode and choose an older restore point.

 

The Bart CD is about 2yrs. old, but it works. I'll try the file copies you recommended and see what happens. I was going to try another restore point but couldn't get it to go back into safe mode. Hopefully the file copies will do the trick.

 

Using the BartPE disk I made a few more attempts at copying the files from the old restore point folders, but could not get it to boot normally, only into safe mode.

She was finnally able to find her recovery CD so that I could restore it to factory like condition. I used the file manager on the BartPE CD to copy the data that she needed from the boot partition to the backup one created by Dell, it wasn't that much but it saved her school work. After restoring, I put the data files back and all is well again.

Many thanks to everyone that helped out on this, I definitely picked up some valuable information that I can use in the future.