Boot error - ntoskrnl.exe is corrupt

I am working with a SATA drive and Winxp. I received an error that the file ntoskrnl.exe was corrupt when booting. I inserted the CD into the drive and made it the first boot device. I went to the R console. I then typed in D:\i386\ntoskrnl.exe_ C:\windows\system32. It will only return an error "Access is denied ". I then made a copy of the file ntoskrnl.exe and burned it to CD.

I took a windows98 boot disk and got an A:\ prompt. I typed in Copy D:\ntoskrnl.exe C:\windows\system32
It came back and said "Path not found C:\windows\system32"

How can I replace the file ntoskrnl.exe?

Thanks
Irv

 

Please see Expanding files from installation media
Did you type expand in front of the command line?

The C: drive (if it is using the NTFS file storage system) will be invisible to a Win98 boot disk.

 

Thanks for that info. I followed the instructions given on the MS Article. I first did a MAP at the prompt and found out that the system list the L:\ drive as the CD Rom drive. I went back and did the command again and it came back as Unable to creat the file.

Irv

 

Try again and be certain you are following method 4 in the MS link. You cannot do this operation from a command line obtained from a Win98 boot disk, you must be at a command line while booted to the Recovery Console. Command line usage is very exacting as to proper syntax so be careful to insert spaces when indicated and have the paths typed correctly.

Even if you succeed at replacing the ntoskrnl.exe file, your system may still have a problem. There are several other things that can cause an error of this and the ntoskrnl.exe is not necessarily the culprit. eg, a corrupt boot.ini file can cause this. You can troubleshoot this issue and others while booted to the RC. Run the bootcfg /rebuild command. (note space)

If all that fails, I'd recommend booting to your XP installation CD and performing a Repair Install. Often finding the exact cause is not worth the pain. A Repair Install will preserve your personal files and settings so not to worry.

The basic procedure for a Repair install are:

Boot to the XP CD. (may need to change the BIOS boot sequence to place the CD in 1st position)

When the "Press any key to boot from CD" message is displayed on your screen, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD.

When you see the following message displayed on the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

At this point an option to press R to enter the Recovery Console is displayed. Do not select this option.

On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8 to agree to the license agreement.

Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected in the box, and then press the R key to repair Windows XP.

Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Setup.