Resolved File is missing or corrupt: \windows\system32\config\system

My son dropped off his Dell laptop computer and said "Mom, it doesn't work ". He didn't tell me anything specific about why it didn't work so I'm not sure what happened to it.

The Dell laptop runs an OS of WindowsXP Home SP3 with (I believe) IE 8.

When I tried starting it, the error message appeared "windows could not start because the following is missing or corrupt: \windows\system32\config\system" and a message about using a repair option with a setup disk? (I don't remember the whole instructions).

Will this be something I could possibly tackle myself (fixing the corrupt file)? I've tried looking online for a solution, but I think need a little more guidance before attempting this!

~Vicki

 

A few questions

Thank you Arie for providing that link. It appears to be very informative on how to repair that file!

I do have a couple of questions before I attempt this fix. In reading the instructions it states: "Warning Do not use the procedure that is described in this article if your computer has an OEM-installed operating system" How do I know if that's what it is?

It also mentions a "Guided Help" program that you can download to fix the computer. But of course I can't download that to the broken computer. If I download it to my computer (save on a cd) could I use that on the other computer? How would I access that cd?

Thanks!
Vicki

 

Just weird!

Have no idea as to what I might have done, but the laptop is once again functional!

I did read up on that link that Arie sent (thanks again!), but I have to admit, I was a little overwhelmed by it all.

One of the things I had tried to do after doing some more researching on the net, was to try a "repair" install. Had a WinXP Home disk (from another computer) and booted up from that. It had asked if I wanted to "set-up ", "repair" or (can't remember the other options).

I chose set-up. After it had gone through all the copying of files, it asked me where I wanted to use them. It showed the choice of a "partition" on c: (with some file listed). When I clicked on that it said that there were other instances of Windows on there and they could be corrupted/non functional after applying this step.

Needless to say, that scared me enough to back out (cancel) because I certainly didn't want to cause further issues!

Took the disk out and rebooted the computer. It has always shown the different OS that are (supposedly?) on that machine when it starts. Windows XP Home, Windows XP Professional and Windows 2000 Pro (I think these are the ones that it lists).

So just out of curiosity, I decided to choose one of the others. First chose Windows XP Pro....that came up with something to the effect that the operating system wasn't there. Then it rebooted and I chose the Windows 2000. It started with what appeared to be doing some "file checking" and after several minutes of that (and several corrections it made I think) it rebooted and back into Windows XP!

So for now, it appears to be functioning okay. I did do an update & scan with Microsoft Security Essentials and all was good with that as well.

Still have another issue with this computer though, but will start a new post concerning that.

Thanks again!
~Vicki