This post describes how to recover a Windows XP system that does not start because of corruption in the registry. This procedure does not guarantee full recovery of the system to a previous state; however, you should be able to recover data when you use this procedure.
Warning Do not use the procedure that is described in this post if your computer has an OEM-installed operating system. The system hive on OEM installations creates passwords and user accounts that did not exist previously. If you use the procedure that is described in this post, you may not be able to log back into the recovery console to restore the original registry hives.
You can repair a corrupted registry in Windows XP. Corrupted registry files can cause a variety of different error messages.
Note Make sure to replace all five of the registry hives. If you only replace a single hive or two, this can cause potential issues because software and hardware may have settings in multiple locations in the registry.
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 |
| System error: Lsass.exe When trying to update a password the return status indicates that the value provided as the current password is not correct. |
Guided Help is available to help recover a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting. Guided Help can automatically perform the steps for you.
The actions that this Guided Help performs can be undone after Guided Help is finished. To undo the actions that this Guided Help performs and to restore the corrupted registry files, start Recovery Console, and then manually copy the Windows\Tmp\*.bak files to the Windows\System32\Config folder. Make sure to rename the files to remove the .bak extension.
For more information about Guided Help Description of Guided Help for Microsoft
Requirements to install and to use this Guided Help
You must first download Guided Help.
For More Information Visit Computer Help and Support Guide Link
