After working with Windows XP and computers in general for years now, I have seen my fare share of issues at boot time but this is one of my favorites. I am not going to go into full detail in this article, you can find a link to the actual Microsoft article at the bottom of this post.

The Scenario: When you go to boot your Windows XP machine, you are presented with the message – Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM (or SOFTWARE, SAM, DEFAULT or any variant). In this example, I will use the file “SYSTEM” as this is the one I see corrupted most often.

Luckily, this issue can be taken care of by replacing these files from the recovery console (Or your favorite Linux Live Distro). This article assumes that you already know how to set the CD-ROM as the first boot device in your BIOS and that you know the local Administrator password to the computer. Lets get started.

1. Insert your Windows XP CD and boot to it. When you are at the first screen, presenting options choose “R” for the recovery console.

2. Choose your windows installation if prompted and log in as Administrator to the Recovery Console command prompt.

3. Make a backup of the file that the error mentioned. Create a directory somewhere (md tmp) and copy the file C:\windows\system32\config\system to the tmp directory that you created above. (EXAMPLE: copy C:\windows\system32\config\system C:\tmp\system.bak)

4. Next delete the problematic file. (EXAMPLE: delete C:\windows\system32\config\system)

5. Finally, copy C:\windows\repair\system C:\windows\system32\config\system

Reboot your machine with your fingers crossed and see if you are able to get into windows. Below is the link to the MS article that outlines this procedure exactly.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

Jason (Digitalkid)
www.954network.com