This article describes how to recover a Windows XP system that does not begin because of corruption in the registry. This process does not promise full recovery of the system to an earlier state; though, you should be capable to recover data when you make use of this procedure.

Warning Do not make use of the process that is described in this article if your PC has an OEM-installed operating system. The system have on OEM installations creates passwords along with user accounts that did not exist formerly. If you make use of the process that is described in this article, you might not be capable to log back into the recovery console to restore the unique registry hives.

You can fix a corrupted registry in Windows XP. Corrupted registry files can source a selection of unusual error messages. Observe the Microsoft Knowledge Base for articles about error messages that are linked to registry issues.

This article presumes that usual recovery methods have failed and access to the system is not accessible excluding by using Recovery Console. If an Automatic System Recovery (ASR) backup exists, it is the preferred method for recovery. Microsoft recommends that you make use of the ASR backup before you attempt the process described in this article.

Note Make certain to restore all five of the registry hives. If you only replace a single hive or two, this can cause possible problem because software as well as hardware can have settings in numerous 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.

To complete part one, follow these steps:

1. Insert the Windows XP startup floppy disk into the floppy disk drive, or slot in the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and after that restart the PC. Click to choose any option that is necessary to set up the PC from the CD-ROM drive if you are provoked to do so.

2. When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.

3. If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot PC, choose the installation that you feel like to access from the Recovery Console.

4. When you are prompted to do so, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.

5. At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following lines, pressing ENTER after you type each line:
md tmp
copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\tmp\security.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\tmp\default.bak

delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
delete c:\windows\system32\config\default

copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default

6. Type exit to quit Recovery Console. Your computer will restart.

Note

This procedure assumes that Windows XP is installed to the C:\Windows folder. Make sure to change C:\Windows to the appropriate windows_folder if it is a different location.

If you have access to another computer, to save time, you can copy the text in step five, and then create a text file called "Regcopy1.txt" (for example). To use this file, run the following command when you start in Recovery Console:
batch regcopy1.txt

With the batch command in Recovery Console, you can process all the commands in a text file sequentially. When you use the batch command, you do not have to manually type as many commands.