How to Fix "Windows\System32\config\system" file missing or corrupt

When you start your Windows XP-Based computer, you may receive the following error message:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\Windows\system32\config\system
You can attempt to repair this file by starting windows setup using the original setup CD-ROM.
Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.

This problem may occur if "system" file is missing or corrupted:

To resolve this issue, you need an original or untouched copy of windows XP, and configure the computer to boot from the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive and follow this steps.

1. Insert the Windows XP bootable CD into the computer.
2. When prompted to press any key to boot from the CD, press any key.

3. Once in the Windows XP setup menu press the "R" key to repair Windows.

4. Log into your Windows installation by pressing the "1" key and pressing enter.
5. You will then be prompted for your administrator password, enter your password is you have any, otherwise just press Enter.
6. At the command prompt type:

copy %windir%\Repair\system %windir%\System32\Config

7. If prompt to overwrite the files just type "y" and hit enter. Once the file have been successfully copied, remove the CD from the computer and reboot.

Note: Once successfully booted to windows, you will notice that some of your drivers are not installed. Don't worry its normal when doing this repair procedure, Just reinstall your device driver and your done!

If you found this helpful, please leave a comment.

2 comments:

Unknown on April 2, 2011 at 9:46 AM said...: Really it is very helpful, I faced this problem many times. I think this problem occurs when only working on blogger and something went wrong then we got this issue with windows.
Anonymous said...: gud....very helpful