Re: Repair console administrator password conundrum

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Pegasus, I just tried your suggestion of manual recovery (hoping to stave
off the fatal moment when I reformat C:) .

Unfortunately, although I managed to (I think) get into the recovery
console, and got as far as creating the temporary directory as instructed in
the Knowledge Base article, it was not possible to carry out the first file
copy operation. I tried several times and double-checked the syntax, but got
the message: "Impossible to copy file"

"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uj8jMFfbJHA.2620@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Michael Anders" <anders.michael@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OBnaG1ebJHA.1532@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks for all that Anna, and Pegasus. Unfortunately, after much
long-winded
effort I am still not out of the wood and this thing is far from clear.

Although this is an OEM version of XP with SP2, I *was* able to do a
repair
installation. This took about an hour. But after all that, the first
boot
never reached the desktop but went into a re-boot cycle, usually when I
tried to log on to my profile. Using F8 and trying to do a normal boot
or
return to a previous configuration also failed to help

And I am now back with a black DOS-type screen again, and the same
message:
(I translate) "Windows could not start because the following file is
missing
or damaged: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM".

It then says: "You can try to repair this file by starting the Windows
XP
installation programme with the original installation CD-ROM. Choose 'R'
at
the first screen to begin the repair."

Now this instruction is really misleading, isn't it, because the first
"R"
option takes one to the recovery console?? Only if you don't choose that
do
you get a later "R" which leads to the repair installation. Hence the
confusion between recovery console and repair installation that I think
you
are referrring to Anna....

Be that as it may, I am still in a mess, as the repair that I attempted
has
failed.

I'd use the recovery console too, however, if only could and I thought
it
would help...

Damn all this, I thought XP was the best OS Microsoft had so far managed
to
produce (which has caused me, like so many others, to spurn Vista). The
official repair instructions really are pathetic. If there's a file or
folder damage as the error message says, why can one not just restore
that
from the installation CD....?

I'm getting ready to bite the bullet and do a complete fresh install.
Then
no doubt I'll have activation aggro. In any event it's a ruined weekend
with
no other work done!

Your report says nothing about the manual System Restore method I
suggested.
Did you try it? I have used it in the past with great success!

If the machine cycles from the logon screen to "Loading user settings" (or
words to this effect) and back again then this is invariably caused by a
problem with userinit.exe. It's not too hard to fix this problem. However,
your report about the missing file suggests a problem with the System
registry file, not with userinit.exe.




.

Relevant Pages

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