How to fix unbootable Windows with "Windows could
not start because the following file is missing"
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
The Desktop computer system that my sister is using is running a
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (SP2).
The Windows installation is almost 2 years old, however I was
really surprised how the damned Microsoft software broke.
Here is how, one day I got really mad at my sister she completely
drove me out of myself.
Being affected by her continuous unethical behaviour I decided to
return it back to her and logged in with Window's
administrator account and changed her password.
The Spybot Search and Destroy (S&D) spyware active protection
(Tea Timer) warned me that some registry settings will be changed
while I was changing my syster's Windows password and I accepted
the change. Hereafter I restarted the system afterwards and guess
what? Windows couldn't boot anymore!
Let me ask you a question is that unsual for the shitty Windows
operating system? NO IT'S ABSOLUTELY NORMAL :)!
That pissed me off a bit so I left the machine with unbootable
Windows System for a few weeks 'till today.
The error message which occured during Windows boot time was:
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 CD-ROM.
Select 'r' at the first screen to start
repair.
To fix the issue I had to call a friend (Alex) and ask him for a
Windows XP SP2 install cd.
We used the Windows System Recovery console to boot up and access
the file system. After the Recovery Console loaded we tried to
switch to the
C:\ drive but the hard drive was taking ages
scraping through the drive, with the hdd led indicator blinking all
the time.
First I suspected something could be wrong with the hard drive on
the physical hdd layer. However I instructed Alex, to issue the
CHKDSK command to see if that would do any good.
That's it the good old
CHKDSK fixed the file system issues
and we rebooted. And hooray such a joy!
Unbelievable the System worked again! Hooray! :)