Cannot boot after cleaning registry

[ZoneFire]

My friend has used "Advance System Optimizer" to clean junk files and registry and defrag the registry. After that, he restarted his PC and he found that he cannot boot into Windows XP Professional. The message which is displayed everytime is as followed "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM was missing or corrupted." He thinks that some crucial entries in the registry was deleted by "Advance System Optimizer". Can he use Windoows CD to boot and use the repair option? He does not want to reformat his system. Besides that, he found a command "fixboot" under repair option. Can the option in "fixboot" > "Install new boot partition" helps?
Thanks a lot!

 

[ZoneFire]

So he boot from XP CD and let it to repair by copied new windows installation files into c:\windows
After copied,this problem showed when booting,error message
"lsass.exe error"-(when windows trying to update password,the password was not correct),
then windows restart.
How to solve this?

 

[ZoneFire]

later, he decided to reformat his system,but many files are not save yet,so he boot from CD and trying using recovery console to copy the files to another partition,but he failed to do so because when the recovery console prompt for administrator password,my usually windows log on password was invalid when I type it.Why the password was not working?

After many fustrating attempt,he choose to reinstall windows leaving the files intact,but "My Document" may be deleted if he reinstall it in same directory(C:\windows) because all the user account will be delete,so he created a new directory to install windows,now it was two Windows XP in one partition.After log into new windows that just install,he can copy all the files to another partition except for "My Document" under my previous windows userprofile.(Document and settings\Userprofile\My Document).
Access was denied when he try to opened the files.
What can he do to access the files?so I can save my files.
Any ways or programs can help to solve this?
thank you

 

[ShoobieRat]

CAPS LOCK...?

If he's got a second HDD, he doesn't need to worry about this. He can use the second HDD to get around things. It'll take longer to get back to where he was, but it's easier.

 

[Roshi229]

later, he decided to reformat his system,but many files are not save yet,so he boot from CD and trying using recovery console to copy the files to another partition,but he failed to do so because when the recovery console prompt for administrator password,my usually windows log on password was invalid when I type it.Why the password was not working?

this would have been the password for the account "administrator" not your typical windows login (no matter what rights you have to the system)
also, the registry cleaning software is something you use at your own risk, and i would not recomend it unless you are willing to pick through each and every single registry entry it wants to delete before removing them. the registry cleaner (if it's of quality) should have had a restore point, to restore the registry settings that were removed, (and if it's realy good) this can be done through a dos prompt. however i fear it's much to late for that now.

After many fustrating attempt,he choose to reinstall windows leaving the files intact,but "My Document" may be deleted if he reinstall it in same directory(C:\windows) because all the user account will be delete,so he created a new directory to install windows,now it was two Windows XP in one partition.After log into new windows that just install,he can copy all the files to another partition except for "My Document" under my previous windows userprofile.(Document and settings\Userprofile\My Document).
Access was denied when he try to opened the files.
What can he do to access the files?so I can save my files.
Any ways or programs can help to solve this?
thank you

WOH!!!

i don't want to come ou sounding mean and cruel, but that was way too far.
you/he should not have loaded windows in that manner, esp.!!! to the same partition!!!!

and no, you will not be able to copy the My Documents folder now that you are booting to a new install of Windows in another directory...

now the fact that you can see that my documents folder is almost amazing to me, but then again nothing seems to amaze me about a M$ product here lately...
if you can open that MyDocuments folder and select the files, maybe just maybe you can move them individually... or possibly from a dos prompt.

as i see it you have about 2 options left:
Step 1: Do not make any further changes to the operating system or software on that system or you may loose any chance of recovering the files...

option 1xcopy ) try booting to a Win9X floppy boot disk and using \xcopy to move the files.
how to use xcopy


option 2: (google ) do a google search and find some either free or afordable data recovery software. i've provided a link to one of many possible search results to get you started.


good luck and please let us know if you need further assistance! i would hate to hear that you've lost your files or even worse the machine. if i can't help, we'll do our best to find someone who can.

~KB

**edit 2 options based on the assumption you do not have a second hard drive either with Win XP loaded or able to load XP on.
if this is the case, and as Shoobie was getting at, you may be able to slave the drive (containing the data you wish to recover) to another drive... thus the operating system is not running on the drive you are trying to work with, it may make extracting those files a bit easier.

 

[Roshi229]

also,
any product that says it is a "system optemizer" or "speed up Windows" or "make windows like new again" 9 times out of 10 can cause or present the ability to cause MAJOR problems, much like those you are having now... do lots of homework before using a product like that, and don't always trust everything you read on the seller's website, they may just be trying to scam some money out of you...

 

[ZoneFire]

before that, i sugessted him to burn the backup files into a CD-RW.
however, he can't even access the files as he is not the Old OS admin.
so, he need to break up the security and access to it.
then he can make a copy of that for future use.

 

[Win2kpatcher]

this would have been the password for the account "administrator" not your typical windows login (no matter what rights you have to the system)
also, the registry cleaning software is something you use at your own risk, and i would not recomend it unless you are willing to pick through each and every single registry entry it wants to delete before removing them. the registry cleaner (if it's of quality) should have had a restore point, to restore the registry settings that were removed, (and if it's realy good) this can be done through a dos prompt. however i fear it's much to late for that now.




WOH!!!

i don't want to come ou sounding mean and cruel, but that was way too far.
you/he should not have loaded windows in that manner, esp.!!! to the same partition!!!!

and no, you will not be able to copy the My Documents folder now that you are booting to a new install of Windows in another directory...

now the fact that you can see that my documents folder is almost amazing to me, but then again nothing seems to amaze me about a M$ product here lately...
if you can open that MyDocuments folder and select the files, maybe just maybe you can move them individually... or possibly from a dos prompt.

as i see it you have about 2 options left:
Step 1: Do not make any further changes to the operating system or software on that system or you may loose any chance of recovering the files...

option 1xcopy ) try booting to a Win9X floppy boot disk and using \xcopy to move the files.
how to use xcopy


option 2: (google ) do a google search and find some either free or afordable data recovery software. i've provided a link to one of many possible search results to get you started.


good luck and please let us know if you need further assistance! i would hate to hear that you've lost your files or even worse the machine. if i can't help, we'll do our best to find someone who can.

~KB

**edit 2 options based on the assumption you do not have a second hard drive either with Win XP loaded or able to load XP on.
if this is the case, and as Shoobie was getting at, you may be able to slave the drive (containing the data you wish to recover) to another drive... thus the operating system is not running on the drive you are trying to work with, it may make extracting those files a bit easier.

There is some items that need to be cleared up here. He is not screwed as far as getting the files back goes. Now had he "replaced" the Windows folder as he first mentioned then yup he would be out of luck cause that user profile would have been wiped out. However because he chose a differnt path to install windows on (same partition or not) he is ok in a sense of leaving the data in tact.

The problem is the account had a "password" on it which means all folders in that user folder were locked on that folder only for that user, administrators, and system thus the reason for recieving the "access denied error" Now even if you reformat and use the exact same user name same workgroup or domain and same everything it would still not work. Reason is because the security ID is now differnt and does not match.

What you need to do is take ownership of that folder. You can do this in Windows XP. First make sure you are an administrator to the machine. Then go to the control panel>Folder options>View>then towards the bottom uncheck "use safe file sharing(reccomended)". Now go to the folder that is giving you the access denied error, right click then select properties, go to the security tab, then advanced, add your current user name to the permissions list and select all the checkmarks, you will notice towards the bottom one of them says TAKE OWNERSHIP, then click ok and you should be able to access that folder now and get all the data you need.

 

[ZoneFire]

really thank you, Win2kpatcher
my friends had solved the problem with your solution.
he asked me to thank you for the solution as well as other contributions from other members too

 

[Win2kpatcher]

really thank you, Win2kpatcher
my friends had solved the problem with your solution.
he asked me to thank you for the solution as well as other contributions from other members too

No problem! Glad that worked out for you. I see this problem a lot is the only reason why it is engraved in my head. I see both here in the Corporate I.T. world and when I work on home users PC's. In the future though there is always ways to get around forgetting the administrator password ;-)