Missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

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pawlu_uk

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Hi,

I'm not a technical wizard by any means, but yesterday after turning my laptop on only 20 mins after turning it off, I got the following message during startup:

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

Youi 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"

After going into panic mode, I researched this on the Internet and asked many different people for advice. One friend of mine suggested downloading the Linux boot up disk to enable me to log on and save my files to an external drive - worked perfectly.

After trying to boot up the computer using my original Windows disk (which is only a recovery one I think as PC World do not give you the full XP disk, only the ones for repair or reinstallation) I could not modify the registrys using Recovery Console, all I got after typing md tmp was "Access Is Denied", and trying to reinstall did not allow me the otion to repair also (as suggested in many Internet forums)

In Recovery Consule, someone suggested using chkdsk /r which took a long time to complete and when it did I booted down and it allowed me to start in Safe Mode (which it wouldn't before). I can now log in and haven't had to reinstall anything at all or lose any data which I am really pleased about.

However, would it be sensible to perform a System Restore back to about a week ago, just in case? Now that I have it back up and running I don't want to take any chances, but I'm not sure whether a System Restore will do more harm than good if it all seems to be working right now?

I have never had any knowledge of doing anything like this, so everything I did was totally self taught from the Internet, which is why I am asking for some advice! =)

I'm running:

Windows XP Service Pack 3
HP Pavilion dv1588
Intel Pentium M 1.73GHz

Any thoughts, suggestions, comments, ideas would all be greatly welcomed and I'd appreciate your help.

Thanks for reading,

Paul =D
 
if somebody could show me how to stimulate this, I can show everybody how easy this is to fix
 
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