windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \windows\system32\config\system

This is a nasty little greeting that has appeared on my Windows XP machine a couple of time recently, it's also popped up at work and on a friends computer.

Thankfully, it has a fairly simple solution. During the last 4 times of fixing it, I have streamlined the solution which cuts out a few unnecesary steps I've seen mentioned in the first few articles I looked to for help.

The Solution:

1. Turn your computer off

2. Insert your Windows XP CD and reboot from the CD drive

To boot from CD, press DEL on startup and enter into the system BIOS setup and select your CD drive as the first boot drive, press F10 to save your settings and exit

Your computer will reboot from the XP disc

3. Press 'R' when offered the option of using the Windows Recovery Console

(Note: there are lots of articles telling you NOT to do it this way, but from my recent experience this is the quickest and easiest way.)

4. The Recovery Console

At the prompt type the following:

C:\WINDOWS >cd system32\

this changes the current directory to C:\Windows\System32

ren config configold

This renames the config folder to configold

mkdir config

this makes a new directory called config

cd config

changes the current directory to c:\Windows\System32\Config

then type the following lines pressing enter after each one

copy c:\windows\repair\system

[EDIT added 17/04/2007] If the system file is the only one missing / corrupted, it may not be necessary to continue with the other 4 lines of code. The reason they are here is that the second tme it happened to me, when I rebooted after replacing the system file, it then asked me for the next, then the next etc.[end EDIT]

copy c:\windows\repair\software

copy c:\windows\repair\sam

[EDIT added 17/04/2007] Be warned, replacing the SAM file can overwrite your current windows password - if you have changed your password since installing windows you may not be able to get access to your computer.

A safe way of doing this is to replace all other files but ONLY replace the SAM file if you get an error message on startup saying it is missing or corrupted.

A few people on here have had this issue and I apologise for not realising this was possible.[end EDIT]

copy c:\windows\repair\security

copy c:windows\repair\default

after each line it should say:

1 file copied

type:

exit

5. Reboot

(you will have to go back into the BIOS setup and change the boot drive back from CD to your primary Hard Disk)

When your computer boots, it will probably run CHKDSK and show lots of orphaned files which it will automatically repair [EDIT added 17/04/2007] It would make sense to run check disk after your first successful reboot.[end EDIT]

Windows should boot normally and everything should be fine!

If this article has helped you out of a sticky spot, please feel free to make a donation

This sounds like an odd comment coming from a designer who purports to use and advocates accessible webdesign, however, rather than WCAG2 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) being a step forward from the outdated WCAG1, its well intentioned and lofty goals of applying to a wide variety of technologies, HTML, CSS, Javascript as well as PDF, Flash and, as yet unbuilt new technologies, leaves it vague, confusing and in my opinion (and that of the articles author, Joe Clark,) a large step backwards in a common goal of promoting accessibility standards.

Read the whole article To Hell With WCAG2

In following the progress of Exclusive Escapes on Google, I've noticed a few days delay between the reported cache by Google and the availability of the cache page.

Exclusive escapes was cached on 14th April 2006.

I have been checking everyday to follow the sites progress and today (20th April 2006) was the first time the cache was available.

Google Analytics has shown referrals by this website, MSN and, strangely, Wikipedia, although I can find no reference in Wikipedia.

I am going to start tracking the rankings and incoming links for Exclusive Escapes - South West Holiday properties using WebCEO to monitor it's progress.

Exclusive Escapes

This is a little experiment to see how long my new website Exclusive Escapes takes to be first found, indexed, cached and finally ranked by Google.

The website isn't actually ready yet, but while we are working on it's content and layout I have put up a "coming soon" page. My theory is that the sooner something occupies the space on the server at www.exclusiveescapes.com.au, the sooner Google will notice something new. The page I have uploaded has META Keywords, Description and the content, although very short at present, contains the main keywords we will be targeting.

This, I believe indicates that Google has at least found the page.

Well, that's as far as it has got at present, I intend to follow it's progress and document it here to see how long it takes to get cached ranked and ultimately how it's PR progresses, I will also be including results from Live PR as it will update far more regularly than Google's main PR figure.

GrayBit is a unique online tool created by Mike Cherim and Jonathan Fenocchi, of the Accessites.org team.

On the surface, GrayBit is a simple tool to convert any website into perfect grayscale in order to easily identify areas that may suffer from poor contrast.

Underneath, it combines the considerable talents and experience of Mike and Jonathan in regards to PHP server side scripting, standards based CSS, XHTML and accessibility.

Mike Cherim

Mike is a webdesigner, PHP scriptor and author of the Beast Blog, Designer and Founder of Accessites.org and countless commercial websites, all have a strong leaning towards accessibility.

Jonathan Fenocchi

Jonathan is a 16 year old (yes that's right 16) web developer whose scripting talents should take him far.

Their common theme is building accessible websites but more so, educating web developers and companies about the benefits of accessible web development.

Check out GrayBit on your curent project.