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Can't load into Windows, locked out of Recovery Console
guar
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
This all started last night when I hopped on to Steam, was having a chat, and my PC froze. I rebooted and was prompted with this message:
I knew immediately what I had to do, just not exactly how to go about it. I Google'd a bit and found an answer. As it happens, my config file was empty, don't know how, and I was unable to delete it. I took the easy route and renamed it, making a fresh directory to move the missing file to. Reset the computer, thing boots up, and chkdsk loads. It finds an error, corrects it, and then restarts. However, my computer is still unable to boot into Windows. In safe mode, I get flooded with a string of commands along the lines of
And running normally gets me as far as the XP splash screen. That pops up for a few seconds and then the screen goes black. I've let it sit for a while, but my guess is it's the same problem. I figure I made a mistake by not copying some other files over to the config folder, but now when I try to access the recovery console, it prompts me for an admin password. I don't have an admin password. I've tried hitting enter, 'admin,' 'pass,' and a couple others, but nothing works. I know the easiest thing to do here is to just reformat, but I just did a few months ago, and I don't want to go through that hell again so soon. So I'm looking for some aid on what to do. Anyone have any ideas?
Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
I knew immediately what I had to do, just not exactly how to go about it. I Google'd a bit and found an answer. As it happens, my config file was empty, don't know how, and I was unable to delete it. I took the easy route and renamed it, making a fresh directory to move the missing file to. Reset the computer, thing boots up, and chkdsk loads. It finds an error, corrects it, and then restarts. However, my computer is still unable to boot into Windows. In safe mode, I get flooded with a string of commands along the lines of
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\..
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\..
. . .
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\Mup.sys
And running normally gets me as far as the XP splash screen. That pops up for a few seconds and then the screen goes black. I've let it sit for a while, but my guess is it's the same problem. I figure I made a mistake by not copying some other files over to the config folder, but now when I try to access the recovery console, it prompts me for an admin password. I don't have an admin password. I've tried hitting enter, 'admin,' 'pass,' and a couple others, but nothing works. I know the easiest thing to do here is to just reformat, but I just did a few months ago, and I don't want to go through that hell again so soon. So I'm looking for some aid on what to do. Anyone have any ideas?
guar on
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I was hoping this would work, but I don't have the repair option. Thanks though.
note: this will not work if you have disabled system restore or cleared it out very recently.