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Missing System 32 file/Windows XP
Need some help salvaging my computer...hopefully with my files intact?!?! Cannot boot up - computer recommends to enter setup disk and 'r' for repair. So I've been reading on the forum and on Microsoft support for assistance. So far I've tried chkdsk /r which got hung at 53% and then just sat there. I cannot start in Safe Mode and cannot start from last known good. I did see previous posts which recommended NOT using 'r' for repair with OEM installed system...which I have. But nowhere could I find what to do if I DO have an OEM installed system. So I decided to try it anyway. The manual repair instructions from Microsoft support almost worked...
md tmp
copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\tmp\security.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\tmp\default.bak
delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
delete c:\windows\system32\config\default
copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default
copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\tmp\security.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\tmp\default.bak
delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
delete c:\windows\system32\config\default
copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default
Got to the copy c:\windows\repair\system c...and that file was not found. All the other files were fine. I am at somewhat of a loss now and hope my only option isn't a complete write over of my OS. There would be much sadness if I had to do that. Any help would be much appreciated!!!
ieee488
6 Operator
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11126 Posts
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38371 Points
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Posted February 6th, 2011 06:00
Your hard drive is probably toast and what you just did is probably pointless.
You should run the EXTENDED Dell Diagnostics on the hard drive - should be one of the choices from F12 menu at bootup.
If you have messed up the hard drive badly, you can download the Diagnostics software from the Dell website, burn it to a CD, boot from the CD (it is bootable), and run the diagnostics.