System Fails to Boot Completely in Windows XP

 

Don't you just hate that! You start your computer and it gets to the logo screen or perhaps even to the desktop but then nothing happens. You try "safe" mode and even "last known good configuration" but still no luck - If only it would load far enough for you to enter the SYSTEM RESTORE and put it back to a date you know was working...

 

I had a system with a corrupt registry and could not get it to load at all. The message I was getting was:

 

stop: c0000218 registry file failure registry cannot load the hive (file): \systemroot\system32\config\software

 

Thinking a complete re-load was in order and since I had nothing to lose at this point, I decided to repair the registry from information from Dell's website at:

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?c=us&docid=0F6F6FD0F5D5F466E040030ABD625EBA&l=en&s=gen#11

 

It worked!

At the Press any key to boot from CD prompt, perform the following steps:

  1. Press the <Spacebar>.
    The Windows Setup screen appears and several files are loaded.
  2. Press the <R> key.
  3. If prompted, select the number corresponding to the Windows installation you would like to log on to (usually C:\WINDOWS).
  4. Press the <Enter> key.
  5. Enter the Administrator password (if any) and press the <Enter> key on the keyboard.
    The C:\WINDOWS> prompt appears.

NOTE: If the system fails to boot, the following method of recovery is not possible.

NOTE: If a message Access Denied is diplayed while attempting this fix, perform the following steps:

  1. Type cd \ and press the <Enter> key.
  2. Type cd windows\system32\config and press the <Enter> key.
  3. Type ren system system.bak and press the <Enter> key.
  4. Type exit and press the <Enter> key.
  5. Restart the computer.
  6. Continue troubleshooting below.

To copy the restore point in the recovery console, perform the following steps:

  1. Type cd \ and press the <Enter> key.
  2. Type cd system~1\_resto~1 and press the <Enter> key.
  3. Type dir and press the <Enter> key.
    A list of the restore points appears listed alphabetically. Choose the restore point folder which is dated the day prior to the occurence of the error reported.
  4. Type cd rpX (where X is the restore point you chose in the step above) and press the <Enter> key.
  5. Type cd snapshot and press the <Enter> key.
  6. Type dir and press the <Enter> key.
  7. Type copy _registry_machine_system c:\windows\system32\config\system and press the <Enter> key.
    Overwrite system? (Yes/No/All): appears.
  8. Type Y and press the <Enter> key.
  9. Type copy _registry_machine_software c:\windows\system32\config\software and press the <Enter> key.
    Overwrite software? (Yes/No/All): appears.
  10. Type Y and press the <Enter> key.
  11. Type copy _registry_machine_sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam and press the <Enter> key.
    Overwrite sam? (Yes/No/All): appears.
  12. Type Y and press the <Enter> key.
  13. Type copy _registry_machine_security c:\windows\system32\config\security and press the <Enter> key.
    Overwrite security? (Yes/No/All): appears.
  14. Type Y and press the <Enter> key.
  15. Type copy _registry_user_.default c:\windows\system32\config\default and press the <Enter> key.
    Overwrite default? (Yes/No/All): appears.
  16. Type Y and press the <Enter> key.
  17. Remove the operating system CD and type exit to restart the computer.

NOTE: If any error message is returned while in the recovery console, use an earlier restore point

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