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Windows XP Crashed? Now What?
( Corrupted Registry Fix )
This is a copy of
an excellent article I ran across a while back.
It was so
good and right on the money that I had to list it here for
reference. )
PC users, you all know what it is: That
dreaded Blue Screen of Death. That's right, the BSOD. You've
installed a seemingly innocent application, restarted your computer,
and suddenly you see this horror in front of your eyes: A big blue
screen with some cryptic message on it. Try restarting again, same
thing. You're dead. What will you do? What WILL you do?? Well, don't
let it ruin your day. Remain calm. If you're using Windows XP, I can
help you fix it. Come with me, down into the bowels of Windows XP,
where only the high priests go. It'll be fun!
I'm
going to show you how to bring your computer back to life, and
restore it to the point where things went south. You might want to
print this article and squirrel it away for that fateful day when
this happens to you. Or if you don't want to print it (and who
prints anything these days, anyway?), and you get a big ugly blue
screen, just get on another computer somewhere and come back to this
Web page for comfort and advice. I can get you out of this mess. I
know, because I was in the same mess and I got myself out of it.
Here's what to do: First, get the Windows XP CD you used to install
your operating system. By the way, this routine only works with
Windows XP, either Professional or XP Home Edition. If you don't
have a bootable XP CD, get one and have it with you at all times,
because you never know when the dreaded BSOD might strike.
But before you do anything with that
CD, try restarting your computer again. Sometimes, for some odd
reason, this works. Usually not, though. If you've tried that and
everything else you can think of, and you can't even boot into Safe
Mode, this is the mission for you.
Put
the XP CD in the drive, and restart. When it says "press any key to
boot from CD," go ahead, press any key and you're on your way to
recovery. The Recovery Console, that is. If it doesn't give you a
choice to boot from your CD drive, go into your computer's BIOS and
make the adjustment for it to boot from CD. PCs brands and
motherboards are too diverse for me to give you specifics on this,
so follow the prompts and you can make that CD boot happen without
too much trouble. Look at your screen when it boots up, and it
always says "hit DEL for BIOS settings" or something similar. If you
can't get it to boot from CD, just give up and call for support or
take your computer to the nearest computer store for professional
help.
OK, troops, are you still with me?
Good. It'll look like you're re-installing Windows XP, but don't
worry, you're not. This is just a screen showing you that your
computer is loading enough files from the CD to actually do
something, anything but that awful blue screen. Now when you see the
screen that asks you if you want to install Windows, don't! Just hit
R for recover, and you'll see the ominous Recovery Console. Don't
let that intimidate you; the Recovery Console is your ugly,
black-suited friend. It will have a dark, bleak screen, with the
following stuff:
Microsoft Windows(R) Recovery Console
The Recovery
Console provides system repair and recovery functionality.
Type EXIT to
quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer.
1: C:\WINDOWS
Which Windows
Installation would you like to log onto
(To
cancel, press ENTER)?
Go
ahead and hit the number 1 on your keyboard, or whichever number
corresponds to the operating system you were using when havoc
struck. Enter your administrator password, and then hit enter.
You're in! Now it's time to run with the big dogs! Do not be afraid,
dear reader, I am here to help you.
If
you type the following commands into your computer, it will work
magic, akin to going back in time. There are three parts to this
process, but believe me, they take much less time than reinstalling
Windows XP and all your applications. So follow along with me, and
keep in mind that each command must be typed exactly as you see it
here. Please note that this procedure assumes that Windows XP is
installed to the C:\Windows folder. Make sure to change C:\Windows
to the appropriate windows folder if it's at a different location.
The copy commands will answer you with a little "file copied"
message. The delete commands just move on to the next line. Because
of the way your Web browser displays individual lines, a command
might look to you like it's two lines, so I've separated each
command by an empty line. But anyway, type the whole command in one
line, and when you've finished typing that command, hit the Enter
key. Be sure to include the spaces I've included between each word
here:
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
Now you can relax for a minute. You've
made it through the first part! Way to go! Now what did you just do?
I'll tell you. You first made a temporary directory called "tmp" (md
tmp), and then into it, you copied all the files that boot up
Windows. Then you deleted all those startup files, one of which is
the stinker that got you into this mess in the first place. After
that, you copied into that same place fresh startup files from a
special repair directory. When you reboot, Windows will look for
those files where it always does, and there won't be a stinker in
the bunch. The only thing is, there won't be all your settings for
all those applications you run every day, either. But not to worry.
Right now, you're sitting in something like a lifeboat -- it's not
the original ship, but it'll get you back to where you need to go.
We'll get everything back to that comfortable place, but only after
we go through steps 2 and 3.
Now type Exit and watch your computer
restart into Windows XP again. Be sure not to tell it to boot from
the CD this time. But wait. That's not the way you had XP set up
before this disaster struck! That's OK. We're in a lifeboat right
now -- this isn't your comfy cruise ship, not just yet. Hang in
there. I'm going to show you how to restore your system to the way
it was the moment before you told it to install that errant
application, or whatever it was you did, so follow along and we'll
go to part 2.
Part 2
Here's where you'll copy the saved registry files from their backed
up location by using System Restore. This folder is not available in
Recovery Console and is normally not visible -- Microsoft is
protecting you from yourself by hiding it from you and locking it
away from you. But we have the keys. Before you start this
procedure, you'll need to change several settings to make that
folder visible:
1. Start
Windows Explorer.
2. On the
Tools menu, click Folder options.
3. Click the
View tab.
4. Under Hidden files and folders,
click to select Show hidden files and folders, and then click to
clear the "Hide protected
operating system files (Recommended)" check box.
5. Click Yes
when the dialog box is displayed that confirms that you want to
display these files.
6. Double-click the drive where you installed
Windows XP to get a list of the folders. It's important to click the
correct drive.
7. Open the System Volume Information
folder. This folder appears dimmed because it is set as a
super-hidden folder. If you're using the FAT32 file system, this
will be easy. If you're using NTFS, it won't let you open the
folder, but here's how to get around that: Right-click on that
system volume information folder and select Sharing and Security.
Then click the Security tab. (No security tab? Skip two paragraphs.)
Click Add, and then in the box that's labeled "Enter the object
names to select," type the name of the user that's at the top of the
Start menu -- that's probably you. [Damn it, why do they say object
names when it's people's names? I guess that's Microsoft for you.]
Anyway, make sure you type the name the way it's listed there on the
Start Menu. I made the mistake of typing my first name only and it
wouldn't let me in. Type first and last name if that's how it's
written on the top of the Start menu. After you've typed that in,
click OK a couple of times and finally that monster will let you in.
But
what if you don't see a Security tab? Try this: Click to select the
checkboxes in the "Network sharing and security" area -- one is
labeled "Share this folder on the network" and the other is labeled
"Allow network users to change my files." Change the share name to
something short, like sysinfo. Then it'll let you in. After you're
done with this entire rescue operation, you might want to go back
and change these back to the way they were before, for maximum
security.
OK.
Now here you are, in the inner sanctum where only the high priests
go. Be not afraid, all ye who enter here. As Microsoft so eloquently
puts it:
NOTE : This
folder contains one or more _restore {GUID} folders such as
"_restore{87BD3667-3246-476B-923F-F86E30B3E7F8}".
8. Open a folder that was not created
at the current time. You may have to click Details on the View menu
to see when these folders were created. There may be one or more
folders starting with "RP x under this folder. These are restore
points.
9.
Open one of these folders to locate a Snapshot subfolder; the
following path is an example of a folder path to the Snapshot
folder:
C:\System
Volume
Information\_restore{D86480E3-73EF-47BC-A0EB-A81BE6EE3ED8}RP1Snapshot
From the Snapshot folder, copy the
following files to the C:\Windows\Tmp folder (you can use your
mouse, you're in Windows now, remember?):
_registry_user_.default
_registry_machine_security
_registry_machine_software
_registry_machine_system
_registry_machine_sam
This is how Microsoft explains this:
"These files are the backed up registry files from System Restore.
Because you used the registry file created by Setup, this registry
does not know that these restore points exist and are available. A
new folder is created with a new GUID under System Volume
Information and a restore point is created that includes a copy of
the registry files that were copied during part one. This is why it
is important not to use the most current folder, especially if the
time stamp on the folder is the same as the current time."
Anyway, you're still not done. Don't
worry, the magic is about to begin. Believe me, if you do this in
front of your friends, they'll start thinking you're some kind of
god. So, heavenly father, get ready to dazzle 'em.
Now
it's time to place those files you just made visible to the Recovery
Console where they belong. And to do that, we need to get back into
the Recovery Console. So, make sure your CD is in the drive, and
restart Windows, this time hitting any key when it tells you to do
that if you want to boot from CD. Yes, you want to boot from CD, so
you can launch your old cryptic pal, the Recovery Console. Type R
after it goes through that file-reading routine that looks like an
install but isn't. Then you're back into our dark-suited friend with
its ominous command line. It's kinda like going into the basement to
fix some broken pipe or something. But we're not scared. The command
line is our flashlight and friend. Here we go:
Part 3
In
part three, you delete the existing registry files, and then copy
the System Restore Registry files to the
C:\Windows\System32\Config folder:
From
within Recovery Console, type the following commands:
Del c:\windows\system32\config\sam
Del c:\windows\system32\config\security
Del c:\windows\system32\config\software
Del c:\windows\system32\config\default
Del c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\tmp\_registry_machine_software
c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\tmp\_registry_machine_system
c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\tmp\_registry_machine_sam
c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\tmp\_registry_machine_security
c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\tmp\_registry_user_.default
c:\windows\system32\config\default
Now. You're done! Type exit and your
computer will reboot into whichever restore file you chose. But
wait. If it's not the right one, that's OK, you can now go into your
System Restore area and pick a different restore point if you want.
There's a whole calendar full of them in there. I bet you didn't
know that Windows XP is watching just about every move you make,
taking notes all the while. It can restore about any state you had
on that machine. And the best part is, even when it's doing all
that, it's still 10% faster than Windows 2000 according to our
extensive tests here at the Midwest Test Facility.
Here's how to get into that restore
area if you're not happy with the current restore point:
1. Click
Start, then click All Programs.
2. Click
Accessories, and then click System Tools.
3. Click
System Restore, and then click Restore to a previous Restore Point.
Sheesh, before this I hated the command line. Many of you probably
still do. But when it saves your butt like this, you have to feel
grateful. I should send out a badge of courage for all you intrepid
souls who followed me into these dark gallows, the basement of
Windows XP. I hope this routine was successful in bringing your
computer back to life. I know how it feels to have your computer
down for the count. As a wise old man once told me, "When your
computer crashes, it's like your dog just died." He was so right.
Excuse me now, I'm going to go get some work done on my Mac.
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