subject: Restore Windows registry if Windows is not booting [print this page] Restore Windows registry if Windows is not booting
If the power supply to your computer seems to be okay but the Windows XP operating system won't boot properly, you know your Windows registry is damaged. In order to get your system back in working condition, you have to restore Windows registry on your computer. If you have already created a restore point, try to restore your system by following the steps given below:
Click Start>> Run, type %SystemRoot%System32RestoreRstrui.exe, and then click OK.
On the Welcome to System Restore page, click on Restore my computer to an earlier time (if it is not already selected), then click Next.
On the Select a Restore Point page, you can select a date in the Calendar to restore your system to that particular date. Click Next.
On the Confirm Restore Point Selection page that will appear, click Next. System Restore will restore the previous Windows XP configuration and restart the computer.
Log on to the computer and when the System Restore confirmation page appears, click OK..
If you are not able to access your system, you will need to use the Windows XP Recovery Console to fix the damaged registry. This will either require you to boot from a Windows XP Installation CD or boot directly to the Recovery Console if it is installed. Do not use this procedure if your computer has an OEM-installed operating system as the system hive on OEM installations creates passwords and user accounts that did not exist previously. If you use the procedure described here, you may not be able to log back into the recovery console to restore the original registry hives.
Follow the steps given below to boot into the Recovery Console from a Windows XP Installation CD.
You need to insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, or insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer. Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM to make sure that the computer boot from CD.
When you see the "Welcome to Setup" screen, press R to start the Recovery Console.
Select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.
if you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer,
Type the Administrator password. If it is blank, just press ENTER.
At the Recovery Console command prompt, you need to type the following lines, press ENTER after typing each line:
Type Exit. Your computer will restart. Press F8 repeatedly to restart it in safe mode.
Now you need to copy the registry files from their backed up location using System Restore. This folder is not visible and you can not access this folder in Recovery Console. To make the folder visible you need to follow the steps given here:
Start Windows Explorer.
On the Tools menu, click on Folder options.
Click the View tab.
Under Hidden files and folders tab, click to select Show hidden files and folders, and then click the Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) check box to clear it.
Click Yes when asked for confirmation.
Double-click the drive where Windows XP is installed to display a list of the folders.
Open the System Volume Information folder. This folder contains the system restore points stored on your computer and looks similar to
"_restore{87BD3667-3246-476B-923F-F86E30B3E7F8}".
If you have logged in as a user who do not have permissions on this folder, you may receive C:System Volume Information is not accessible. Access is denied. error message.
To gain access to this folder and continue with the procedure, first refer to article
309531in Microsoft knowledgebase
1) In the System Volume Information Folder, click on View>> Details to display the date of each snapshot folder.
2)Double-click on afolder that was created at a time before the problem started.
3)Double-click on the Snapshot subfolder
4) Highlight the following files and copy them into the C:WindowsTMP folder
_REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM
5) Rename the files that you just copied into the C:WindowsTMP folder.
Rename _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT to DEFAULT
Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY to SECURITY
Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE to SOFTWARE
Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM to SYSTEM
Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM to SAM
6) Restart your computer again with the Recovery Console.
Now you need to delete the existing registry files, and then copy the System Restore Registry files to the C:WindowsSystem32Config folder:
Type the following commands at the prompt to replace the files with a current backup. Press Enter after each command.
