subject: Damaged Or Missing Security Accounts Manager May Cause Partition Loss In Windows [print this page] In Microsoft Windows NT, 2000, and later versions, passwords are stored in SAM (Security Accounts Manager. It is a database, which is stored as registry file. It stores passwords in hashed format (in NTLM and LM hash). In some situations, this database may get damaged and you can not log into your Windows system. This behavior renders all your hard drive partitions inaccessible. It may also cause partition loss in some ways and need Partition Recovery solutions to retrieve your Windows hard drive partitions.
In a practical scenario, when you boot your Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Windows XP Home Edition-based computer, you might come across the below error message:
"Security Accounts Manager initialization failed because of the following error: A device attached to the system is not functioning.
Error Status: 0xc0000001.
Please click OK to shut down this system and reboot into Safe Mode, check event log for more detailed information."
You encounter same error message every time when you reboot your system, even in Safe Mode. At this point, all of your hard drive partitions become inaccessible. In order to retrieve partitions, you need to find out the cause of this problem and perform Partition Recovery by resolving it.
Root of the issue
This problem is caused by missing or damaged Security Accounts Manager. Due to the same, Windows can not authenticate the user and thus do not allow to logon.
Resolution
To sort out this problem, either replace or restore the SAM file. You can not use Recovery Console or the repair process to fix this issue as these methods need authentication. Use any of the below methods for solving the problem:
Restore SAM File- If you have backup of your system, restore the SAM file and other registry settings.
Copy SAM File from Repair Folder- If you do not have backup, copy the file from 'C:WINDOWSrepair' and paste it to 'C:WINDOWSsystem32config' folder.
Reinstall MS Windows XP- If none of the above methods work, reinstall Windows XP for replacing the SAM file. It would resolve the problem, but also needs hard drive formatting that removes hard drive partitions. It needs Partition Recovery Software to retrieve lost partitions.
The applications Recover Partition in quick and easy way. They methodically scan the entire hard drive and extract missing, lost, and inaccessible partitions from it.
Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is the most excellent solution for all your partition loss issues. It recovers FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, VFAT, NTFS, and NTFS5 file system partitions. The software is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000.
