I was trying to fix my step-brother's computer of another problem (random reboots/freezes), and I think I caused another problem. I boot up the computer, get to the login screen, and then notice that his account is passworded. I decide that I can get around it by going into administrator and taking his password off, so I turn the PSU off and get ready to go into safe mode. However, when I expect the Windows load screen, it comes up with an error saying "Windows could not start because of the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM". I thought I could simply do a repair to fix this, so I go on google and look up how to properly repair. I see that instead of going into Windows Recovery Console (which I have no clue how to use), the guide says to press enter, F8 to agree, and then once it searches for previous installations it should give an option to repair. This option is not here. A clean install would really be a last resort here. The best case would be if someone could tell me how to restore this file without losing any data on the drive. If that is not possible, could someone tell me if I could just copy the entire drive to my HDD, and then copy it back after I reinstall windows (possibly leaving a few of the new files)? Or possibly I could just put the hard drive on my computer, copy the needed system files onto his drive from my drive (and delete the corrupted folder mentioned before)? Thank you for any help! I would feel very bad if he needed to format because of this. I'm definitely not certified to do this type of work; luckily it's just my 14-year old step-brother. P.S. He's using Windows XP Pro, and I'm unsure of what service pack he had installed. The hard drive is IDE. If any additional information would help, please let me know.

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_... http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/...

Thank you, I will try that guide from Kelly's Corner. Thanks for the other link, too, but I don't have the option to repair at that point.

Get into the recovery console, commands here http://www.microsoft.com/resources/... I think chkdsk /r might repair it. Google for more info. To get his files back, try knoppix or ultimate boot cd 4 windows. These allow you to boot into ram & hopefully see his files. You will then need to copy them to a dvd/cd or usb. I did a quick google with your error message & came up with several answers.

Thank you both for the great help. I used the first guide in jam's post and had success with it (well, so far, anyway. It looks like all the windows settings are defaulted... I'm still stuck at the login screen with no password).

Google for password recovery tools. Also Hirens boot cd has some.