was working fine untill i removed virtual drive then it told me to restart and i get blue sreen that says this. "the registry cannot load the hive (file): \systemroot\system32\config\sofware or its log or alternate. it is corrupt, absent, or not writable" then it does a dump. i have reinstalled another c\windows1 and can use pc but has no files on the desktop and it wont let me in the old folder. if i have to fomat that is ok but i need the files i had on my old desktop folder. am i stuffed, what went wrong? thanks for any help

Safest way is to > Slave it to another HD/comp ( no need to bolt it in, just cable it & leave it outside the case ) & copy your stuff onto the other HD or other media. You may have a choice of jumper settings on the master HD, such as master with slave or ms.

sadly it a laptop but if its my only option i will take drive out tommorow and fit it into a usb box and see how we go. thanks for quick reply :)

Here is another way. How to troubleshoot registry corruption issues http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=822705

Hi jaydamuss, Johnw, hello everyone, jaydamuss, You can use a LAPTOP to IDE HARD DRIVE ADAPTER to slave the drive in a desktop. Best Regards and Wishes, Mesich, Webmaster of mesich.com Currently stored on a temporary webhost.

Hi Mesich, I was going to post that way, but did find the fix, glad you put it in, because it still may be the easiest way.

Hi Johnw, Yeah, it's nice to have around if one works on laptops or owns one. Best Regards and Wishes, Mesich, Webmaster of mesich.com Currently stored on a temporary webhost.