I have been given a PC to repair. It won't boot into Windows with the message windows could not start... windows\system32\config\system. Anyways, been here before and sorted it by doing a repair install. Unfortunatly this time the repair option isn't available when I boot off the CD (even though it's the same cd i used to install it). Is this because there is a more serious problem and it's not recognising the installation? I realise a format is probably my next option but would appreciate some advice before I go for that. Thanks Si

simonscholey, can you boot from the CD in order to access the option/files? Perhaps you simply need to boot from CD and copy the missing file to 'C'??? HTH. Ed in Texas.

no need for a repair installation in a case like this as you should know if you have 'been there before'. all you have to do is replace the corrupt 'system' file with the one kept safe in the 'repair' folder. to do so: boot from xp cdrom into recovery console (or any other boot cd that supports ntfs read/write acces - ntfs4dos) manually copy the file c:\windows\repair\system to c:\windows\system32\config or: if you don't know how to use the console, you can always use a windows Live CD such as Bart PE. Today's subliminal thought is: 'Calm down ... it's only ones and zeros.' icq 10183575

Hi, I recently had to go through the same. The first thing to notice is if your original CD came with SP1 and you have upgraded to SP2. Second, if you have Norton goback installed and functioning you must disable it while doing repair installation. Third, some OEM CD´s don´t repair installation without special technique. It then comes down to making a new CD from your original with SP2 using "slipstreaming" which you can GOOGLE for. I used the free program nLite to do the work for me and make an ISO to write to a new CD and then a repair install could be made.