Cannot Boot Windows due to Corrupt Registry

Recovering from a Corrupted Registry that will not allow you to start the Recovery Console

Microsoft have provided a way of recovering from a corrupt registry, error messages may be similar to:

Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE

Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive (file): \SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate

Their solution is contained in the following document http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545

However if you either do not know the Administrator Password, or cannot load the recovery console, follow the instructions below.

1) First you need to download Barts PE Builder from http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/#download

What is Barts PE?
[quote www.nu2.nu]
Bart's PE Builder helps you build a "BartPE" (Bart Preinstalled Environment) bootable Windows CD-Rom or DVD from the original Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installation/setup CD, very suitable for PC maintenance tasks.

It will give you a complete Win32 environment with network support, a graphical user interface (800x600) and FAT/NTFS/CDFS filesystem support. Very handy for burn-in testing systems with no OS, rescuing files to a network share, virus scan and so on.
This will replace any Dos bootdisk in no time!

PE Builder is not a Microsoft product and does not create Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment ("WinPE"). Using PE Builder does not grant you a license to Microsoft WinPE or to use the Windows XP or Server 2003 binaries in a manner other than stated in the End-User License Agreement include in your version of Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. Microsoft has not reviewed or tested PE Builder and does not endorse its use.

Please do not contact Microsoft for support on the preinstallation environment that has been created by PE Builder!
Microsoft does not provide support for PE Builder or for the preinstallation environment created by PE Builder.

The PE Builder program (pebuilder.exe) runs on Windows 2000/XP/2003. It does not run on Windows NT4/ME/9x.

To avoid any confusion, the bootable media's generated by PE Builder should be called by it's nickname "BartPE"!


2) Once you have downloaded the PE Builder you need to extract the files from the zip file, Make sure you extract all sub folders.

3)Now Download my plugin from http://www.palmersoft.co.uk/bartpe/regfix.zip

4)Open the Folder that you extracted the BartPE files to, in there you will find a Plugin folder, open this folder and then create a new Folder Called "PalmerSoft".

5)Extract the 2 files from regfix.zip to the new PalmerSoft folder.

6) Run pebuilder.exe. Follow the instructions that PE Builder gives you. If something is not clear hit the Help button

7)At one stage you will be given a list of possible plugins. Make sure you leave the "PalmerSoft's RegFix" one enabled.

Warning! Leave the "Create ISO image" option enabled, it will create the ISO image for you! Do not try to generate the ISO image using some other burning application. Most of them cannot create an ISO-9660:1999 (version 2) filesystem and if they can most of them don't boot!
If all goes well PE Builder's last message will be "Build process done..." and it will not talk about any errors or warnings.

8) Burn the generated ISO image using a burning application like Nero, Easy CD Creator, WinOnCD, CdrWin and others:
Warning! Do not record it as a regular file! You must record as an ISO image!

9) Restart your computer with the new Bart PE disk inserted. Soon after the Bios Screen disappears you will receive a prompt.
"Press Any Key to Boot from CD....", Press any key quickly as the prompt is only available for a couple of seconds.

10) Once in Barts PE, Click on Go > Programs > A43 File Management > Browse to the C:\System Volume Information folder.

11)In that folder you will see one or more sub folders that look something like "_restore{58222D5E-A31B-43A9-9FA2-4CAC8E0D93A7}", right click on each folder and select properties.
Find the folder that has the newest date.

12)Open that folder, in here you should find sub folders that start with RP. Find the highest number RP folder. Make a note of this folder, copying from _restore to RP?? will make the next step easier.

13)Click on Go > Then Run > Type d:\I386\programs\regfix\regfix.cmd _restore{58222D5E-A31B-43A9-9FA2-4CAC8E0D93A7}\RP65 (Where D: is your CD-Rom Drive, Replace _restore{58222D5E-A31B-43A9-9FA2-4CAC8E0D93A7}\RP65 with the folder you found in the last step).

IMPORTANT: Make sure that:
There is a space between regfix.exe and _restore
There are no slashes before _restore or after RP??
You Have replaced the _restore{58222D5E-A31B-43A9-9FA2-4CAC8E0D93A7}\RP65 in the command.

14) A Dos screen should appear and the list of commands above should run through, after a few seconds you will be prompted to press any key to continue.
Check the Dos Screen to make sure there are no errors.

15) Restart the machine, this time do not start Barts PE, boot normally. If everything went well you should now be back into Windows.

Credits

Bart Lagerweij for developing Barts PE