Windows XP Crash Recovery – when all else fails

Unless you are using another computer to view this, it would be better if you print out these instructions. You would need to type many commands, later. I’m typing a detailed procedure on how to recover your non-bootable Windows XP.
It’s possible that somehow your Windows registry got corrupted. But there is a backup. The only thing you need to do is to manually restore it. How do you do that? Follow the procedure below.

Boot your computer using your Windows XP CD in the drive and press enter when it asks to boot from CD (if it does not ask, then you will need to go to the CMOS setup by pressing DEL or F2 key and change the boot sequence to boot from the CD Drive).

Now, when booting from the XP CD, when you are asked if you want to do a recovery, press R and you will get this screen:
Microsoft Windows(R) Recovery Console

The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality. Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer.

1: C:\WINDOWS

Which Windows Installation would you like to log onto (To cancel, press ENTER)?


Type 1 and press enter.

Now type the commands I am putting below, one by one per line and press enter after each command:.

md c:\tmp
cd system32\config
copy system c:\tmp\system.bak
copy software c:\tmp\software.bak
copy sam c:\tmp\sam.bak
copy security c:\tmp\security.bak
copy default c:\tmp\default.bak
del system software sam security default

(The system will reply with appropriate messages after every command above, like “1 file(s) copied")

Now, type these commands, one per line and press enter after each (Take care to type the dot as it is):

copy c:\windows\repair\system .
copy c:\windows\repair\software .
copy c:\windows\repair\sam .
copy c:\windows\repair\security .
copy c:\windows\repair\default .

Now type exit and press enter and the system will reboot.

Remove the CD and boot into Windows normally, as you do before.

If the system boots in to Windows, then do the following:

Start Windows Explorer.
On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
Click the View tab.
Under Hidden Files and Folders, click to select Show Hidden Files and Folders, and then click to clear the “Hide Protected Operating System Files (Recommended)” check box.
Click Yes when the dialog box is displayed that confirms that you want to display these files.

Double-click the drive where you installed Windows XP to get a list of the folders (This is most probably, the C Drive). It’s important to click the correct drive.
Open the System Volume Information folder by double-clicking it. (This folder appears dimmed because it is set as a super-hidden folder.)

This folder contains one or more _restore {GUID} folders such as “_restore{87BD3667-3246-476B-923F-F86E30B3E7F8}”.
Open a folder that was not created at the current time. You may have to click Details on the View menu to see when these folders were created.

There may be one or more folders starting with “RP x" under this folder. These are the restore points. Open one of these folders to locate a Snapshot subfolder.

The following path is an example of a folder path to the Snapshot folder:

C:\System Volume Information_restore{D86480E3-73EF-47BC-A0EBA81BE6EE3ED8}RP1Snapshot

From the Snapshot folder, copy the following files to the C:\tmp folder with the mouse (by Ctrl-clicking them):

_registry_user_.default
_registry_machine_security
_registry_machine_software
_registry_machine_system
_registry_machine_sam

Now, once again put your XP CD in to your CD Drive and reboot the computer.

Again press R for the recovery console when you see the message for recovery.
At the console, type these commands one by one per line and press enter after every command:
cd system32\config
del sam security software default system
copy c:\windows\tmp\_registry_machine_software system
copy c:\windows\tmp\_registry_machine_system system
copy c:\windows\tmp\_registry_machine_sam sam
copy c:\windows\tmp\_registry_machine_security security
copy c:\windows\tmp\_registry_user_.default default

Now type exit and remove the CD. Boot normally into Windows and you must be back to normal.