Easy Method

1/ Restart your PC.

2/ Keep tapping the F8 Button until a menu appears.

3/ When the menu appears use the UP and DOWN arrow keys to select the ‘Last known good
configuration’ option.

4/ Once selected press Enter.

5/ Your PC should now reinstall the ‘last known good configuration file’

6/ Restart your PC and see if the problem has been solved

7/ If it hasn’t go on to the Harder Method below.

Harder Method

Step One

1/ Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM and restart your pc.

2/ At the ‘Welcome to Setup’ screen press R to start the recovery Console.

3/ The Recovery Console will now open and the list of Windows installations will appear.

4/ As you only have one installation on your PC you need to press the number which is relevant
to your installations location. This, obviously will typically be 1 (one).

5/ When requested type in your Administrator password. If you haven’t set an administrator
password, then simply press Enter.

6/ The Recovery Console command prompt window will now appear.

7/ At the Command prompt type the following, pressing Enter after you have typed each line.
It is assumed that your root directory will be C: However, if your root directory isn't C:, for
example, if you have other partitions/drives on your system you may have installed XP to say the
D: drive, the you will need to substitute each reference to C: with the letter of your root
directory.

• md tmp
• copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak
• copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak
• copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak
• copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\tmp\security.bak
 • copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\tmp\default.bak

• delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
• delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
• delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
• delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
• delete c:\windows\system32\config\default

• copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system

• copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
• copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
• copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
• copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default

8/ Now type Exit to exit the recovery console.

9/ Finally restart your pc

Step Two

10/ When the PC restarts log on as Administrator. if you are using Windows XP Home you can
only log on as Administrator via Safe Mode.

11/ The next step is to copy the registry files from their backed up location using system restore.
However, before you can begin you need to set the folder options in Windows Explorer to Show
Hidden Files and Folders.

12/ Open Windows Explorer.

13/ Click the Tools option on the main toolbar.

14/ From the drop down menu click on Folder options.

15/ In the Folder options window click the View tab.

16/ Look down the file list until you come to a section marked Hidden Files and Folders.

17/ Click on the Radio button on the left of the option Show hidden Files and Folders to enable
this option.

18/ Next move down two lines and remove the check mark next to the option Hide Protected
operating system files (Recommended).
19/ You will receive a message informing you that editing or deleting these files could cause
damage to your system. Click Yes to confirm that you want to display these files.

20/ From the folder/directory list in Windows explorer click on the drive where you installed
Windows XP.

21/ Open the System Volume Information folder (The folder appears dimmed). If you receive a
System volume Information is not accessible. Access denied Error message, see Microsoft
Knowledgebase Article 309531.

22/ Inside you will find one or more folders that look something like this "_restore{87BD3667-
3246-476B-923F-F86E30B3E7F8}".

23/ If the folders are displayed as icons or thumbnails click the View option on the main toolbar
and click on Details to give a more detailed view of the files.

24/ Select a file that was not created at the current time and that starts with RPx (these are
Restore Points).

25/ Open one of these folders and look for a Snapshot folder - for example: C:\System Volume
Information\_restore{D86480E3-73EF-47BC-A0EB-A81BE6EE3ED8}\RP1\Snapshot.

26/ From this snapshot folder copy the following files to C:\Windows\tmp folder.

• _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT
• _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY
• _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
• _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM
• _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM

27/ Now rename the files as follows:

• Rename _REGISTRY_USER_DEFAULT to DEFAULT

• Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY to SECURITY
• Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE to SOFTWARE
• Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM to SYSTEM
• Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM to SAM

Step Three

28/ You now have to delete the existing registry files and copy the system restore registry files
to the C:\Windows\System32\Config folder. You can do this either by using Recovery Console
or (if you file system is FAT32) by using a Windows 98 Start Up Disk) Whichever method you
use you will be presented with a command prompt. At the command prompt type the following,
remembering to press Enter after you have typed each line.
 • del c:\windows\system32\config\sam
• del c:\windows\system32\config\security
• del c:\windows\system32\config\software
• del c:\windows\system32\config\default
• del c:\windows\system32\config\system

29/ Now type the following, pressing Enter after you have typed each line:

• copy c:\windows\tmp\software c:\windows\system32\config\software

• copy c:\windows\tmp\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
• copy c:\windows\tmp\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
• copy c:\windows\tmp\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
• copy c:\windows\tmp\default c:\windows\system32\config\default

30/ Finally Exit Recovery Console and Restart your PC (If you are using the Windows 98 startup
disk simply press CTRL-ALT-DEL to restart your pc.

Step Four

31/ After your PC has rebooted click the Start button followed by All Programs.

32/ From the All Programs menu click Accessories.

33/ From the Accessories drop down menu click on System Restore.

34/ From the System Restore window click on the Restore to a Previous Restore Point option
and restore your pc to a previous restore point.