How to Fix an Windows XP System that Won’t Boot into Safe Mode
The following is totally copied from myfixes.com excellent article.
This article applies to the following type of errors:
| Unmountable Boot Volume
Can’t run System Restore in normal mode or safe mode, can’t open programs Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\… Stop: … {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive. System error: Lsass.exe |
Resolution:
A. Boot the system into the Recovery Console and CHKDSK
| 1. Insert the Windows XP cd into the top cd drive 2. Turn the computer off 3. Setup the computer to boot from cd: either by pressing F2, F9 or Delete to go in BIOS or by pressing F12 on Dell computers to launch the Boot Device Menu 4. As soon as you get the message Press any key to boot from the cd hit enter. 5. Wait ~3 minutes for the Windows Setup to initialize 6. At the Welcome to Setup screen press R to repair windows using recovery console. 7. Wait a couple of minutes while setup examines the hard drive. 8. You will be prompted to choose a Windows installation. Press 1 on the top of the keyboard and then 9. You will be prompted to enter the Administrator password. Press Enter if no password was set. 10. Perform a disk check: chkdsk /p 11. Type exit to restart the computer. |
B. Perform the System Restore
Inside the Recovery Console type the following commands to change the directory to the system restore directory:
| cd \ cd system~1 |
If you get an Access Denied error:click here
If you don’t get an Access Denied error :
| cd _resto~1 |
If there is no _resto~1 folder or if there are no restore points inside it:click here
If the _resto~1 folder exists, inside it there are several folders named RP1, RP2. These are restore points. RP1 is the oldest restore point. You can use
| dir |
to view what RP folders are available. If no restore points are available click here. Otherwise choose the most convenient RP folder. Supposing we have RP3 available let’s type in:
| cd rp3 |
Change the directory to snapshot:
| cd snapshot |
Restore the main registry branches. If you are being asked if you want to overwrite type in y to agree.
| copy _registry_machine_system c:\windows\system32\config\system copy _registry_machine_software c:\windows\system32\config\software The following commands are most of the time optional however the process might not work if they are not executed copy _registry_machine_security c:\windows\system32\config\security |
Type exit to reboot the system. Start the computer normally
Based on:
The support.microsoft.com article:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q307545&ID=KB;EN-US;Q307545
The icompute.info article:
http://www.icompute.info/System_restore_from_xp_cd.htm
Posted under Microsoft
This post was written by Content Curator on November 19, 2009
