From Windows 2000 Setup, Choose Emergency Repair Process, Even Without ERD?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jo
  • Start date Start date
J

Jo

(Yesterday I posted this in the Windows 2000 General newsgroup. I
think I should have posted it here. I am not double posting
intentionally. After I post this I will try to delete the post from
Windows 2000 General)

My stepfather's PC is unbootable and runs Windows 2000 Professional
with one partition that spans the entire hard drive. There is a
corrupted WINNT\system32\config\system folder, unsaved files must be
recovered and I will need to use Windows 2000 Setup.

I first tried to get the computer to boot into Windows 2000 by using
all startup options including Safe Mode and Last Known Good
Configuration. None worked. I then found no Emergency Recovery Disk
(ERD) exists. Uh Oh. Less important there is no Windows 2000 CD which
physically cracked and was thrown away. I have Windows 2000 Boot Disks
which I will use tommorrow to recover his data files and hopefully the
partition itself.

I plan to use four Windows 2000 boot floppies to get to the Windows
2000 Setup screen. Then I can select to repair it by either 1) the
Recovery Console or 2) the Emergency Repair Process. I would choose
Emergency Repair Process instead of Recovery Console if there was an
ERD, for sure, and even without an ERD, I plan to choose Emerency
Repair Process. Below is my reasoning and at least today right now
how I think it will happen...

After the fourth Windows 2000 boot disk, Windows 2000 Setup will
appear, and I will choose Emergency Repair Process. Here I will be
prompted for the ERD. Without an ERD I think that Windows 2000 Setup
can still try to automatically find the files that would have been on
an ERD. These would be files created during the original installation.
Is this right? Does it sometimes work?

That would be great...

Again and re-phrased in case I wasn't clear...

Without an ERD, is it still worth trying the Emergency Repair Process?
Could Windows 2000 sometimes find original System files and reinstall
them over corrupt ones?

Again and re-phrased in case I wasn't clear

That would be great...

:-)
 
If the system hive is corrupt, and assuming you already tried LKG, It may be
possible to rename the system hive found in
%windir%\system32\config\system
to system.old
then rename
%windir%\system32\config\system.alt
to
%windir%\system32\config\system

You can also try using the most recent backup found in
%windir%\repair\regback

If that fails you haven't much choice but to copy/ use the
original-as-installed system hive from
%windir%\repair\system
to
%windir%\system32\config\system
You'll need to reinstall the device drivers for any hardware added since the
original OS install.

To start the Recovery Console, start the computer from the Windows 2000
Setup CD or the Windows 2000 Setup floppy disks. If you do not have Setup
floppy disks and your computer cannot start from the Windows 2000 Setup CD,
use another Windows 2000-based computer to create the Setup floppy disks.
Press ENTER at the "Setup Notification" screen. Press R to repair a Windows
2000 installation, and then press C to use the Recovery Console. The
Recovery Console then prompts you for the administrator password. If you do
not have the correct password, Recovery Console does not allow access to the
computer. If an incorrect password is entered three times, the Recovery
Console quits and restarts the computer. Note If the registry is corrupted
or missing or no valid installations are found, the Recovery Console starts
in the root of the startup volume without requiring a password. You cannot
access any folders, but you can carry out commands such as chkdsk, fixboot,
and fixmbr for limited disk repairs. Once the password has been validated,
you have full access to the Recovery Console, but limited access to the hard
disk. You can only access the following folders on your computer:
%systemroot% and %windir%


--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| (Yesterday I posted this in the Windows 2000 General newsgroup. I
| think I should have posted it here. I am not double posting
| intentionally. After I post this I will try to delete the post from
| Windows 2000 General)
|
| My stepfather's PC is unbootable and runs Windows 2000 Professional
| with one partition that spans the entire hard drive. There is a
| corrupted WINNT\system32\config\system folder, unsaved files must be
| recovered and I will need to use Windows 2000 Setup.
|
| I first tried to get the computer to boot into Windows 2000 by using
| all startup options including Safe Mode and Last Known Good
| Configuration. None worked. I then found no Emergency Recovery Disk
| (ERD) exists. Uh Oh. Less important there is no Windows 2000 CD which
| physically cracked and was thrown away. I have Windows 2000 Boot Disks
| which I will use tommorrow to recover his data files and hopefully the
| partition itself.
|
| I plan to use four Windows 2000 boot floppies to get to the Windows
| 2000 Setup screen. Then I can select to repair it by either 1) the
| Recovery Console or 2) the Emergency Repair Process. I would choose
| Emergency Repair Process instead of Recovery Console if there was an
| ERD, for sure, and even without an ERD, I plan to choose Emerency
| Repair Process. Below is my reasoning and at least today right now
| how I think it will happen...
|
| After the fourth Windows 2000 boot disk, Windows 2000 Setup will
| appear, and I will choose Emergency Repair Process. Here I will be
| prompted for the ERD. Without an ERD I think that Windows 2000 Setup
| can still try to automatically find the files that would have been on
| an ERD. These would be files created during the original installation.
| Is this right? Does it sometimes work?
|
| That would be great...
|
| Again and re-phrased in case I wasn't clear...
|
| Without an ERD, is it still worth trying the Emergency Repair Process?
| Could Windows 2000 sometimes find original System files and reinstall
| them over corrupt ones?
|
| Again and re-phrased in case I wasn't clear
|
| That would be great...
|
| :-)
 
My thanks to Dave Patrick, whose instructions I followed and worked
perfectly.

I booted into Windows Setup, using the four floppies and chose the
Recovery Console. From there, I renamed system to system.old, and
system.alt to system. Rebooted. Wahoo!!!

Good learning experience, and may Dave Patrick be one step closer to
computer Zen for his help and wisdom!

Dave Patrick said:
If the system hive is corrupt, and assuming you already tried LKG, It may be
possible to rename the system hive found in
%windir%\system32\config\system
to system.old
then rename
%windir%\system32\config\system.alt
to
%windir%\system32\config\system

You can also try using the most recent backup found in
%windir%\repair\regback

If that fails you haven't much choice but to copy/ use the
original-as-installed system hive from
%windir%\repair\system
to
%windir%\system32\config\system
You'll need to reinstall the device drivers for any hardware added since the
original OS install.

To start the Recovery Console, start the computer from the Windows 2000
Setup CD or the Windows 2000 Setup floppy disks. If you do not have Setup
floppy disks and your computer cannot start from the Windows 2000 Setup CD,
use another Windows 2000-based computer to create the Setup floppy disks.
Press ENTER at the "Setup Notification" screen. Press R to repair a Windows
2000 installation, and then press C to use the Recovery Console. The
Recovery Console then prompts you for the administrator password. If you do
not have the correct password, Recovery Console does not allow access to the
computer. If an incorrect password is entered three times, the Recovery
Console quits and restarts the computer. Note If the registry is corrupted
or missing or no valid installations are found, the Recovery Console starts
in the root of the startup volume without requiring a password. You cannot
access any folders, but you can carry out commands such as chkdsk, fixboot,
and fixmbr for limited disk repairs. Once the password has been validated,
you have full access to the Recovery Console, but limited access to the hard
disk. You can only access the following folders on your computer:
%systemroot% and %windir%


--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| (Yesterday I posted this in the Windows 2000 General newsgroup. I
| think I should have posted it here. I am not double posting
| intentionally. After I post this I will try to delete the post from
| Windows 2000 General)
|
| My stepfather's PC is unbootable and runs Windows 2000 Professional
| with one partition that spans the entire hard drive. There is a
| corrupted WINNT\system32\config\system folder, unsaved files must be
| recovered and I will need to use Windows 2000 Setup.
|
| I first tried to get the computer to boot into Windows 2000 by using
| all startup options including Safe Mode and Last Known Good
| Configuration. None worked. I then found no Emergency Recovery Disk
| (ERD) exists. Uh Oh. Less important there is no Windows 2000 CD which
| physically cracked and was thrown away. I have Windows 2000 Boot Disks
| which I will use tommorrow to recover his data files and hopefully the
| partition itself.
|
| I plan to use four Windows 2000 boot floppies to get to the Windows
| 2000 Setup screen. Then I can select to repair it by either 1) the
| Recovery Console or 2) the Emergency Repair Process. I would choose
| Emergency Repair Process instead of Recovery Console if there was an
| ERD, for sure, and even without an ERD, I plan to choose Emerency
| Repair Process. Below is my reasoning and at least today right now
| how I think it will happen...
|
| After the fourth Windows 2000 boot disk, Windows 2000 Setup will
| appear, and I will choose Emergency Repair Process. Here I will be
| prompted for the ERD. Without an ERD I think that Windows 2000 Setup
| can still try to automatically find the files that would have been on
| an ERD. These would be files created during the original installation.
| Is this right? Does it sometimes work?
|
| That would be great...
|
| Again and re-phrased in case I wasn't clear...
|
| Without an ERD, is it still worth trying the Emergency Repair Process?
| Could Windows 2000 sometimes find original System files and reinstall
| them over corrupt ones?
|
| Again and re-phrased in case I wasn't clear
|
| That would be great...
|
| :-)
Click to expand...
 
Glad to hear it helped you. Thanks for the kind words.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| My thanks to Dave Patrick, whose instructions I followed and worked
| perfectly.
|
| I booted into Windows Setup, using the four floppies and chose the
| Recovery Console. From there, I renamed system to system.old, and
| system.alt to system. Rebooted. Wahoo!!!
|
| Good learning experience, and may Dave Patrick be one step closer to
| computer Zen for his help and wisdom!
 
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