It doesn't necessarily mean that ntoskrnl.exe is missing or corrupt.
See here for more information:
"Windows NT Could Not Start...Ntoskrnl.exe" error message
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=124550
The first thing to do would be to rule out the simplest possible cause
of the error, a damaged or invalid entry in the boot.ini file. Do do so
create an NT boot floppy and try to boot the pc with it. You need access
to a Windows 2000 pc do do so. See Bart's instructions here:
How to create a Windows NT 4.0, 2000, XP or Server 2003 boot floppy disk
http://www.nu2.nu/bootdisk/ntboot/
Note Bart's instructions on the boot.ini file and Windows NT/2000. By
default the installation on these systems is winnt so you have to modify
Bart's supplied boot.ini and change WINDOWS to WINNT the modified file
will read as so:
==============================================================
[boot loader]
timeout=-1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="First harddisk, first
partition" /sos
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="First harddisk, second
partition" /sos
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="First harddisk, third
partition" /sos
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="First harddisk, fourth
partition" /sos
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="Second harddisk, first
partition" /sos
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINNT="Second harddisk, second
partition" /sos
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINNT="Second harddisk, third
partition" /sos
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(4)\WINNT="Second harddisk, fourth
partition" /sos
C:\="Previous Operating System on C:\"
====================================================================
The boot.ini file can be edited with notepad. If you want you can just
copy the text between th === lines to a notepad file and then save the
file as boot.ini We don't know how your drives and partitions are
arranged so I can't tell which of these boot options would boot your pc,
but most likely the first one would. When you boot the pc with this
boot floppy that you created you will be offered all the choices shown
in the boot.ini file to boot the pc, start with the first choice and if
the pc doesn't boot try the next one, and so on. If after trying all
the boot choices the pc can't boot then we can pretty well eliminated
the simple bad boot.ini cause (unless you have 3 hard drives and Windows
is installed on the third drive). If the pc can't start then you will
need a Windows 2000 cd to try to fix the error, unless you have one of
these computers with a factory restore partitions, which would usually
tell you when you start the pc to press a certain key (like F11 for
example) to repair the installation.
HTH
John
can anyone help.
I cannot boot Windows 2000 professional on a computer I inherited a month
ago. All fine till a few days ago when on start up it goes through a blue
screen reboot message and I end up with- Windows could not start because the
following file is missing or corrupt:
<WINDOWS2000 ROOT>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe. Please re-install a copy of
the above named file."
I can get no further than the missing or corrupt
ntoskrnl.exe file message.I have no "Last Known Good Configuration" option on
F8,any suggestions on how can I re-install a copy of the file,I have no
rescue or boot disc, can I download
a self executing version to floppy?I'm rather green at this, any help would
be really appreciated
