Windows 2000 Boot Probs

  • Thread starter Thread starter Phil
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Phil

Hope someone can help with this one, when booting laptop,
goes through boot but then blue screens and restarts.
Message that appears onblue screen briefly before restart
is:

The registry cannot load the hive (file)
\systemroot\system32\config\software
or its log or alternate
It is corrupt, absent or not writable

Beginning dump of physical memory

Tried using boot disks and then using Recovery Console but
owner has no idea of admin password. Any ideas would be
appreciated.
 
If the software hive is corrupt, it may be possible to rename the software
hive found in;
%windir%\system32\config\software
to software.old
then copy the most recent backup found in
%windir%\repair\regback
as
%windir%\system32\config\software

If that fails you can copy/ use the file
%windir%\repair\software
This file is an image of the hive at the time the OS was installed, so you'd
have to reinstall all software. This being the case you might just as well
blow it away and start a new install. (note: this would at least allow you
to start the OS to make any necessary backups prior to wiping the drive.)

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
RecoveryConsole quits and restarts the computer. 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 MVP [Windows NT/2000 Operating Systems]
 
-----Original Message-----
Hope someone can help with this one, when booting laptop,
goes through boot but then blue screens and restarts.
Message that appears onblue screen briefly before restart
is:

The registry cannot load the hive (file)
\systemroot\system32\config\software
or its log or alternate
It is corrupt, absent or not writable

Beginning dump of physical memory

Tried using boot disks and then using Recovery Console but
owner has no idea of admin password. Any ideas would be
appreciated.
.
Click to expand...
Sounds like there was a major system change that managed
to unauth the w2k installation. Sounds like you need to
either A)crack the password B)Refresh OS installation by
way of updating with system install disk.
A) is fairly easy :o doh! given the right tools
there are a number of tools available for that task
my favorite and most dependable is 'locksmith' by
Winternals...but its pricey so if you have fileshare like
kazaa try to download it. The other thing you might want
to do is check out Bart's PE Builder ...just punch it in
to google and youll get a link to his page...takes awhile
to make one but its a hell of a tool to have allowing you
to access any system with CD-ROM using a shell that
operates off of the CD-ROM allowing you to run diagnostics
and repairs. It is a hell of a lot cheaper than what I
paid for ERD 2002 by Winternals which used to cost about a
grand but now sets its licensing to only named systems :(
Bart's PE Builder ...but you will need a Windows XP disc
or mounted iso to build it so ask around ;)
 
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