Recover a Corrupted System File of Windows

Recover a Corrupted System File

I turned on my computer and as it was starting up I accidentally turned off

the power strip on the floor, shutting off the computer. Now, when I try to

start up the computer I get the following error message: "Windows could not

start because the following file is missing or corrupt:

\windows\system32\config\system. You can attempt to repair this file by

starting Windows Setup using the original Setup CD-ROM. Select ' r ' at the

first screen to start repair."
If an essential Windows file gets whacked by a virus or otherwise corrupted, restore it from the Windows CD. Search the CD for the filename, replacing the last character with an underscore; for example, Notepad.ex_. If it's found, open a command prompt and enter the command EXPAND, followed by the full pathname of the file and of the desired destination: EXPAND D:\SETUP\NOTEPAD.EX_ C:\Windows\NOTEPAD.EXE. If either pathname contains any spaces, surround it with double quotes.

If the file isn't found, search on the unmodified filename. It will probably be inside a CAB file, which Win XP treats as a folder. Simply right-drag and copy the file to the desired location. In other Windows platforms, search for a file matching *.cab that contains the filename. When the search is done, open a command prompt and enter EXTRACT /L followed by the desired location, the full pathname of the CAB file, and the desired filename; for example: EXTRACT /L C:\Windows D:\I386\Driver.cab Notepad.exe. Again, if the destination or CAB file pathname contains spaces, surround it with double quotes.