Stop:c0000218{Registry File Failure}registry cannot load the hive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rex
  • Start date Start date
R

Rex

Am running XP Home edition SP2 on toshiba laptop. Started getting black
screen. Managed to get to point where the laptop is not continuously
rebooting and managed to log on and check off "restart on failure box". The
laptop crashed a day later and now gives blue screen error
"Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive
(file): \SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate".

I do not have floppy drive. I do not have home edition installation setup
cd or restore installation on laptop. I have managed to get hold of XP
Professional edition setup disk.
I have tried to follow instructions on "How to recover from a corrupted
registry that prevents Windows XP from starting document"
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/en-us ) as i can get to the recovery
console command prompt, but get stuck at part one

md tmp
copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\tmp\security.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\tmp\default.bak

delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
delete c:\windows\system32\config\default

copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default

i get the error message after typing "copy c:\windows\repair\system
c:\windows\system32\config\system" the system cannot find the file specified.
If the setup disk id 'd:', what location would the required files be at.

Can anyone suggest any other fixes. I would like to fix this before it
needs to go back to uni on sunday.

Thanks, REX
 
"Rex" <Rex@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:46C61442-D76B-4032-85D8-5B9FD60F9F72@microsoft.com...
> Am running XP Home edition SP2 on toshiba laptop. Started getting black
> screen. Managed to get to point where the laptop is not continuously
> rebooting and managed to log on and check off "restart on failure box".
> The
> laptop crashed a day later and now gives blue screen error
> "Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive
> (file): \SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate".
>
> I do not have floppy drive. I do not have home edition installation setup
> cd or restore installation on laptop. I have managed to get hold of XP
> Professional edition setup disk.
> I have tried to follow instructions on "How to recover from a corrupted
> registry that prevents Windows XP from starting document"
> (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/en-us ) as i can get to the
> recovery
> console command prompt, but get stuck at part one
>
> md tmp
> copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak
> copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak
> copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak
> copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\tmp\security.bak
> copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\tmp\default.bak
>
> delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
> delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
> delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
> delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
> delete c:\windows\system32\config\default
>
> copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
> copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
> copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
> copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
> copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default
>
> i get the error message after typing "copy c:\windows\repair\system
> c:\windows\system32\config\system" the system cannot find the file
> specified.
> If the setup disk id 'd:', what location would the required files be at.
>
> Can anyone suggest any other fixes. I would like to fix this before it
> needs to go back to uni on sunday.
>

Sounds to me like your "repair" subdirectories are empty. Browse over to
them and see if they even exist.
If I recall you will start out Recovery Console at C:\Windows. Is so, type:

CD repair

that gets you into the "repair" folder.

Type: dir /p

That will list the contents of the repair directory, pausing at each page
full of information. Look to see if those sub-folders (system, software,
etc.) are there. If not, give up, you won't get anywhere with that fix. If
they are there, you can access each one by doing the same thing as before,
just substituting the next folders' name:

CD system
or
CD software
etc.

Look at the contents of those folders and see if anything is in them. If
they are empty, give up.

In order to check each folder, you will need to "back out" of the previous.
Once inside the "system" folder (or any of the others,) to get into one of
the others to check, you will need to back up to the previous (repair)
folder first. Do this by typing:

CD ..\

Good luck!
 
Rex wrote:

> Am running XP Home edition SP2 on toshiba laptop. Started getting
> black screen. Managed to get to point where the laptop is not
> continuously rebooting and managed to log on and check off "restart
> on failure box". The laptop crashed a day later and now gives blue
> screen error "Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry
> cannot load the hive (file): \SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or
> its log or alternate".
>
> I do not have floppy drive. I do not have home edition installation
> setup cd or restore installation on laptop. I have managed to get
> hold of XP Professional edition setup disk.
> I have tried to follow instructions on "How to recover from a
> corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting document"
> (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/en-us ) as i can get to the
> recovery console command prompt, but get stuck at part one
>
> md tmp
> copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak
> copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak
> copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak
> copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\tmp\security.bak
> copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\tmp\default.bak
>
> delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
> delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
> delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
> delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
> delete c:\windows\system32\config\default
>
> copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
> copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
> copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
> copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
> copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default
>
> i get the error message after typing "copy c:\windows\repair\system
> c:\windows\system32\config\system" the system cannot find the file
> specified. If the setup disk id 'd:', what location would the
> required files be at.
>
> Can anyone suggest any other fixes. I would like to fix this before
> it needs to go back to uni on sunday.
>
> Thanks, REX

Hi Rex,

Use a BartPE Bootable CD to repair your system. Follow the directions
on how to create a BartPE Bootable CD from their website.Use a working
Windows 2000/XP/2003 machine to create the Bart PE Bootable CD.

Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Boot the computer with the BartPE CD.

This procedure assumes Windows XP is installed on the C Drive.

Navigate to this folder on your Hard drive:

c:\windows\system32\config

Copy the following files to a temp folder, if present:

system
software
sam
security
default

Then delete the above files from "c:\windows\system32\config".

Navigate to the following folder:

c:\System Volume
Information\_restore{D86480E3-73EF-47BC-A0EB-A81BE6EE3ED8}

NOTE: "_restore{D86480E3-73EF-47BC-A0EB-A81BE6EE3ED8}" will have a
different name on your computer.

Now there should be folders with names like RP1, RP2, RP3 and so on.
Open the folder with the highest RP# then open the "Snapshot" folder.

Copy the following files to "c:\windows\system32\config":

_REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM

Rename the files in "c:\windows\system32\config""

Rename _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT to DEFAULT
Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY to SECURITY
Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE to SOFTWARE
Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM to SYSTEM
Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM to SAM

Reboot the machine and see if you can use Windows.

--
William Crawford
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
 

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