Windows XP Repair Options

I have been asked many times, "How do I fix Windows XP". Here is a short list of things you can do to repair a Windows XP installation.

Repair Windows XP Options

1. Lost admin password Use Linux boot disk to reset admin password: “http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/”
2. Try to boot the system into the “Last Known Good Configuration”.
3. Boot into Safe Mode and try fixing from there first (disable services, or drivers ).
4. Run CHKDSK /R /P to repair disk errors.
5. Run Windows Systems Restore if XP boots.
6. Replace corrupt NTLDR file, From Recovery Console type: COPY E:\i386\NTLDR C:
7. Run System Restore from cmd prompt, type: %systemroot%\system32 restore strui.exe
8. Insert windows XP Disk and try to do a repair install “Bypass the recovery console”.
9. Recovery Console: run BOOTCFG /Rebuild to repair Boot.ini. (follow the steps below)

Ø C: ATTRIB -H C:\boot.ini

Ø C: ATTRIB -S C:\boot.ini

Ø C: ATTRIB -R C:\boot.ini

Ø C: del boot.ini

Ø C: bootcfg /rebuild

• Add installation to boot list? (Yes/No/All): Type: Y
• Enter Load Identifier: Type in any description you want that will identify the installation of Windows (e.g., Windows XP SP2)
• Enter OS Load Options, Type in: "/fastdetect" and/or "/NoExecute=OptIn" without the quotes
  

Ø C: fixboot

Typical boot.ini looks like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

1. Recovery Console: run FIXBOOT to write a new partition boot sector to the system partition
2. Recovery console: run FIXMBR to repair the master boot record.
3. Recover the registry: (press ENTER after you type each line)

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