[bboyspriet]

one day i turned it on and lots of my files, mostly the ones in the "my documents" area were missing, and much of the other programs were out of whack

i restarted it and and the computer showed a blue screen saying it was checking the disk for incosistencies. after that 5 minute thing, it wouldnt boot correctly, and the screen came on saying that the file c:\windows\system32\config\system was corrupt or missing

i then fixed it by using the windows xp cd and and did the repair thing and replaced the system file with one from a previous restore point
it was ultimately like this
c:\system~1\_resto~1\rp44\snapshot> copy _registry_machine_system c:\windows\system32\config\system

it was then able to boot, but everything was still messed up - for example, the background is completely blank; the bookmarks, cookies, and other internet settings i had before are gone; i had to re-register many of my programs; certain saves and files are missing in the "user's" documents area

is there a way to restore everything to before the messup? ive tried replacing system32\config\system with ones from different restore points, but it all seems the same. ive looked in the system volume info folder snapshots and i also see software, security, sam, ntuser, ntuserclass, and lots of other stuff. will replacing these help me? any other ideas or ways to fix it?

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My method when I restore registry from snapshot. Is This method

Does a regular system restore work?
See if you can do a system restore back to before you had the C:\windows\system32\config\system error came up.

In short to answer your question No not really. Sometimes on a system restore things have to be reinstalled and settings have to be redone. That is why I do them as a last resort. That is also why I choose repair install and recovering registry from snapshot as a last resort because this can happen.

Edited by tuxmaster, 27 May 2007 - 06:52 PM.

[anzenketh]

My method when I restore registry from snapshot. Is This method

Does a regular system restore work?
See if you can do a system restore back to before you had the C:\windows\system32\config\system error came up.

In short to answer your question No not really. Sometimes on a system restore things have to be reinstalled and settings have to be redone. That is why I do them as a last resort. That is also why I choose repair install and recovering registry from snapshot as a last resort because this can happen.

Edited by tuxmaster, 27 May 2007 - 06:52 PM.

[macten]

Looks like tuxmaster has some good info there. Take a look at this also:

http://www.help2go.c...or_corrupt.html

[bboyspriet]

thnx. actually the second one from help to go is the one i used.

so what exactly do sam, security, system, and software each do? and whatabout the others?

[anzenketh]

This is something that I covered only briefly in my travels of the regestry but from what I can gather at the moment. (dumbed down and explained to me once I may be off a bit)

System has system configuration settings
Sam has User information settings
Security has security settings.
And software has software settings.

For more information on the registry please see HERE

But beware on your travels of the registry for it can be a dangerous place. And only preform changes with extreme Guidance. (This is exactly why the Malware specialists go though training. )

I tend to when I recover the registry from hives recover them all because they seam from what i have explored to be intertwined even though it is possibly not necessary.