[bc5683]

I recently booted up my Toshiba laptop to find that the system registry hive was corrupted, which I attempted to fix with the Windows Restore disks downloaded from microsoft.com (Windows XP is manufacturer installed, don't have the Win XP setup disks). Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that restoring the backup, system.bak, located in the repair directory from an OEM installation of Windows will setup an admin password and totally lock you out of your system... In short, my problems are:

1. Trying to turn the machine on normally or in safe mode will immediately flash an error message: "lsass.exe - system error The password is invalid" (that's not exactly it, but that's the gist of it) and the computer will reboot.

2. Attempting to boot with Windows Restore as I did previously will not work because I now have to enter a password, which I didn't have to before (already tried a blank password)

Now there's some files on there I really wouldn't like to lose. Browsing these forums and the net and these forums have given me a few suggestions on what to do. Basically my questions are:

If I reinstall Windows XP over my current installation, will it wipe out my files? Also, will that password prompt come up before I install it? (Thus making preventing the installation...) I don't have the windows installation disks since it was a manufacturer's installation, so this would mean I would have to go out and buy a copy of Win XP.

If the above is practical, would it be feasible to save money by buying an older version of windows (i.e. 98 or ME), and install that just to back up my files? (Then I could just restore the system with the restore CD).

Thanks for reading. Any comments and/or suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

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If you perform a new installation of Windows, you will have to reinstall all your programs, and you'll likley lose your favorites, and possibly your email and contact info. As long as you don't reformat, you won't lose any data (i.e. My Documents).

Since you have to purchase a copy of WinXP to do this, you may consider bringing it to a shop. There they can use special tools like ERD Commander: http://www.winternal...002.asp?pid=erd to restore your Windows installation.

[admin]

If you perform a new installation of Windows, you will have to reinstall all your programs, and you'll likley lose your favorites, and possibly your email and contact info. As long as you don't reformat, you won't lose any data (i.e. My Documents).

Since you have to purchase a copy of WinXP to do this, you may consider bringing it to a shop. There they can use special tools like ERD Commander: http://www.winternal...002.asp?pid=erd to restore your Windows installation.

[bc5683]

Thanks, I'll look into that.