[Jonathan]

It all happened when I tried to use System Recovery. But before it could even start, I got the blue screen message of death:

STOP: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}
The registry cannot load the hive (File):
\SystemRoot\system32\config\SECURITY
or its log or alternate.
It is corrupt, absent, or not writable

I decided to find a solution on Google and stumbled upon several helpful websites. One in particular was a microsoft website. I printed the instructions to repair the file. I restarted the computer and repeatedly pressed F8. Then I chose Load Last Known Good. Next I chose Recovery Console. At the Recovery Console command prompt, I successfully typed:

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

pressing enter after each line. When I used the next set of commands,

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

it said that windows\repair\system is missing or is in the wrong directory. The other files seem to be there. When I encountered this, I panicked. So I then typed

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

and I restarted the comp and decided to get help. This site has helped me with my virus problem and I really appreciate that. I hope that you guys can help me again. Thanks so much in advance!

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I wasn't sure weather you could repair one or two files or you have to repair all of those files at once.

[Jonathan]

I wasn't sure weather you could repair one or two files or you have to repair all of those files at once.

[admin]

Was your installation of Windows XP preinstalled when you purchased your system? That fix doesn't work for OEM installations.

[Jonathan]

No, it was not preinstalled.

[Jonathan]

Could I just fix the SECURITY file instead of all of them? I think that it may cause some problems though. Please tell me what you think. Thanks