WinXP Home Registry File Failure - PLEASE HELP

[Smash144]

Okay, a friend of mine brought her laptop to me with this problem.

Upon loading windows XP home, the system halts and gives this error:

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.

Beginning dump of physical memory.
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact your system adminsitrator or technical support group for further assistance.


I get this error when trying to load windows normally, in safe mode, or with the 'last known good configuration'... basically... any which way I try.

Now, I've tried loading up the windows xp recovery console, and I have checked that the file \windows\system32\config\SECURITY (as wel as SECURITY.log) is in fact present on the hard drive.. meaning it must be 'currupt' or not writable.

My question is this: Aside from the obvious re-install windows... What can I do? I'm trying to get AROUND having to format and re-install here... Any help or advice is appreciated.

 

[toant103]

did she delete something?

 

[bsobel]

Any chance of a backup you can grab the file from? Does security.alt exist? If its the log file, try renaming it and rebooting. The system will recreate that if needed.
Bill

 

[Smash144]

thanks for the help guys, but I found an article in the microsoft knowledge database that helped me out. And no.. the file wasn't deleted.. it was just corrupt somehow.. I had to restore the original registry files that windows backs up upon install, and find the most recent restore point.. it's pretty much back to normal. Some drivers needed to be reinstalled.. but it was better than having to format!