Recovery Console problems

[enon8727]

Man I tell ya what...I've read your original post, edit #2, and edit #3, did everything you said (most after just the original post, as I knew where to get most everything) and I'm still having problems, ha. Ok, first off, did the links really work for you?? Just asking because the one for tripod.com says that the file isn't available for downloading, and the one for the screenshots says the images are not available. I got the VB plugin no problem. But besides all that, I downloaded Registry Restore Wizard from somewhere else earlier today, so I rebuilt BartPE and booted to it and started the regreswizard, got two steps into it and got:
Run-time error 52: Bad file name or number.
Son of a B.

 

[enon8727]

Whoops...sorry for the repost...

 

[Slikkster]

Did you see my post above about manually fixing this corrupted system file? Please update your status on the repair.

 

[neildoug]

I am sorting through this problem now too.
It appears as if the problem is that windows cannot (at any stage, even in the recovery console) find an installation of windows. Because it cannot find a systemroot, it defaults to not being able to access anything on the drive, outside of performing a super-long chkdsk and a dir on the c:/, the directory that it boots into and cannot move or access out of.

This is what pulled me out of the pain of this situation : 1) run chkdsk (several hours on a RAID 1 with 160 GB)--there were errors 2) do a bootcfg and have it scan for installations of windows and ADD the one that is correct (should only be one anyway). Don't add two or you will get a boot menu every time you start up. Of course, it will still work.

Now close and reboot. You go back into system restore and you have an automatic (and normal) "login" where you pick your installation to log into. No more "access denied" in system recovery!


From here, I tried the manual fix found at the beginning of this forum and had it NOT work. Then I did the BARTPE disc and it was fantastic. Everyone should have one of those lying around (with system registry restore options).

The computer is back up. Thanks to all in this forum on my behalf. I hope this helps you, OP! Just get that windows installation to be fixed, found, and registered (using fixboot), then do the BartPE thing. Now to deal with the restored registry glitches...

 

[enon8727]

First off, know that I didn't let you down...at least I'm consistent right? No, really though, it's not me, I totally understand everything that you've said it's just that I keep running into conflicts. But anyway, right now I'm in the process of building UBCD4win (finally got it), so I tried the manual way by following your instructions for A43, but get this...I got to the end, and it doesn't even have a config folder in C:\windows\system32. So I guess there lies the problem huh? Geez...so now what, ha?

 

[Slikkster]

That's rare, but I've heard of it. Here's what I would do, though.

First, in A43, create the "config" sub-folder of c:\windows\system32. So, you'll have then c:\windows\system32\config

The folder will be empty, of course.

Now, follow the instructions for the restore points I gave above, but this time you need to repeat the process for the following files:

_REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM

Copy these files to c:\windows\system32\config. Now, once there, rename them as follows:

default (no period before the name default)
SECURITY
software
system
SAM

Reboot. Hopefully it will work.

 

[enon8727]

Hmm, when I try to make a config folder, I make the new folder, rename it to config, hit enter and it'll hold up for a minute then change itself back to New Folder. I tried renaming it to configu and it'll take that, then tried to take off the u and it'll go back to configu again. You think there's some kind of virus on the thing that's set to delete the config folder?

 

[sieistganzfett]

i skimmed over those really long posts since i have ADD.. i think your using UBCD4win now to do this? when you opened C:\windows\system32 there really is no config folder?

or if your using the recovery console still, when your at C:\windows\system32, you type cd config and it wont change to that directory?

 

[enon8727]

Well my UBCD is being built literally right now, so I've been using BartPE. And yea, there's really no config folder under C:\windows\system32 and it won't let me make a config folder.

 

[Slikkster]

Try creating the folder from a command prompt instead of A43.

From BartPE's menu, open a command prompt. It's probably set to the "X:\I386" folder or something. You need to change drives to your laptop hard drive C:

Do this at the command prompt:

C: <hit enter>

you should see that you're at "C:\" in the command prompt window.

Now:

cd windows <hit enter>

cd system32 <hit enter>

dir config <hit enter>

You should get a "file not found" error after a few seconds if there is no config folder.
If you DO see a file listing in a folder named config, something weird is going on. I'm betting on the "file not found".

Now:

md config <hit enter>

This will create a folder named "config" in your c:\windows\system32 folder.

If it can't create it, you should get some kind of error, like "Access Denied" or something.

If it works, go back to A43 (two A43 windows) and copy those files from your snapshot folder to the c:\windows\system32\config folder and rename them as outlined in the post above.

Reboot.

 

[enon8727]

It's the "something weird". It showed me one file under system32 called config and just to make sure, I tried md config and it told me I couldn't because there already was one. So that's why it wouldn't let me in A43.

Actually it says there's a file config, but not a config directory. I went into the A43 window and confirmed this, there is a config file, but not a folder config.

 

[Slikkster]

Can you rename it to something else? Rename it with the command prompt.

In your system32 folder with command prompt, type:


ren config config1 <enter>

If it won't let you change the name, type this:

attrib config

If it shows the letter "S" and/or "H", this means it has system and/or hidden attributes set.

If it shows "R", it's set for read-only. It will probably show an "A" no matter what; that's fine.

In order to change the attribute(s), you need to type the following (only if you can't rename it at the command prompt):

attrib -R config <enter>

Same with the S and H, if it shows those set. Then, once done, rename it.

Once renamed, at the c:\windows\system32 prompt, type:

md config

follow instructions above for copying the snapshot files with A43.


In reality, though, this "file" shouldn't be an issue. When you're trying to create a new folder in A43, you need to specify that it's a FOLDER, not a new file. But, be that as it may, just rename the "file" named config, and then create a FOLDER with the command prompt using:

md config <enter>

Edit on renaming FOLDERS from the command line (vs files):

If the entry in your windows\system32 folder is actually a FOLDER vs a file name, you may have to use the actual full path to the directory. You shouldn't have to, but might as well cover the bases.

You would use:

ren c:\windows\system32\config config1

Just trying to jumpstart your next error report, lol.

 

[enon8727]

Score!! Finally, the laptop is up and running!

Now I tried the same thing with Big Black (Registry Restore Wizard) and it worked as well, but only for an hour at most. Then it froze, so I rebooted and got:
BOOTMGR is missing. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart.

So I tried the resrezwiz again and set it back to the second highest restore point (not expecting this to work because I think BOOTMGR is located somewhere else) to no avail. Is there something in the UBCD that I can use to fix this?

 

[Slikkster]

Two things: Congrats on the laptop. If I were you, though, I would do a full system restore from the same restore point you copied files from, as there are other files that might need to be copied into the config folder, too. Your choice. Restore from within Windows, of course.

Secondly, the bootmgr thing is a Vista deal. Here's a blurb I read about that. It's the last post in this thread: http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vista/478564-hellllp-bootmgr-gone.html

Originally Posted by Eriksrocks
When you install Vista it also adds a boot manager to your XP drive. In order for everything to work correctly, you have to have the XP drive as master and your Vista drive as slave. Then a screen should come up when you boot that asks you which installation you want to enter - "Microsoft Windows" (Vista) or "An earlier version of Windows" (XP).


This is what worked for me. I was having the same problem. However if I put the vista dvd in it would pull up the os selection screen after the Boot DVD timed out. So after reading this I went into the bios and set the drive with XP as the first boot device and that was that. It works now I am very happy. The only reason I am dual booting is because a few games are having problems in VISTA... Including Splinter Cell Double Agent.

Anyways thanks for the help this solved my problem immediately.

If this doesn't apply in your case, read the rest of the thread. Apparently, there's a mini-diagnostic on the Vista DVD that deals with boot issues.

 

[enon8727]

Well on the system restore for the laptop part, I think I'm gonna keep it as is and see how that goes because I it's been out of commission since about September 2006 so it needed a LOT of updating (as you could imagine) and I just finished all that as well as added AVG and removed 819 Trojan Horses! But I guess if there's problems with it soon down the road, I will know to try that.

On the bootmgr part, I read the whole thread and not too much applies to me or works for me except that I did notice on one of the many reboots I've done, that both my HD's are set on master. But how do you set them to different attributes like slave if they don't have the semi-old school pin/jumper setup on the back with the power and data inputs? Also, and I don't know how well you'll be able to answer this as I know BIOS's differ from system board to system board, I know how to set boot priority in my BIOS as far as HD, Optical Drive, etc., but I don't know how to set it as far as which HD to boot from first if you have two. It just gives me the option of HD in general among the other drives and external HD options. Is this because they're both set to master, possibly?

 

[Slikkster]

Ok on the system restore. I thought the problem just happened, not September. Anyway, if it's working, that's cool. Was it the renaming of the config file via command prompt that allowed you to copy the files? Please elaborate on the ultimate *fix* since others probably would like to know, too. Detail the last steps you took if you would on the laptop fix.

Bootmgr: What's your setup? I'm assuming you have a dual-boot with XP on one drive and Vista on another?

One thing I've read (and while I have Vista, I haven't installed/used it yet) is that people with your problem have two partitions (which could be on the same drive or two drives) but both partitions are "Active". Only one partition can be active at a time.

But before getting into that, please specify what the setup is on your "Big Black".

1. Are you dual-booting XP and Vista?

2. Which drives are each on, if so? (drive letters, that is).

3. Do you have a mix of SATA and PATA (regular old HDD) drives?

4. Which drive is your "bootmgr" file on? It should be at least on the root folder of one of your drives.

5. Which drive is your XP boot files on? e.g. boot.ini, ntdetect.com and ntldr?

IF your boot.ini, ntdetect.com and ntldr files are on your "C:" drive, I would copy the "bootmgr" file from the other drive to the root of your C: drive and try to boot.

IF bootmgr is on C: and ntdetect.com, ntldr and boot.ini are on D: (for example), I would copy bootmgr to the root of the D: drive.

If you are not using XP at all, copy bootmgr to the C:\ folder, or if it's there already, to the "D:" (if that's your next drive letter) folder.

Make note of your original locations for these files.

One other experiment you can try is to see if just booting up to Vista WITH THE DVD IN THE DRIVE works ok--some people have found that. Obviously, that's not desirable in the long term.

And please don't forget to post your ultimate fix for the laptop.

 

[enon8727]

Alrighty, the final steps of the fix were this..in a nutshell: I renamed the file 'config' to 'config1' then that allowed me to make a folder in the command prompt called 'config'. I guess you could've made the folder by right clicking inside the A43 window and clicking 'create new folder' too, but oh well. So once I made the folder, I drug each of the five backup registry hives that you said to over into the new 'config' folder and renamed them:
_REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM

Renamed them to:

default (no period before the name default)
SECURITY
software
system
SAM

I did each one, one at a time, not sure if it matters, but that's how I did it.

 

[enon8727]

Now for the bootmgr mess...
I have XP on my C: drive, which is unpartitioned. I have Vista on my other hard drive which is partitioned. Vista is on the D: partition of that hard drive, I have pretty much nothing but music on the L: partition of that HD, and the last partition, M:, has nothing on it (I want to put Mac OS X Leopard on it eventually). So I'm dual booting Vista and XP, which has worked fine for about a month or so. Both drives are SATA. My bootmgr file, boot.ini, ntdetect.com, and ntldr are all on the root of C: (XP). So I'm assuming that's how it should be?

 

[Slikkster]

Edit: before doing what I originally typed below, try the boot repair option in Vista with the Vista DVD. Boot up with the Vista DVD. Then, follow the instructions here:

http://apcmag.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp

Go down about a quarter of the page until you get to the part that says "Restoring Vista and Dual Booting". You'll see screen shots of how to repair the boot process. See if that works first.

Start with the line in that section that reads "Boot from the Vista DVD and on the screen where you?re prompted to ?Install now?, select ?Repair your computer?.

Original message I typed:

Well, it seems that for people that have your problem --and it's odd that it came up all of the sudden--when Vista is installed, it makes the partition it's installed on "Active", and that's the partition it wants to boot from. So, I would try --temporarily, at least--to move bootmgr or at least copy bootmgr to your D: drive (with Bartpe). See if it will boot Vista at that point.

Sounds like it's trying to boot from D: to me. Worth an experiment. You can always move (or delete from copied positions) the bootmgr from D: if it makes no difference.

 

[enon8727]

Ok, well I actually did try booting from the Vista DVD and do the "Repair your computer" thing a few days ago and it came back saying it didn't find any problems (sorry I didn't mention this)(I'm going to go ahead and try it again though). And I'm not sure if you understand, or if it even matters, but XP is my main OS. That's what I'm more worried about. I just got Vista Beta to mess around with and have never had a dual boot system before so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and make my system a dual boot Vista/XP system.

Besides all that, are you saying try copying bootmgr to the D: drive so that there's a copy on both the C: and D: drives? And as far as that article goes, shouldn't I be looking more into the link under "Scenario" for "How to dual boot Vista and XP with XP installed first"? I'm going to look into that as well.

The main thing that I don't understand with all this, is that it was all working fine for a month or so. It would boot up, ask which OS you wanted to boot to, Microsoft Windows or Earlier version of windows. So it's not like it should even be a problem with which files are on which drives, ya know?

 

[enon8727]

Oh ok, I see, you were just using the article as instructions for the Vista DVD boot fix. Gotcha. And no luck on the second try of that either. Still says no problems were found.

Now for some weird stuff. I tried moving bootmgr and copying to D: and it won't let me do anything to it..just acts like I'm clicking on open space. It is sort of clear or transparent, like a hidden file looks, which I do believe it is hidden, but it says it's not found in the command prompt too. But in My Computer on UBCD I'm looking right at it.

 

[Slikkster]

I guess the question before you proceed is this:

Do you still want to keep the Vista Beta as a boot option? If not, there's an easy way to overwrite it's boot manager.

If you do, you are going to have to repair the boot manager/loader for Vista.

I'm going to assume you want to keep Vista for now. So let's proceed with that theory.

Follow the instructions on this Microsoft Support Page. It involves booting from the Vista DVD. Here's the part to follow first from the support page

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392/en-us:



How to repair the bootmanager from the command line:

(I'm starting the copy/paste from the pertinent part of the support page. You've already tried the first part of the support page's instructions)

----------------------------------------------Info starts here---------------------------------------
MORE INFORMATION


To run the Bootrec.exe tool, you must start Windows RE. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Put the Windows Vista installation disc in the disc drive, and then start the computer.

2. Press a key when you are prompted.

3. Select a language, a time, a currency, a keyboard or an input method, and then click Next.

4. Click Repair your computer.

5. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.

6. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt.

7. Type Bootrec.exe, and then press ENTER.


Bootrec.exe options

The Bootrec.exe tool supports the following options. Use the option that is appropriate for your situation.

Note If rebuilding the BCD does not resolve the startup issue, you can export and delete the BCD, and then run this option again. By doing this, you make sure that the BCD is completely rebuilt. To do this, type the following commands at the Windows RE command prompt:

? bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup

? c:

? cd boot

? attrib bcd -s -h -r

? ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old

? bootrec /RebuildBcd

-----------------------------------end of instructions for now----------------------------------

Try rebooting after running that command sequence. Remember, you're doing this from the Recovery Environment command line part of the Vista DVD, not BartPE.

If still no go, try some of the other bootrec.exe switches mentioned later in the article.

 

[enon8727]

I ran all the commands above in the command prompt from the Vista disc and still get bootmgr is missing. So when trying different switches, I just retype the whole thing again except for the last step instead of being "bootrec /rebuildbcd" I make it "bootrec /xxxxxx", xxxxxx being whichever switch? I guess I'm just not completely understanding what that all does.

 

[Slikkster]

No, just run the boorec command with a particular switch. I would run two bootrec commands in this order:

bootrec /fixmbr

bootrec /fixboot

 

[enon8727]

I should be running these with UBCD (or BartsPE) though shouldn't I? Because all the boot stuff is on the C: drive, and the Vista Recovery Environment goes to the D: because that's where Vista is installed. BTW I did try those in the VRE and it didn't help.