iainwh Posted May 13, 2008 Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 (edited) Hi Guys, Today I booted up my machine and everything was fine. I closed my Pc down and jumped in the shower anyway, when I goto load my pc up again I get this message "windows\system32\config\system file is missing or corrupt" I had a look on the web and found some info from microsoft and from another site that told me a load of commands to wite to fix the config prob which I did. That seems to have fixed problem number one but now the pc is saying "the registry cannot load the hive file" SystemRoot\System32|Config\SOFTWARE Is there anyway I can make a boot disk so I can run retospect express and restore only my c: drive? because if there isn't I'm daffy ducked also, if I can restore from a boot disk or from dos can I just restore only with windows backup info? cause there's a few files I've been working on over the past few days that I would rather not loose. Any help would be very much appreciated. p.s doing a wipe and reinstalling xp pro is a non starter cause I lost my manual with the code on a couple of years ago DOH! Edited May 13, 2008 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted May 13, 2008 Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 doing a wipe and reinstalling xp pro is a non starter cause I lost my manual with the code on a couple of years ago DOH! Then you are going to have a very hard time. 1) To create a bootable restore CD with Retrospect you need your Windows CD and license code. 2) To do a "live restore" of Windows, you must install a temp version of Windows, with your license code. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eppinizer Posted May 13, 2008 Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 doing a wipe and reinstalling xp pro is a non starter cause I lost my manual with the code on a couple of years ago DOH! Then you are going to have a very hard time. I've been able to get a new license code when disaster strikes my XP machine. You should be able to call Microsoft and get a replacement using some serial code thats located on your actual disc. It may take some whining, and some complaining but they will usually give up and give it to you in the end -jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainwh Posted May 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 Hi guys, Its amazing what the motivation of BSOD can do. I've found my xp pro authorization code. But even that wont fix my prob. As I said I've got some stuff on my c drive that I haven't backed up. So is there any way I can only restore the windows directory? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted May 13, 2008 Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 Before you can restore, you need to get the computer working. That usually involves reinstalling Windows, then doing a restore of the entire computer or just selected files. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eppinizer Posted May 13, 2008 Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 Is there anyway I can make a boot disk so I can run retospect express and restore only my c: drive? BTW are you running retrospect express or professional? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainwh Posted May 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 Before you can restore, you need to get the computer working. That usually involves reinstalling Windows, then doing a restore of the entire computer or just selected files. So there will be no way of getting a back up of the files I've been messing about with or made in the last couple of weeks? before I cry, It wont affect anything on my E: F: or G: drives will it? BTW are you running retrospect express or professional? express Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted May 13, 2008 Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 Changes made to C should not impact any other drive letters, unless you do something very wrong along the way. If the system won't boot, you can't use Retrospect to backup files. You would need to get a working system running before you can do another backup of C with Retrospect Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainwh Posted May 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 nice one guys, I'm reinstalling Xp Pro at the moment, and praying to whatever god will help me minimise the damage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainwh Posted May 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 Doh!!!! Now it wont accept my authorisation code AAARRRRGGGGGGHHHH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eppinizer Posted May 13, 2008 Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 (edited) Call Microsoft, tell them your situation, give them your old code and they should let you activate a new one. -Jeff Edited May 13, 2008 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainwh Posted May 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 My Authorisation code worked so I've got windows working again but everything has gone as you would expect. but the problem I have is it hasn't recognised my E: F: or G: drives, is that normal? good news It recognised my external drive and I tried to reinstall retrospect but, when I re booted there was no Icon to load the program up so could reinstall everything. so prob 1: my internal drives E: F: & G: are missing Prob 2: no icon for retrospect to do a restore. any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted May 13, 2008 Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 Sorry, I know nothing about your hardware configuration so I can not explain why EF&G don't show up. Retrospect should show in the start menu after you install it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainwh Posted May 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 Retrospect didn't show up I'm currently re installing SP2 so I'm hoping that will help matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainwh Posted May 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 I've reinstalled SP2 and I still can't find my internal drives and retrospect still doesn't show up anywhere. don't know what's going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainwh Posted May 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2008 (edited) woohoooo! I've found a way of loading retrospect up but, now I can't find the retrospect backup file, even though the prog is looking for it. If I tell it to recreate will retrospect be able to restore from the back up files already on the external drive? any help will be appreciated. *update* currently recreating backup file p.s how long is this recreate meant to take? the external HD is 500gb if that makes any difference Edited May 14, 2008 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted May 14, 2008 Report Share Posted May 14, 2008 Typical rebuild is a few hours, but everyone is different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainwh Posted May 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2008 *update* The problem now is I've got so far as getting windows running. the dantz/emc retrospect catalogue file renewed and I've restored the c: drive from my external drive back to the c: drive and Ive got my pci sata card running again so my two internal drives are back where they should be. now the problem is after restoring my c drive from from the external why didn't it restore a load of stuff like my sound card and gfx card when it restored the c drive? and also why is it asking me to activate windows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted May 14, 2008 Report Share Posted May 14, 2008 I don't know the answer to any of your questions. 1) Did you originally backup the entire C: disk, including Windows or did you use some type of selector? 2) What are the exact steps you used to restore the C: disk? You should have done the following: 1) Installed the exact same version of Windows you had installed during the most recent backup, including the service pack. 2) You install Retrospect 3) You do a Catalog Rebuild 4) You go to Restore>Restore>Switch to Advanced Mode 5) Select Restore entire volume to erase the disk and restore all data 6) You pick the Snapshot for the last successful All Files backup of the C: disk 7) You execute the restore 8) Restart the computer and login to Windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted May 14, 2008 Report Share Posted May 14, 2008 The request for activation probably happens because you have not activated Windows since installing the temporary version of Windows. I do not know how MS tracks activation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainwh Posted May 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2008 1) Did you originally backup the entire C: disk, including Windows or did you use some type of selector? Yeah, it was a brand new external hard drive with nothing on it about 3/4weeks ago. So as soon as it arrived I backed up everything, windows programmes system files the whole lot. If you go into the retrospect files you can see all my programmes and stuff are there. 2) What are the exact steps you used to restore the C: disk? Oh God he’s getting technical now You should have done the following: 1) Installed the exact same version of Windows you had installed during the most recent backup, including the service pack. It’s the only copy of windows that I have and I loaded service pack two off my external drive this am. 2) You install Retrospect 3) You do a Catalog Rebuild Both done 4) You go to Restore>Restore>Switch to Advanced Mode 5) Select Restore entire volume to erase the disk and restore all data 6) You pick the Snapshot for the last successful All Files backup of the C: disk 7) You execute the restore 8) Restart the computer and login to Windows. Switch to advanced mode Hey. Ok can I do a re-restore from the external from point 4? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted May 14, 2008 Report Share Posted May 14, 2008 You can do the restore any time you can boot windows and open Retrospect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainwh Posted May 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2008 Using what you told me: Restore in advanced mode now being executed. It told me that that about 1.7Gb hadn't been restored. which it is doing now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainwh Posted May 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2008 waiting for my other pc to reboot. {fingers crossed} pc is saying setting up personalised settings at the mo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainwh Posted May 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2008 its now saying retrospect helper service updating registry *check* deleting temp folder *check* it said something else with a check box but I missed it cause I was giving you guys a running commentary. windows will now reboot when you press ok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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