Hi all,

I was doing some stuff on my laptop the other day and all of sudden a blue screen flashed and the laptop rebooted itself. However it didn't get into windows xp because it displayed the following error message:

windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \windows\system32\config\system

I copied this into google and found out that i needed to repair windows. This way i would be able to keep all my data without losing it. I started to follow this guide:

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/How-to-repa...ws-XP-t138.html

However i got stuck on the third step after i pressed F8 to accept the terms and conditions. Instead of it displaying the screenshot shown in the guide, it displayed this one:

http://www.sumedh.info/pictures/install-xp...tion-format.png

Please can someone help me and tell me how to fix this problem without losing my data on the laptop.

Thanks in advance.

sorry the second link didnt work. here is another one you can use:

http://www.simplyguides.net/images/guides/xp_home_install/7a.jpg

Also i can't go into windows and need the data so i can't to a fresh installation of xp.
I cannot get into windows as the error message just comes when i switch the laptop on so i need to repair windows without losing the data on my hard drive
p.s thats not my actual screenshot of mine but it is the same screen that appears only with my hard drive.

Page not found on the second link you gave

If you have a problem with repairing windows, the first place to look is microsoft's support page. What you find on Google may be a source of more nasty malware. Bad guys often manipulate google ranks of fake support sites that install software on your PC without your approval.

If you want to try to repair a windows installation, you have two options:
- run the recovery console if you installed that when you installed windows. most people don't. It is the best way to repair things, but it is not for the timid

- insert the windows xp (or vista) setup CD or DVD, boot from the CD and select the repair (rather than install fresh) option. This often works.

Try this before you reformat and lose everything.

Good luck.