What is the hive file on Windows Xp

[Kamran]

On my pc i had installed Windows Xp as my operating system. The problem is that whenever i try to turn on my system, it shows an the following error messages " Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt " on your system. It shows that hive file been missing on your system. So, can any body tell me that what is the hive file? What i need to do in order to get rid of the above issue? Kindly provide me the correct solution in order to resolve the above issue.

[Calvin K]

This issue can occur if the System or Software hive for the Windows XP installation is missing or damaged. A highly fragmented SYSTEM hive can cause the maximum amount of memory to be exceeded, thereby preventing the system from booting. Defragmenting the file can be a quick fix.

[Lillebror]

Your Windows XP settings are stored in the operating system's registry. So if you want to safeguard your settings, you must learn how to protect the registry's contents. You can defragment the system drive inside Windows Xp, which is a good reason to do it on a regular basis; but if your system has sufficient contiguous free space, you can overcome the problem through the Recovery Console (RC).

[Humberto]

The system hive on OEM installations creates passwords and user accounts that did not exist previously. If you use the procedure that is described in this article, you may not be able to log back into the recovery console to restore the original registry hives. You can repair a corrupted registry in Windows XP. Corrupted registry files can cause a variety of different error messages.