Stop:c0000218{Registry File Failure}registry cannot load the hive

Am running XP Home edition SP2 on toshiba laptop. Started getting black
screen. Managed to get to point where the laptop is not continuously
rebooting and managed to log on and check off "restart on failure box". The
laptop crashed a day later and now gives blue screen error
"Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive
(file): \SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate".

I do not have floppy drive. I do not have home edition installation setup
cd or restore installation on laptop. I have managed to get hold of XP
Professional edition setup disk.
I have tried to follow instructions on "How to recover from a corrupted
registry that prevents Windows XP from starting document"
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/en-us ) as i can get to the recovery
console command prompt, but get stuck at part one

md tmp
copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\tmp\security.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\tmp\default.bak

delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
delete c:\windows\system32\config\default

copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default

i get the error message after typing "copy c:\windows\repair\system
c:\windows\system32\config\system" the system cannot find the file specified.
If the setup disk id 'd:', what location would the required files be at.

Can anyone suggest any other fixes. I would like to fix this before it
needs to go back to uni on sunday.

Thanks, REX

Sounds to me like your "repair" subdirectories are empty. Browse over to
them and see if they even exist.
If I recall you will start out Recovery Console at C:\Windows. Is so, type:

CD repair

that gets you into the "repair" folder.

Type: dir /p

That will list the contents of the repair directory, pausing at each page
full of information. Look to see if those sub-folders (system, software,
etc.) are there. If not, give up, you won't get anywhere with that fix. If
they are there, you can access each one by doing the same thing as before,
just substituting the next folders' name:

CD system
or
CD software
etc.

Look at the contents of those folders and see if anything is in them. If
they are empty, give up.

In order to check each folder, you will need to "back out" of the previous.
Once inside the "system" folder (or any of the others,) to get into one of
the others to check, you will need to back up to the previous (repair)
folder first. Do this by typing:

CD ..\

Good luck!

Hi Rex,

Use a BartPE Bootable CD to repair your system. Follow the directions
on how to create a BartPE Bootable CD from their website.Use a working
Windows 2000/XP/2003 machine to create the Bart PE Bootable CD.

Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Boot the computer with the BartPE CD.

This procedure assumes Windows XP is installed on the C Drive.

Navigate to this folder on your Hard drive:

c:\windows\system32\config

Copy the following files to a temp folder, if present:

system
software
sam
security
default

Then delete the above files from "c:\windows\system32\config".

Navigate to the following folder:

c:\System Volume
Information\_restore{D86480E3-73EF-47BC-A0EB-A81BE6EE3ED8}

NOTE: "_restore{D86480E3-73EF-47BC-A0EB-A81BE6EE3ED8}" will have a
different name on your computer.

Now there should be folders with names like RP1, RP2, RP3 and so on.
Open the folder with the highest RP# then open the "Snapshot" folder.

Copy the following files to "c:\windows\system32\config":

_REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM
_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM

Rename the files in "c:\windows\system32\config""

Rename _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT to DEFAULT
Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY to SECURITY
Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE to SOFTWARE
Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM to SYSTEM
Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM to SAM

Reboot the machine and see if you can use Windows.

--
William Crawford
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

Thanks femaster and WTC for getting back to me.

Femaster: I found c:\windows\repair. The system file was system.bak but the
rest were there; sam, software, security, default. I completed part one of
the resolution. Restarted the machine, it booted up, got past white
scrolling loader but recieved error message

"lsass.exe system error" password error..invalid value provided.

then it restarted automatically and repeated the cycle. I cannot access the
F1 safe options. I cannot log on to complete document resolution. I
couldn't boot from cd drive for a while but have fixed that and am able to
use the setup cd. I cannot reach the command prompt for recovery as the
admin password has become invalid and i have no idea what the password could
be. I have checked MS KB and the document related to the new error is the
same document i was working from. I cant continue with the docs resolution
as i cant logon to do part 2. Any ideas??

WTC: Thus, I am in the process of creating xp boot cd per ur instructions.
I will update this thread so if can you please keep an eye out incase i have
problems and need to pic ur brains again. I will be working on this all
evening to early morn. if you have any other suggestions in the mean time, i
would appreciate any help you can give.

Thank you both for responding to me. Happy new year by the way!!

[mwambazim]

Hello Guyz,
I am having this issue and it is killing me, i have tried to get the computer to work but to no avail, it is loaded with some diagnostic tools for engine troubleshooting that I am afraid to lose.
I have tried to use the methods prescribed around but to no avail, i bumped pon this forum and decided to put my distress here.

The laptop is a Toshiba with Windows XP Media Center Edition installed, gives the error C0000218 claiming that \SOFTWARE is either corrupt blah blah blah.

When I employed the method given by William Crawford, i reach the System Volume Information but there are no _restore... file (s)..

Please Please Please HELP!!!

Kiage Edgar.

[EINSTEIN_007]

mwambazim,

Since you are getting a registry startup error, you can try to repair a corrupted registry in your operating system. Corrupted registry files can cause a variety of different error messages. See the Microsoft Knowledge Base for articles about error messages that are related to registry issues that is given here - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545