[ltp] A corrupted or missing Windows config on my A21P

[Richard Neill]

Constant Brouerius van Nidek wrote:
> On my A21P I am running Linux as my main OS (Opensuse 10.2 and 10.3) with the 
> first 10GB partition Windows XP. It is my first experience with Windows.
> Somehow booting Windows I now get the information that I have a corrupted or 
> missing Windows config. (windows\system31\config\system) No problem because 
> there seems to be a repair possibility. I booted the CD, pressed R in order 
> to do the repair and do not see any automatic repair activity. It finds the 
> C:\Windows and after entering help I get a lot of possibilities for whatever 
> action in what they seem to call "recovery console", but nothing telling me 
> how to restore the config. 

Do be careful about this "recovery" console - it usually tends to
restore your entire machine to factory config - you'll loose your linux
partition, as well as any configuration/data changes you made to XP.

> I am more versed in Linux and this excursion in Microsoft-land comes after my 
> 90's  experiences with Windows 3.1 and 3.11. Am still fix with Dos but 
> repairing this OS is out of my reach. Even simple things like chkdsk and dir 
> give unclear answers if any. Could somebody help me? Is a reinstall the 
> better way?

Might I suggest that possibly "to get to B, you don't want to start at
A"?  In other words, what exactly are you trying to achieve?  There are
some other options that may suit you better than dual-boot, such as
wine, virtualisation, etc.  XP's not really good for much - what are you
trying to do with it? We may be able to offer a better solution.


Best wishes,

Richard