\WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM is missing!?!?!?!! (W2K)

[sunv]

I have a Win 2000 OS on a Dell Dimension 8100 system
It has been working fine for the last few months.
Yesterday I turned on the Dell and the error came up:

Windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

THen it says i can possibly repair it by inserting the Win 2000 setup floppy or CD and pressing R to repair. I tried using the floppy but I could only as far as the Recovery Console or to insert an Emergency Repair Disk.

I do not know how to work the Recovery Console and I do not possess an Emergency Repair disk.

I have pictures from my high school graduation (that was just a few weeks ago) saved on the HD of the Dell and I cannot lose those pictures, so reformatting is out of the question unless there is some way I can extract them or reformat around them.

I tried entering safe mode and all those other options it gives you, but everytime it shows the same error as above.

This error started after I installed and ran two antivirus software, an "Avast Antivirus" program and "Spyware Doctor 3.2" Could those antivirus programs have accidentally deleted one of my system files?

I would greatly appreciate it if someone could please help me with this problem.

[BertImmenschuh]

You can get the floppies at http://www.bootdisk.com/, which also has a how-to on the Recovery Console.

Those two programs could have had a hand in the problem, hard to say for sure.

It would be possible to put your hard drive in a working Win2000 or WinXP computer as a Slave and retrieve the files.

<font color=blue>Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.</font color=blue> <font color=green>Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.</font color=green>

[sda]

get a floppy so win2k recognises windows being installed,

recovery console = DOS ... its that simple exept you can only access a:\ and c:\windows

once in the console do the following :

SIMPLY take your win2k cd ... choose repair so you can access the console, go under c:\windows\repair ... and copy the system.bak thats there, remove the bak ext and add it to c:\windows\system32\config

your system migh not be exactly like before, because this is a back up made probably weeks if not month before, but you will be able to save your pictures.

I have to mention tought, if its actually saying you need a diskette to be able to repair, it is a sign your pc is pretty freaked up, save your data and format your c:\ to eliminate futur problem