Hack 54 Rescue a Blown 2000 or XP Installation 
Corrupt installations of Windows 2000, XP, and
2003 can be fixed in minutes with their bootable setup disks.
Failed Windows
2000, XP, or Windows Server 2003
bootups—the ones that hang somewhere before or while loading
Windows or produce a missing file error or blue
screen—might be fixed in a few minutes
using the Repair feature of their setup programs. Although
FDISK /MBR and SYS C: can
repair a blown boot record and replace the operating system files for
DOS and Windows 9x-Me, you cannot use these commands to put the
operating system boot files back onto an NT-based boot drive or for
NTFS partitioned drives.
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Because many prebuilt systems come with recovery CDs and a non-configurable version
of the operating system, the following recovery process may not work
for you.
Instead, recovery forces you to reinstall the entire operating
system, causing loss of at least the links and Registry entries for
applications, if not all data if the recovery process also reformats
your hard drive. Yet another reason that backups are so important.
If you want a more personalized recovery that preserves your
applications, data, and settings, use a full backup program like
Stomp's Backup My PC or make a complete image of your drive
with Symantec Ghost, Drive Image, or Acronis True Image.
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Follow these instructions to repair a broken
installation:
Start the system with the bootable setup diskettes or CD. At the beginning of the installation process you are given three
options: Press the R key to continue. At the next screen you have three options: Repair the installation using the Recovery Console, press C Repair the installation using the emergency repair process, press R Quit setup (F3)
Press the R key to continue. At the next screen you have four options: Manual Repair: To choose from a list of repair options, press M Fast Repair: To perform all repair options, press F Cancel this step and go back (press Esc) Quit setup (F3)
The Fast Repair covers all bases easily and is the selection you
want, so press F to continue. If you choose the Manual Repair option
you have three choices: inspect the startup environment (to see what
might be wrong), verify Windows system files, or inspect the boot
sector. There are two other options at this step: cancel and go back,
or quit entirely. At the next screen you have four options: If you have an Emergency Repair disk press Enter If you do not have an Emergency Repair disk, press L. Setup will
attempt to locate the Windows installation for you Cancel with Esc to go back one screen Quit setup (F3)
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Emergency Repair disks for NT and 2000 can
only be created at the time you install the operating system. They
contain just enough boot and system configuration files to restore a
hard drive and the operating system to a bootable condition.
Although most of us skip the distraction of creating the recovery
diskettes in the anxious moments of installation, it is something
that should be done.
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Assuming that a set of Emergency Repair disks does not exist, press L
to continue. If you have an Emergency Repair disk, place it into the
diskette drive and press Enter. If you chose L in the previous step, at the next screen
you'll have one more chance to provide the Emergency
Repair disk or let Windows try to find the existing installation.
Either way, press Enter to continue.
From this point on, the repair process will try to establish the
bootability of your drive and installation and restore files as
needed. Admittedly a rather involved process compared to a simple
FDISK /MBR and SYS C: for DOS
and Windows 9x-ME systems, but it very often gets the job done. If
this fails, you will have to reinstall the operating system.
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