I was trying to upgrade symantec anti virus and when it failed to uninstall I needed to use the clean wipe program provided by symantec. After rebooting the computer, i am receiving the error that Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM. Is there any way of fixing this problem?

If the system hive is corrupt, and assuming you already tried LKG (F8 and choose Last Known Good), It may be possible to rename the system hive found in %systemroot%\system32\config\system to system.old then rename %systemroot%\system32\config\system.alt to %systemroot%\system32\config\system You can also try using the most recent backup found in %systemroot%\repair\regback If that fails you haven't much choice but to copy/ use the original-as-installed system hive from %systemroot%\repair\system to %systemroot%\system32\config\system You'll need to reinstall the device drivers for any hardware added since the original OS install. To start the Recovery Console, start the computer from the Windows 2003 installation media. At the "Welcome to Setup" screen. Press F10 or R to repair a Windows 2003 installation, and then press C to use the Recovery Console. The Recovery Console then prompts you for the administrator password. If you do not have the correct password, Recovery Console does not allow access to the computer. If an incorrect password is entered three times, the Recovery Console quits and restarts the computer. Note If the registry is corrupted or missing or no valid installations are found, the Recovery Console starts in the root of the startup volume without requiring a password. You cannot access any folders, but you can carry out commands such as chkdsk, fixboot, and fixmbr for limited disk repairs. Once the password has been validated, you have full access to the Recovery Console, but limited access to the hard disk. You can only access the following folders on your computer: drive root, %systemroot% or %windir% Regards, Dave Patrick .... Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft MVP [Windows] Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

If the system hive is corrupt, and assuming you already tried LKG (F8 and choose Last Known Good), It may be possible to rename the system hive found in %systemroot%\system32\config\system to system.old then rename %systemroot%\system32\config\system.alt to %systemroot%\system32\config\system You can also try using the most recent backup found in %systemroot%\repair\regback If that fails you haven't much choice but to copy/ use the original-as-installed system hive from %systemroot%\repair\system to %systemroot%\system32\config\system You'll need to reinstall the device drivers for any hardware added since the original OS install. To start the Recovery Console, start the computer from the Windows 2003 installation media. At the "Welcome to Setup" screen. Press F10 or R to repair a Windows 2003 installation, and then press C to use the Recovery Console. The Recovery Console then prompts you for the administrator password. If you do not have the correct password, Recovery Console does not allow access to the computer. If an incorrect password is entered three times, the Recovery Console quits and restarts the computer. Note If the registry is corrupted or missing or no valid installations are found, the Recovery Console starts in the root of the startup volume without requiring a password. You cannot access any folders, but you can carry out commands such as chkdsk, fixboot, and fixmbr for limited disk repairs. Once the password has been validated, you have full access to the Recovery Console, but limited access to the hard disk. You can only access the following folders on your computer: drive root, %systemroot% or %windir% Regards, Dave Patrick .... Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft MVP [Windows] Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.