1、 Windows XP Crashed? Heres Help PC users, you all know what it is: That dreaded Blue Screen of Death. Thats right, the BSOD. Youve installed a seemingly innocent application, restarted your computer, and suddenly you see this horror in front of your eyes: A big blue screen with some cryptic message
2、on it. Try restarting again, same thing. Youre dead. What will you do? What WILL you do? Well, dont let it ruin your day. Remain calm. If youre using Windows XP, I can help you fix it. Come with me, down into the bowels of Windows XP, where only the high priests go. Itll be fun! Im going to show you
3、 how to bring your computer back to life, and restore it to the point where things went south. You might want to print this article and squirrel it away for that fateful day when this happens to you. Or if you dont want to print it (and who prints anything these days, anyway?), and you get a big ugl
4、y blue screen, just get on another computer somewhere and come back to this Web page for comfort and advice. I can get you out of this mess. I know, because I was in the same mess and I got myself out of it. Heres what to do: First, get the Windows XP CD you used to install your operating system. By
5、 the way, this routine only works with Windows XP, either Professional or XP Home Edition. If you dont have a bootable XP CD, get one and have it with you at all times, because you never know when the dreaded BSOD might strike. But before you do anything with that CD, try restarting your computer ag
6、ain. Sometimes, for some odd reason, this works. Usually not, though. If youve tried that and everything else you can think of, and you cant even boot into Safe Mode, this is the mission for you. Put the XP CD in the drive, and restart. When it says “press any key to boot from CD,“ go ahead, press a
7、ny key and youre on your way to recovery. The Recovery Console, that is. If it doesnt give you a choice to boot from your CD drive, go into your computers BIOS and make the adjustment for it to boot from CD. PCs brands and motherboards are too diverse for me to give you specifics on this, so follow
8、the prompts and you can make that CD boot happen without too much trouble. Look at your screen when it boots up, and it always says “hit DEL for BIOS settings“ or something similar. If you cant get it to boot from CD, just give up and call for support or take your computer to the nearest computer st
9、ore for professional help. OK, troops, are you still with me? Good. Itll look like youre re-installing Windows XP, but dont worry, youre not. This is just a screen showing you that your computer is loading enough files from the CD to actually do something, anything but that awful blue screen. Now wh
10、en you see the screen that asks you if you want to install Windows, dont! Just hit R for recover, and youll see the ominous Recovery Console. Dont let that intimidate you; the Recovery Console is your ugly, black-suited friend. It will have a dark, bleak screen, with the following stuff: Microsoft W
11、indows(R) Recovery Console The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality. Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer. 1: C:WINDOWS Which Windows Installation would you like to log onto (To cancel, press ENTER)? Go ahead and hit the number 1 on your keybo
12、ard, or whichever number corresponds to the operating system you were using when havoc struck. Enter your administrator password, and then hit enter. Youre in! Now its time to run with the big dogs! Do not be afraid, dear reader, I am here to help you. If you type the following commands into your co
13、mputer, it will work magic, akin to going back in time. There are three parts to this process, but believe me, they take much less time than reinstalling Windows XP and all your applications. So follow along with me, and keep in mind that each command must be typed exactly as you see it here. Please
14、 note that this procedure assumes that Windows XP is installed to the C:Windows folder. Make sure to change C:Windows to the appropriate windows folder if its at a different location. The copy commands will answer you with a little “file copied“ message. The delete commands just move on to the next
15、line. Because of the way your Web browser displays individual lines, a command might look to you like its two lines, so Ive separated each command by an empty line. But anyway, type the whole command in one line, and when youve finished typing that command, hit the Enter key. Be sure to include the
16、spaces Ive included between each word here: md tmp copy C:windowssystem32configsystem C:windowstmpsystem.bak copy C:windowssystem32configsoftware C:windowstmpsoftware.bak copy C:windowssystem32configsam C:windowstmpsam.bak copy C:windowssystem32configsecurity C:windowstmpsecurity.bak copy C:windowss
17、ystem32configdefault C:windowstmpdefault.bak delete C:windowssystem32configsystem delete C:windowssystem32configsoftware delete C:windowssystem32configSam delete C:windowssystem32configsecurity delete C:windowssystem32configdefault copy C:windowsrepairsystem C:windowssystem32configsystem copy C:wind
18、owsrepairsoftware C:windowssystem32configsoftware copy C:windowsrepairsam C:windowssystem32configsam copy C:windowsrepairsecurity C:windowssystem32configsecurity copy C:windowsrepairdefault C:windowssystem32configdefault Now you can relax for a minute. Youve made it through the first part! Way to go
19、! Now what did you just do? Ill tell you. You first made a temporary directory called “tmp“ (md tmp), and then into it, you copied all the files that boot up Windows. Then you deleted all those startup files, one of which is the stinker that got you into this mess in the first place. After that, you
20、 copied into that same place fresh startup files from a special repair directory. When you reboot, Windows will look for those files where it always does, and there wont be a stinker in the bunch. The only thing is, there wont be all your settings for all those applications you run every day, either
21、. But not to worry. Right now, youre sitting in something like a lifeboat - its not the original ship, but itll get you back to where you need to go. Well get everything back to that comfortable place, but only after we go through steps 2 and 3. Now type Exit and watch your computer restart into Win
22、dows XP again. Be sure not to tell it to boot from the CD this time. But wait. Thats not the way you had XP set up before this disaster struck! Thats OK. Were in a lifeboat right now - this isnt your comfy cruise ship, not just yet. Hang in there. Im going to show you how to restore your system to t
23、he way it was the moment before you told it to install that errant application, or whatever it was you did, so follow along and well go to part 2. Part 2 Heres where youll copy the saved registry files from their backed up location by using System Restore. This folder is not available in Recovery Co
24、nsole and is normally not visible - Microsoft is protecting you from yourself by hiding it from you and locking it away from you. But we have the keys. Before you start this procedure, youll need to change several settings to make that folder visible: 1. Start Windows Explorer. 2. On the Tools menu,
25、 click Folder options. 3. Click the View tab. 4. Under Hidden files and folders, click to select Show hidden files and folders, and then click to clear the “Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)“ check box. 5. Click Yes when the dialog box is displayed that confirms that you want to di
26、splay these files. 6. Double-click the drive where you installed Windows XP to get a list of the folders. Its important to click the correct drive. 7. Open the System Volume Information folder. This folder appears dimmed because it is set as a super-hidden folder. If youre using the FAT32 file syste
27、m, this will be easy. If youre using NTFS, it wont let you open the folder, but heres how to get around that: Right-click on that system volume information folder and select Sharing and Security. Then click the Security tab. (No security tab? Skip two paragraphs.) Click Add, and then in the box that
28、s labeled “Enter the object names to select,“ type the name of the user thats at the top of the Start menu - thats probably you. Damn it, why do they say object names when its peoples names? I guess thats Microsoft for you. Anyway, make sure you type the name the way its listed there on the Start Me
29、nu. I made the mistake of typing my first name only and it wouldnt let me in. Type first and last name if thats how its written on the top of the Start menu. After youve typed that in, click OK a couple of times and finally that monster will let you in. But what if you dont see a Security tab? Try t
30、his: Click to select the checkboxes in the “Network sharing and security“ area - one is labeled “Share this folder on the network“ and the other is labeled “Allow network users to change my files.“ Change the share name to something short, like sysinfo. Then itll let you in. After youre done with th
31、is entire rescue operation, you might want to go back and change these back to the way they were before, for maximum security. OK. Now here you are, in the inner sanctum where only the high priests go. Be not afraid, all ye who enter here. As Microsoft so eloquently puts it: NOTE : This folder conta
32、ins one or more _restore GUID folders such as “_restore87BD3667-3246-476B-923F-F86E30B3E7F8“. 8. Open a folder that was not created at the current time. You may have to click Details on the View menu to see when these folders were created. There may be one or more folders starting with “RP x under t
33、his folder. These are restore points. 9. Open one of these folders to locate a Snapshot subfolder; the following path is an example of a folder path to the Snapshot folder: C:System Volume Information_restoreD86480E3-73EF-47BC-A0EB- A81BE6EE3ED8RP1Snapshot From the Snapshot folder, copy the followin
34、g files to the C:WindowsTmp folder (you can use your mouse, youre in Windows now, remember?): _registry_user_.default _registry_machine_security _registry_machine_software _registry_machine_system _registry_machine_sam This is how Microsoft explains this: “These files are the backed up registry file
35、s from System Restore. Because you used the registry file created by Setup, this registry does not know that these restore points exist and are available. A new folder is created with a new GUID under System Volume Information and a restore point is created that includes a copy of the registry files
36、 that were copied during part one. This is why it is important not to use the most current folder, especially if the time stamp on the folder is the same as the current time.“ Anyway, youre still not done. Dont worry, the magic is about to begin. Believe me, if you do this in front of your friends,
37、theyll start thinking youre some kind of god. So, heavenly father, get ready to dazzle em. Now its time to place those files you just made visible to the Recovery Console where they belong. And to do that, we need to get back into the Recovery Console. So, make sure your CD is in the drive, and rest
38、art Windows, this time hitting any key when it tells you to do that if you want to boot from CD. Yes, you want to boot from CD, so you can launch your old cryptic pal, the Recovery Console. Type R after it goes through that file- reading routine that looks like an install but isnt. Then youre back i
39、nto our dark-suited friend with its ominous command line. Its kinda like going into the basement to fix some broken pipe or something. But were not scared. The command line is our flashlight and friend. Here we go: Part 3 In part three, you delete the existing registry files, and then copy the Syste
40、m Restore Registry files to the C:WindowsSystem32Config folder: From within Recovery Console, type the following commands: Del c:windowssystem32configsam Del c:windowssystem32configsecurity Del c:windowssystem32configsoftware Del c:windowssystem32configdefault Del c:windowssystem32configsystem copy
41、c:windowstmp_registry_machine_software c:windowssystem32configsoftware copy c:windowstmp_registry_machine_system c:windowssystem32configsystem copy c:windowstmp_registry_machine_sam c:windowssystem32configsam copy c:windowstmp_registry_machine_security c:windowssystem32configsecurity copy c:windowst
42、mp_registry_user_.default c:windowssystem32configdefault Now. Youre done! Type exit and your computer will reboot into whichever restore file you chose. But wait. If its not the right one, thats OK, you can now go into your System Restore area and pick a different restore point if you want. Theres a
43、 whole calendar full of them in there. I bet you didnt know that Windows XP is watching just about every move you make, taking notes all the while. It can restore about any state you had on that machine. And the best part is, even when its doing all that, its still 10% faster than Windows 2000 accor
44、ding to our extensive tests here at the Midwest Test Facility. Heres how to get into that restore area if youre not happy with the current restore point: 1. Click Start, then click All Programs. 2. Click Accessories, and then click System Tools. 3. Click System Restore, and then click Restore to a p
45、revious Restore Point. Sheesh, before this I hated the command line. Many of you probably still do. But when it saves your butt like this, you have to feel grateful. I should send out a badge of courage for all you intrepid souls who followed me into these dark gallows, the basement of Windows XP. I
46、 hope this routine was successful in bringing your computer back to life. I know how it feels to have your computer down for the count. As a wise old man once told me, “When your computer crashes, its like your dog just died.“ He was so right. Excuse me now, Im going to go get some work done on my Mac.
