Painkiller667 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 I booted a laptop with knoppix and instead of copying sam and system files, i moved them. (WHY DO THEY EVEN HAVE THE MOVE OPTION). I took the usb drive, to which I moved the files out and I turned the laptop off. Then I turned it back on and windows cant start because system file is missing. I go back to boot with knoppix to write back the files I stole. I boot it up, enter my usb, and find that none of the files I had moved are there. :shock: My friend had been doing the same thing, except, he COPIED the files, and the files stayed on his usb. I took his usb and plugged it in and wanted to copy the files back into the C:WindowsSystem32Config folder and I did. The files appeared in that folder, but at the same time, at the bottom of the window, it said that i do not have permission to write to the drive. Anyway, I booted out, tried to start windows again, and now it tells me that im missing HAL.dll. I downloaded it from a website, put it in, but it tells me the same thing again. Took hal.dll from another computer, and it still tells me the same thing. First tells me that the boot.ini file is corrupted and that hal.dll is missing. please PLEASE help me. I used to think i know enough to fix any windows problem. Im not a noob, but during panic, its like you lose all your knowlege. the laptop isnt mine and I have to fix it asap. Maybe a suggestion of a Windows fix disk that will replace all the needed files, but keep everything else that was on the pc before. Thanks guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Repaire install windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Have you tried copying the origonal SAM files back? If you don't have them your fucked, you basically deleted every username and password hash for the system. Reinstall time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painkiller667 Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 I dont have the originals because everything gets deleted somehow on my usb once i take it out. I can get a friends usb and get him to boot and steal the sam and all other files, will that work? The passwords were the same too for both mine and his comp. And what about the boot.ini slash hal.dll problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Using your mates SAM files will never work, unless the 2 systems are clones. Looks like your windows install is fucked tbh, try a repair install but they never work 100% for me, best to learn from this mistake and move on I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painkiller667 Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 i need to fix it dude, think of something. like here i found, bart pe something that takes your working windows files and replaces them when you boot a broken comp. another thing i found, windows xp usb edition. about the same. listen, if things get desprate, reinstalling xp is still not on my list because the legal version of it was installed and i wont buy a legal version just for that. seriously think. please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 You deleted the SAM files, which are unique to your computer. If a repair install of your legal windows won't fix it, your floating down shit creak in a leaky bathtub. Which means reinstalling windows, which you can do without deleting any file on your machine, you'll just need to reinstall all your apps. I don't think there is a way of regenerating them, and a MSDN search doesn't show anything either. Don't ask for advice and complain when it isn't what you want to hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painkiller667 Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 you seem like you are smart, but the foul language ruins everything. I am not complaining, just asking for you guys to address my problem seriously, and give it a little more thinking as if it were your own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 /me wants to add a social commentary of what happened here. I gave the correct answer right from the start, VaKo expanded on it and came to the same conclusion. Painkiller667 then tryed to make VaKo look like the idiot/bad guy by commenting on his foule language, and failed horrificly. Short Bus? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 You have no other options. You didn't back up those files which *are essential to Windows* so you are, as VaKo says, screwed. No two ways about it, VaKo answered your question and if you don't like the answer he gave because it means your machine is potentially screwed then I'm afraid that's your problem. Operating systems are fragile, you can't just pull out files and move that file over here and whatever else, they will refuse to work if you do that and hopefully you'll learn from this mistake. Edit: Oh hey Sparda, fancy seeing you here! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painkiller667 Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 alright, sorry. So the windows repair is the way to go. will it ask me for the admin password when it is repairing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 no Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Nope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painkiller667 Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 and keeping in mind that i put it foreign sam, sam.log, system, system.log, and system.something else into the computer, and that it shows problems with boot.ini file, the windows repair will still fix everything? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 I would recommend a full reinstall in this situation, you're likely to encounter problems even if the repair does work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painkiller667 Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 but i really can only do a repair. what problems might i face after a repair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 If there are any viruses on your computer, they will still be there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painkiller667 Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 seriously? thats it? in that case its good I hope i get the repair to work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Give it a go, if it doesn't then you're going to need a full reinstall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 What I would suggest here, as I have found that a repair install can be problimatic, is to allow the windows install to remove the current windows directory and its prerequisits, then install a clean version of the OS over the top. There is a way of doing this, where you basically install windows over the old install, it leaves anything that isn't linked to windows alone, including your my docs folder. However, if you have used windows to restrict access to the folder, you may not be able to access it with windows. In this case you would need to use a linux live CD or bartPE to store the files elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisiam Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 this sound exactly like what happend to me when i was messing around with my sisters computer when i would start the computer it would say missing HAL.dll i found this and it helped my problem http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_haldll_missing.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painkiller667 Posted October 25, 2006 Author Share Posted October 25, 2006 What steps did u follow from the kellys website to solve the problem. really despate to get the answer from you since you experienced this before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 You might run into problems with the recovery console since it requires the admin password which you deleted. Had a bit of a think about this, and you might be able to recreate one by booting Hirens BootCD (google it, its hosted on an ntl site atm) and using the NT/2000/XP/2003 password changing apps recreate the admin password. No idea if this will work though. Then boot the recovery console and type: Attrib -H -R -S C:Boot.iniDEL C:Boot.ini BootCfg /Rebuild Fixboot or expand d:i386hal.dl_ c:windowssystem32hal.dll Out of interest is this a work or school laptop? Or just one you borrowed from a friend? If its a work/school laptop, just say you ran a windows update and it refused to reboot. edit: Had a chat with someone I know, and it turns out when you delete the sam files, you just lose all the accounts on the machine. So when you reboot it should just recreate the admin and guest accounts with blank passwords. So ignore the hirens bootCD thing. Just try the recovery console and the option 1 from kellys site and a blank admin password (just hit enter). That should fix the hal.dll/boot.ini issue and hopefully get it booting again. Once you do that you need to remove all the references to the old accounts, and reinstall all the applications that were installed under your old accounts. Might be messy but its workable, and you will have lost all your old accounts and account settings/account specific program settings (nessecitating the reinstall of them in some cases). If all this fails, it is reinstall time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painkiller667 Posted October 25, 2006 Author Share Posted October 25, 2006 schools. i cant say i updated because i didnt have admin privilages. by the way, how do u get to type in the recovery menu? i've only worked with recovering once, and didnt take much note of it (it was a long time ago) and I didnt see any where, where i could type in the commands. by the way, i just took a look at hiren's bootcd, looks VERY good. but is it like knoppix with an easy to use interface? also, so you are saying that I use Active Password Changer 3.0, Offline NT/2K/XP Password Changer, or NTPWD to reset the password, then boot out, and boot the winxp disk and recover? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 If its schools, don't tell the truth, don't admit anything, play dumb and keep your mouth shut. The admin and the teachers will hand your ass to you on a silver tray and if they're truely anal about this, reffer you to the police/take your laptop back. So if they ask anything, you know nothing, you think ie6 IS the internet and myspace is your home page. If you mess around with it to much though, they will notice something is up and bust you. Again, denie all knowledge, play dumb and keep your mouth shut. To use the recovery console you just boot off of a windows CD, and I think hit R when it asks you. This google link should help you. Its basically all CLI stuff. http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q...onsole+XP+guide Then enter the commands one at a time and you should be able to fix this. Hirens BootCD is a great tool, no where near as easy to use as knoppix but it waaaaay more powerful. Next time you need to reset an admin password, use the apps on that. Bit of a learning curve as its mostly CLI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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