I was over at a friends dorm to look at his computer because it's been crawling and he thinks it has to do with his mobo and cpu. I wanted to try his HD on my computer so I brought it over with me. Well, in the process of it booting up, it was in windows and everything, just not fully "loaded" yet, he accidentally bumps the power cord and it shuts down my computer... <sigh> (I've had this problem happen before) So, now I have a corrupted registry and my computer doesn't want to boot up. I've tried to get into the Recovery Console and I have "once" but only before I was able to get the files I needed from another computer. Now whenever I try to get on to the RC again, it gives me a BSOD and tells me I have a freaking registry error, <I FREAKING KNOW!>

I know what the problem is. I know how to "supposedly" fix it. I just can't gain access to the area of the computer that I need to fix! BAH!

So I have a registry problem. Some of my files are "missing or corrupt" from my windows/system32/config/ folder. So in order to fix this "problem" I need to gain access to this area of my computer. Well, in order to do that, I need some way of getting into my computer. I've tried the "recovery console" well, I can't even load it anymore. Stupid error pops up, the one time I did get it to load was when I didn't have to choose a volume to load, which doesn't make any sense to me... <sigh> So, I was looking at trying to hook up another HD and boot from that one and then dive into "my" HD and fix everything, but then I read that MS makes it so that the OS recognizes the devices and hardware from the computer it was installed in and won't boot without the same stuff... O.M.G. I then looked towards Linux and I can't access my HD because it's formatted in a NTFS format! ARG!!! please help! I just want to be able to access my HD and change the files/values so that it can properly boot...

Have you tried this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

Also you can make a KNOPPIX Live CD to boot in order to access the drive data:

http://www.knoppix.org/

with the first link, the problem is, I know what to do, I can't get to the RC (recovery console) when I choose the volume "mainly being number 1" it gives me the BSOD (blue screen of death) telling me that I have a registry error. I can't even utilize the RC... if I could I wouldn't have this problem . Thanks though.

And as for Knoppix. I can open my files and folders, but I can't modify them or create new folders for some reason. I think it may have to do with my login or permissions not being "root" or something like that, but I've never used an OS like this before, so if someone could explain it to me I'd be grateful.

If you get Access Denied errors try this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

Basically it would be the same setup if you slaved this drive on another computer. Point being to grab the data you need then reinstall XP.

Of course a Repair (upgrade) Install should preserve your data.

When you say "repair (upgrade)" install, do you mean, installing windows again? Won't that format my HD?

The thing is, I think I know what to do, but it requires me getting yet "another computer" involved. All my home computers use IDE for their HD, and mine is SATA, so I need to use a buddies computer to access my HD as a slave, and then see if I can modify the files that way... meh

A repair install will not format. It should retain all data and settings and programs. It just replaces the XP files.

Good guide here:

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XP...install.htm#RI