Hi, I'm not sure if this goes into this post but I'm panicking like crazy
Basically, about a month ago I turned on my computer and got his message:

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: <Windows root>\system32\hal.dll
please reinstall a copy of the above file"

Well I didnt want to lose all of my files so my friends dad put another windows xp operating system on the computer.
The computer now works fine on the new operating system (with a few problems)
But I cant find my files, I believe they're on the old operating system, but i have no idea how to get the files from there

Can anyone help?
Thanks =]

Hi Rocking and welcome to D-A-L. I have split your post out into a new thread. Please note that seeking help for your problems in someone else's post is not proper forum etiquette - that is considered hijacking. By starting a new thread with your problem, you get the undivided attention you deserve.
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If he formatted and reinstalled Windows, they have probably be overwritten. If he just repaired Windows, they are probably there, Windows does not know it.

Do you know the file names of any of the files? Or the folder name? If so, go to Start > Search and look for them. You can also look for specific words from one of those documents in the "Containing text" field. Don't pick a common word.

Hi, sorry about that, I'm pretty new to forums

I believe he installed another operating system onto the computer, when I turn onto the computer i get 2 options of operating sytems, the top one is the one that works and the second is where all my files are that i cant get into due to the fact when i try to log onto that system I get this message
"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: <Windows root>\system32\hal.dll
please reinstall a copy of the above file"

Im pretty sure that the files are still here, I checked how much space has been used on my C drive and its the same as before.
I have done loads of searches, i tried searching for files with the word "bday" (which i had a whole folder dedicated to my friends bday) and it came up nothing

Hi, sorry about that, I'm pretty new to forums

No problem.

It does not sound good as it appears a second installation of Windows was put on the system which means the old version was overwritten but possibly your other folders were.

Try hunting through Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer). Double click on My Computer then navigate through your drives and see if you can find your folders. You might search again for "My Documents" and discover you have two, if lucky - a new one with nothing in it, and the old one with your stuff.

Hi I have done as you said and found some "my documents" folders but they were empty

Does the search also search through the old operating system?

My friends dad told me that the files are still there, its just I need to find them and I'm having difficulty trying to locate them =/

Click on Start, Run, type in diskmgmt.msc and hit Enter.

Report back what hard disks are listed, and what partitions on each disk (if applicable) are listed.

Volume Layout Type File System Status Capacity
Presario (C: ) Partition Basic NTFS Healthy (System) 69.23GB
Presario_RP (H: ) Partition Basic FAT32 Healthy 5.28GB

Free Space %Free Fault Tolerance Overhead
22.31GB 32% No No
635MB 11% No No

Presario_RP may mean Recovery_Partition.

In case that some files may have been set to be hidden with the new install, and that your files may still be there as your friends father stated, set the system to allow seeing them. (A search won't display hidden files.)

Open Windows explorer. Click on Tools in the menu bar. Click on Folder Options. Click the View tab. Under Hidden files and folders select Show hidden files and folders. Then uncheck the boxes for Hide extensions for known file types and Hide protected operating system files.

Perform a search for your files and/or keywords.

Hi, thanks for such a quick response, but another problems arisen and I cant search for them at the moment. Im going to make a new topic for new problem =/
thanks =]