Recovering Windows files using third-party software after SYSTEM hive has damaged in Windows 2000

The Windows registry is a comprehensive database that stores all the configuration settings of your computer. It contains information about the low-level applications as well as for applications running on the platform.

All the registry information is stored in the SYSTEM hive, which is prone to corruption owing to several reasons like virus infections, power outages, etc. You should try to restore the registry file using the Windows Setup CD to recover Windows files. If the method does not succeed, then you should use a third-party Windows data recovery software to do the needful.

Let us assume a practical situation in which you are unable to start your Windows 2000 system. You may see the following error message in this regard:

“Windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:

\windows\system32\config\systemd”

Cause:

The most possible cause of this start up issue is that the SYSTEM hive of your computer is corrupt or missing

Resolution:

To resolve this situation, you should restore the SYSTEM hive using the Windows 2000 CD-ROM. To do this, you should perform the following steps:

Insert the Windows 2000 CD in the CD-ROM drive and start the computer.
Press R to repair the Windows installation when the 'Welcome to Setup' screen is displayed.
Press C to repair Windows installation in the Recovery Console.
Type the number of the Windows installation that corresponds to the one that you want to repair.
Rename the SYSTEM file as “System.old” in the “%SystemRoot%\System32\Config” folder by using following commands and pressing Enter after each command:
cd system32
cd config
ren system system.old
Copy the ' %SystemRoot%\Repair\System' file to '%SystemRoot%\System32\Config ' folder using the following commands and pressing Enter after each command:
cd..
cd..
cd repair
copy system %systemroot%\system32\config
Restart the system.

If you are still getting the similar problem even after performing these steps, then you need to reinstall Windows 2000 after backing up the data. Some third-party Windows data recovery utilities are there that can help you to recover Windows data. These data recovery tools are absolutely safe to use that do not damage the files while recovering them.

The most efficient data recovery software that recovers Windows files from FAT, NTFS, and exFAT file systems is Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery. Recovering more than 185 different files from various storage media such as hard drives, external HDDs, pen drives, iPods, etc, this Windows data recovery tool is able to recover deleted emails from MS Outlook and Outlook Express. In addition, this Windows data recovery software is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, 2000, and NT4(SP6) versions.