Can you use Ubuntix to recover?

[diurnal]

Got to do some tech work on this laptop. It has windows home xp on it. I'm getting this error: System won't boot - missing file C:\Windows\System32\System

I tried to repair it and nothing. So, I then went in the c : prompt and type in all the stuff to delete and copy a new file in it. That didn't work as well.

She wants all the data recovered.:rolleyes:

I'm going to try and use Knoppix 3.9(or a linux distro) to get a os on there. I read where it will not take memory up, or file space. In other words, one can load it on there without deleting the original XP. Has anyone tried this, will it work? Or will it erase the XP rendering useless?

[Fruss Tray Ted]

STOP! :eek:

If you want to recover anything at all, do NOT install anything!

She wants all the data recovered.

Use a CD or DVD to boot with such as Knoppix but do not install it to that drive!. It WILL take up space and it may obliterate some files your customer needs to recover.

[Sylvander]

Have you tried this?
How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545).

[diurnal]

STOP! :eek:

If you want to recover anything at all, do NOT install anything!

Use a CD or DVD to boot with such as Knoppix but do not install it to that drive!. It WILL take up space and it may obliterate some files your customer needs to recover.
Have you used knoppix to do a recovery like this? I'm thinking about going to c : prompt and copying all the *.jpg and 'my documents' to a floppy or something. This is all I can do, but I haven't used dos in a while, so it's going to take forever.
Have you tried this?
How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545).
Yes I tried that. I did part one, but couldn't get to Part 2. I couldn't get to part 2 because it still wouldn't boot to the GUI.

[diurnal]

bump anyone tried ubuntix to recover files? I got it but am trying to burn the ISO file. What's the best program to burn a bootable iso?

[Sylvander]

1. Never heard of Ubuntix.
Do you mean Ubuntu?
I suggest you make a "live" optical disk of some Puppy/puplet of Puppy Linux; I know most about that, so can help more.
If you have a DVD burner...
I suggest you make Muppy Linux 008.4c (http://files.filefront.com/Muppy+Live+0084c+ENiso/;12868301;/fileinfo.html) to a DVD-RW.
This includes "X File Explorer" [Xfe], which is better than Windows Explorer.
It includes a folder hierarchy and 2 panes that will display 2 folders side-by-side.
These are particularly good for copying/moving files from the one folder to the other, and you can watch the files appear in the destination.

2. Which operating system would you be running the disk burning program in?
If Windows...use Imgburn (http://www.imgburn.com/).
Any puplet of Puppy Linux will include Burniso2cd, which is really easy to use.

3. I routinely use some puplet of Puppy linux to copy the contents of various partitions to a folder on a partition on an external USB HDD.
I use Xfe, and/or [the FREE version of] [B]SyncBack->[under WINE] to copy the folder/file contents of partitions...
And "Puppy Universal Disk Dump" [Pudd] to make compressed image backups of partition contents.

4. Working from BoxPup->Firefox right now. :D :cool:

[Paul Komski]

I'm pretty darn sure Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/) is was what was meant and it sounds like the ISO is already downloaded.

BurnCDcc (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/downloads-free-software.htm) is the simplest and most specific ISO burning Windows program that I know of: only designed to do one thing.

Of the Linux Live CDs used for data recovery I find Knoppix has the most consistently good hardware detection. Of the Windows ones UBCD4Win will let you access the underlying registry directly and a whole range of other stuff including data recovery program plug ins such as GetDataBack from runtime. Puppy has one good feature on appropriate hardware in that you can boot and later burn to the same CD drive.

[Sylvander]

1. "I couldn't get to part 2 because it still wouldn't boot to the GUI"
(a) If you run Xfe within Puppy...
You can mount the Windows partition [/mnt/sda1?] using "Menu->Filesystem->Pmount"...
[You just click the "Mount" button next to the partition name in the list (see screenshot)]

(b) And then use Xfe to navigate to the folders holding the files [those mentioned in part 2]...

(c) And use Xfe to do all the necessay...
e.g. to Unhide folders and files, you click the little ghost-like icon at the bottom of each window, so as to make them white [unhidden] rather than black [hidden].

(d) e.g. If you want to copy files from one folder to another:
You display the source folder [with the files] in one pane...
And the destination folder in the other pane...
You highlight all the files you want to copy...
And right-click on them and chose "copy to..."
You will be asked if you want to copy them to the other folder...
Just click "Yes", and you will see copies appear in the other folder.

(e) Renaming files is just a matter of highlighting a file and choosing "Rename" etc [as in Windows].

[Paul Komski]

By all means try "repairing" (in other words restoring) the registry using the MS advice in the MSKB, system restore from safe mode, direct copying of restore files as already suggest or by using the repair registry tool in UBCD4WIN as per the pic below.

If data recovery is vital as has been implied and warned about (by FTT in post #2 and by MS in their webpage) then make an image of the partition or directly try to copy the relevant data files somewhere safe before doing anything else.

"Repairing the registry" is always a bit of a kludge and usually a fairly ham-fisted way of doing things. A repair installation (http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm) can often be the best way to repair such a corrupted system.

[diurnal]

Yea it's ubuntu. I just loaded the unbuntu and I'm looking at the windows data now. I'm planning on just saving all her files such as pictures and documents. Then I'll probably reformat. How do you burn a cd/dvd in ubuntu?

[diurnal]

Never mind. I hooked a USB Western Mybook up to it and I'm going to save it on there. Thanks guys I never knew you could use unbuntu to recover data. I usually just reformat it if the drive is functional. :D

[Paul Komski]

How do you burn a cd/dvd in ubuntu?
For the future: Applications >> Add/Remove >> k3b