How to Recover a Corrupted Windows XP

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on February 10, 2008

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I bet most of you would have seen the Bluescreen Windows Error which comes up whenever something unexpected happens but probably most of you did not know that it is called the Blue Screen of Death. It usually comes around after encountering a critical system error which can cause the system to shut down to prevent damage.

Bluescreens can be caused by poorly written device drivers, faulty memory, a corrupt registry, an incompatible Dynamic-link library (DLL), or the computer overheating.

After encountering such a Bluescreen error, most non-tech savvy computer users give up and assume that a serious issue has corrupted Windows and thus it needs a reinstall. However that is not the case mostly and Windows can be recovered into its original state by performing a little tweak called the Disk Checkup.

Requirements

  1. Windows XP installation CD
  2. Patience

Whenever you experience such a Bluescreen error and after many tries you see that Windows is not starting up you can perform a disk checkup following the steps below:

  1. Restart your computer
  2. Boot from your Windows XP installation CD
  3. Press R to open the Windows XP Recovery Console
  4. Type CHKDSK /R and press enter (wait patiently till the whole recover/repair process is completed)
  5. Type BOOTCFG to fix any problems in your boot.ini file
  6. Restart your computer again and press/hold the F8 key
  7. Select "Last Known Good Configuration" and press enter

After this your Windows should work fine and properly.

Note: This tip intends to help you recover a corrupted Windows XP and does not tell you how to repair your Windows XP installation. There is difference in in "recovering" and "repairing" when we are dealing with Windows OS.

  • http://techalerts.blogspot.com/ Keshav Khera

    Good tip! Last good configuration works for me almost everytime ;)

    • http://www.best-registrycleaner.net Best Registry Cleaner

      Bluescreens can be caused by poorly written device drivers, faulty memory.

  • http://www.rakshitk.com/blog Rakshit

    Yeah, I tried this many times and it worked. It’s good that you are sharing this with others. I am sure, many of us may not be aware of this.

  • Cold Fire

    Nice trick ;) ! You’ve saved my time :) , i used to reinstall my windows each time …

    Thanx. :)

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  • Harry Sundet

    Hi I have this problem where it says Windows Error Recover System and then it gives you the choice of safe mode and all the others but once I put in my XP disk nothing happens the screen goes black and I go back to the menu again. Please I need help.

  • Jenna

    I cannot seem to find my installation CD. What else can I do?

  • http://www.sizlopedia.com Dj Flush

    The installation CD is important. Without it you can’t access the Recovery mode.

  • mgladz

    what if i dont have the Windows XP installation CD

  • mgladz

    what if i don't have the Windows XP installation CD

    • http://jim.com/ Jim

      If you do not have the windows xp disk use a live xp cd like Hiren's BootCD. Once in to the boot cd perform a scan disk with both of the options checked and this will do the same thing as running chkdsk command in command line.

  • elfbox

    hey hey – i dont have original disks – however i have dloaded the setup files from windows site and put on my usb – can i boot from that – so much jibber on the net hard to find that helps – yours looks easy – i tried goin into Bios and engaging in advanced setup to boot fmr usb hdd, usb zip and usb fdh (i think) but it just kept playing though first load page then dropping back to the windows cannot load beacause bla bla – i also tried goin to the bit thats says – load from last normal point – or whatever – that did nothing – I had a house power outage that tripped the circuit breaker twic e- i doubt pc is fried as circuit clicked, but its frizzled pc thats for sure

    • Tech-BOT

      Try going back in to BIOS setup and make sure the boot order is set to looking at a USB device first. Also, the USB flash drive itself needs to be configured as a bootable media.

  • kunlestik

    i want to thank you for this wonderful solution..it worked perfectly for my systems that i was about formatting..

  • clintmark

    thank you so much

  • Bernard

    my installation cd-rom missing but i have product key

  • adwa

    Hey! I have this probLem. I will try your tip. =>

  • jatin

    good.. really helpful

    thanx..

  • adwa

    Hey! I have this probLem. I will try your tip. =>

  • jatin

    good.. really helpful

    thanx..

  • jatin

    i tried but not works

  • jatin

    i tried but not works

  • Prabha

    yeah it's good

  • Doulos737

    When I run the BOOTCFG command as stated without any parameters, the result is that the system just shows me the command with all the available parameters and I’m not sure which parameter to use in order to fix any problems with the BOOT.INI file as your instructions suggest. Please someone advise if they know how to get past this. I’m surprised no body else encountered or mentioned this issue, unless they just skipped it and they recovered none-the-less…

    Thanks!!! :)

  • M_guffman

    Saad – Thank you SO much for this how-to. I started getting BSODs today, found this through a Google search, and got my PC running again.

  • Marx

    to Toulos…..
    Type CHKDSK /R  (after chkdsk is space and then /r )
    i didnt noticed this myself :D but it taked some  time and tadaaaa :D

  • guest

    Thank you so MUCH!! you really saved and helped me for sharing this!:)

    • Jeminpanchal

      but i doesnt have xp cd

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