How To Repair XP from the Blue Screen of Death

It'll look like you're re-installing Windows XP, but don't worry, you're not. This is just a screen showing you that your computer is loading enough files from the CD to actually do something, anything but that awful blue screen. Now when you see the screen that asks you if you if you want to install Windows, don't! Just hit R for recover/repair, and you'll see the ominous Recovery Console. Don't let that intimidate you; the Recovery Console is your ugly, black-suited friend. It will have a dark, bleak screen, with the following stuff:

Microsoft Windows(R) Recovery Console

The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality.
Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer.

1: C:WINDOWS

Which Windows Installation would you like to log onto
(To cancel, press ENTER)?

Go ahead and hit the number 1 on your keyboard, or whichever number corresponds to the operating system you were using when havoc struck. Enter your administrator password, and then hit enter. You're in! Now it's time to run with the big dogs! Do not be afraid, dear reader, I am here to help you.

If you type the following commands into your computer, it will work magic, akin to going back in time. There are three parts to this process, but believe me, they take much less time than reinstalling Windows XP and all your applications. So follow along with me, and keep in mind that each command must be typed exactly as you see it here. Please note that this procedure assumes that Windows XP is installed to the C:Windows folder. Make sure to change C:Windows to the appropriate windows folder if it's at a different location. The copy commands will answer you with a little "file copied" message. The delete commands just move on to the next line. Because of the way your Web browser displays individual lines, a command might look to you like it's two lines, so I've separated each command by an empty line. But anyway, type the whole command in one line, and when you've finished typing that command, hit the Enter key. Be sure to include the spaces I've included between each word here:

md tmp

copy C:windowssystem32configsystem C:windowstmpsystem.bak

copy C:windowssystem32configsoftware C:windowstmpsoftware.bak

copy C:windowssystem32configsam C:windowstmpsam.bak

copy C:windowssystem32configsecurity C:windowstmpsecurity.bak

copy C:windowssystem32configdefault C:windowstmpdefault.bak

delete C:windowssystem32configsystem

delete C:windowssystem32configsoftware

delete C:windowssystem32configSam

delete C:windowssystem32configsecurity

delete C:windowssystem32configdefault

copy C:windowsrepairsystem C:windowssystem32configsystem

copy C:windowsrepairsoftware C:windowssystem32configsoftware

copy C:windowsrepairsam C:windowssystem32configsam

copy C:windowsrepairsecurity C:windowssystem32configsecurity

copy C:windowsrepairdefault C:windowssystem32configdefault