Will XP Pro disk work ?

[trainee]

Need to try to get into the recovery console on a Dell Inspiron 300m, will a XP Pro disk work on XP home? I know, dumb question, just trying to help a friend out... but just had to ask... I just don't want to try a "what if" and lose any data ya know?

Yes, everything is legal and above board, just trying to fix the problem below that occured when the battery ran out ...

STOP: C0000218 {REGISTRY FILE FAILURE}
THE REGISTRY CANNOT LOAD THE HIVE (FILE)
\SYSTEMROOT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE
OR ITS LOG OR ALTERNATIVE
IT IS CORRUPT, ABSENT, OR NOT WRITABLE

Would XP Home boot disks get me there?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions!

[andyms18a]

first have you tryed last known good configeration start the computer and press the f8 key till you get the boot menue
if that dont work a xp home cd wood be better but you can try a pro one it may or may not let you run the recovery console this is how to fix it http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp

[trainee]

Thanks for the info! I tried last known first, no soap there, I asked my friend to bring me "The" Dell Windows Recovery and Setup cd's, she brought the Office XP cd's, go figure ... sigh... I'm thinking the pro might work ???

[andyms18a]

try the pro cd but if that dont work and her cd is a dell recovery cd then all that will do is format the hard drive and return the computer to the first time she got it which may be a good idea if she dont use a password then take her harddrive out and put it in your computer and copy her data to cdr.s then run check disk full on her hard drive then run the dell recovery disk

[trainee]

Ok. got ya, but I'm lost when it comes to connecting a lap hd to a desktop, can you give me some specific's?

(I did try networking to the lap but that was a no-go also)

Thanks!

[andyms18a]

you need a converter cable from a place like this http://www.priorityelectronics.com/l...yharddrive.htm the one at the top works well

[trainee]

Kewl! I didn't know such an adaptor existed, but it makes sense! Thanks!

Any other idea's for a quick recovery or is this just about my only option?

[andyms18a]

did the recovery console work with the xp pro cd ?

[trainee]

Nope, the disk didn't work, but then I remembered that I was using a upgrade disk, don't know if that matters or not? I'm going to try a full version disk...

[andyms18a]

upgrade or full makes no difference you need a xp home CD

[trainee]

Oh my gosh! Whoops! I'm so used to using Pro that I forget at times!TG I procrastinated before another attempt! Thank you, Thank you!