I'm sure I'm not the only one who has booted a machine to find the following message waiting for them:Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt\\Windows\\SYSTEM32 ...

Thanks for the replies, all.<BR><BR>I went ahead and reinstalled XP in the existing WINDOWS folder. As Shinobi pointed out, some apps are still working, others aren't.

BAD SYSTEM CONFIG INFO is usually caused due to some issues with the BCD or the Boot Configuration Data. We cover 5 potential fixes for this Stop Error on Windows 11/10.

Safe Mode and System Restore Try to start Windows XP in Safe Mode from the Advanced Boot Options menu. If Safe Mode refuses to start, then skip to the "Windows Registry Repair" section.

Windows 10 and Windows 11 are vulnerable to a local elevation of privilege vulnerability after discovering that users with low privileges can access sensitive Registry database files.