Can't boot into windows xp

Ok, the system was working fine and then the next morning I booted it
up and a screen came up and said that windows could not start due to
windows\system32\config\system was corrupted. I tried recovery
console and that did not show my windows installation. It did not
even prompt me for a password. I tried running chkdsk and that didn't
work. If I try md test it fails with access denied. Then I tried
rebooting and going into windows install, pressed f8 and then I wanted
to try to repair the installation. However that option was not given
to me and it showed that I had an unpartitioned drive. I could only
create a partition. I don't want to lose my stuff on there, so what
can I do? I don't think my partition is gone because of the registry
corruption message.

"mlc" <mlc6670@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:a442ca38-abae-4be3-a543-4d3289947fe2@e53g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
> Ok, the system was working fine and then the next morning I booted it
> up and a screen came up and said that windows could not start due to
> windows\system32\config\system was corrupted. I tried recovery
> console and that did not show my windows installation. It did not
> even prompt me for a password. I tried running chkdsk and that didn't
> work. If I try md test it fails with access denied. Then I tried
> rebooting and going into windows install, pressed f8 and then I wanted
> to try to repair the installation. However that option was not given
> to me and it showed that I had an unpartitioned drive. I could only
> create a partition. I don't want to lose my stuff on there, so what
> can I do? I don't think my partition is gone because of the registry
> corruption message.

By the sound of it you don't have any backups of your important files. If so
then it is very dangerous to try and repair the damage - you might destroy
whatever is left. Your first step should be to salvage your data. Remove the
hard disk, then connect it as a slave disk to some other WinXP system and
save your data. Post again when this step is complete.

The second step is fairly obvious: Since you appear to have important files
on your disk, you MUST back them up to and independent medium at regular
intervals, e.g. weekly. A 2.5" disk in an external USB case is a highly
effective backup medium is surprisingly inexpensive.