NOTE: For more information booting to the recovery console, refer to the following Dell Knowledge Base Article: 149786 – “How do I use the Microsoft® Windows® XP Recovery Console?” At the Press any key to boot from CD prompt, perform the following steps: Press the . The Windows Setup screen appears, and several files are loaded. Press the key. If prompted, select the number corresponding to the Windows installation you want to log on to (usually C:\WINDOWS). Press the key. Enter the Administrator password (if any) and press the key. The C:\WINDOWS> prompt appears. NOTE: If the system fails to boot, the following method of recovery is not possible. To copy the restore point in the recovery console, perform the following steps: Type cd \ and press the key. Type cd system~1\_resto~1 and press the key. NOTE: If a message Access Denied is displayed while attempting this fix, perform the following steps: Type cd \ and press the key. Type cd windows\system32\config and press the key. Type ren system system.bak and press the key. Type exit and press the key. Restart the computer. Continue troubleshooting below. Type dir and press the key. A list of restore points appear. Choose the restore point which is dated the day prior to the occurence of the reported error. Type cd rpx (where x represents the restore point you chose in the step above) and press . Type cd snapshot and press the key. Type dir and press . Type copy _registry_machine_system c:\windows\system32\config\system and press . Overwrite system? (Yes/No/All): appears. Type Y and press the key. Type copy _registry_machine_software c:\windows\system32\config\software and press the key. Overwrite software? (Yes/No/All): appears. Type Y and press the key. Type copy _registry_machine_sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam and press the key. Overwrite sam? (Yes/No/All): appears. Type Y and press the key. Type copy _registry_machine_security c:\windows\system32\config\security and press the key. Overwrite security? (Yes/No/All): appears. Type Y and press . Type copy _registry_user_.default c:\windows\system32\config\default and press the key. Overwrite default? (Yes/No/All): appears. Type Y and press the key. Type exit and press to restart the computer and remove the Windows CD. NOTE: If any error message is returned while in the recovery console, use an earlier restore point