Emergency Repair Process May Fail "Beyond Repair"

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.5, 3.51, and 4.0
• Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5, 3.51, and 4.0

SYMPTOMS

During the Emergency Repair process in Windows NT, the following error message may appear:

   Setup was unable to restore your registry. The Emergency Repair
   Disk may be damaged, or the disk volume containing Windows NT
   may be damaged beyond repair.

CAUSE

This problem occurs if the Windows NT %SYSTEMROOT% directory is damaged or has been renamed to another name.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, do one of the following:

• Boot to MS-DOS or to another installation of Windows NT and rename the directory to its original name. Restart the Emergency Repair process.

  -or-

• Re-install Windows NT and name the %SYSTEMROOT% directory to the same name as your original installation of Windows NT. Restart the Emergency Repair process to restore your previously saved Registry settings.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT versions 3.5 and 3.51. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.