STOP Msg: 0xc000021a After Changing Drive Letter Assignment

Last reviewed: September 19, 1996
Article ID: Q145578

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.5 and 3.51
Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5 and 3.51

SYMPTOMS

If you change the drive letter of the system drive to "unassigned", after rebooting the following error message appears:

   STOP: c000021a {Fatal System Error}
   The Session Manager Initialization system process terminated
   unexpectedly with a status of 0xC000003a (0x00000000 0x00000000).
   The system has shutdown.

RESOLUTION

To correct this problem, do one of the following:

You must use the Emergency Repair Disk and replace the system hive of the registry or re-install Windows NT. Selecting "Last Known Good" will not correct this problem.
-or-
Install Windows NT to a separate directory and modify the registry of the original Windows NT that experiences the symptom above.
WARNING 1: If you have implemented any of the Microsoft Software Fault Tolerance solutions, including mirroring, stripe sets and volume sets in Windows NT, do NOT perform the following procedures.
WARNING 2: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious, system- wide problems that may require you to reinstall Windows NT to correct them. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use this tool at your own risk.
1. Start Registry Editor (REGEDT32.EXE) and locate and select the
```
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subtree.
```
2. From the Registry menu, select Load Hive.
3. Find the file that contains the Hive in the following directory of
```
      the original Windows NT installation that experiences the symptom
      above: %SystemRoot%\System32\Config\System
```
4. In the Load Hive dialog box, type TEMP for the key name.
5. A new TEMP hive is now listed. In TEMP, find and select Disk.
6. From the Edit menu, select Binary.
7. Delete all the binary information.
8. Click OK and select TEMP.
9. From the Registry menu, select Unload Hive. This unloads the hive
```
      from the current session and saves it to the original Windows NT
      location.
```
10. Quit Registry Editor.
11. Shut down and restart the original installation of Windows NT.

KBCategory: kbenv
KBSubcategory: ntconfig
Additional reference words: prodnt 3.50 3.51

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Last reviewed: September 19, 1996
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