38. How Do I Rectify A Missing Or Corrupt NTFS.SYS Error

Important Question! Can your PC Run Faster?

Windows XP can be formatted in two different file systems, FAT32 and NTFS. If you are running a machine with a FAT32 files system and then decide to convert to NTFS using the converts option - see 23. How do I convert my FAT32 file system to NTFS - on rebooting you may get a missing or corrupt ntfs.sys error. Here is how to rectify this problem

1/ Insert the Windows XP CD into your CD-ROM and reboot your pc.

2/ Allow the basic setup files to load into memory.

3/At the Welcome to Setup screen press R.

4/ This will start the Recovery console and the list of Windows installations will appear.

5/ As you only have one installation on your PC you need to press the number which is relevant to your installations location. This, obviously will typically be 1 (one).

6/ You will need to enter your Administrator password. If you are using Windows XP Home edition the administrator password is blank by default so simply press Enter.

7/ At the Recovery Console command prompt type: cd \windows\system32\drivers

8/ Next press Enter.

9/ The windows system 32 drivers directory will now open.

10/ Now type: ren ntfs.sys ntfs.old

11/ Again press Enter.

12/ If a message appears telling you that the Ntfs.sys file was not found, then the file is actually missing rather than corrupt.

13/ The above command will change the name of your corrupt file from Ntfs.sys to Ntfs.old.

14/Now type the following at the command prompt substituting the X (after copy) with the drive letter of your CD and the X (after drive) with the drive letter of your hard drive. The hard drive usually being the C:/ drive.

15/ copy X:\i386\ntfs.sys drive X:\windows\system32\drivers.

16/ Remove the Windows XP CD from your CD-ROM.

17/ Now in the command prompt type: Exit.

18/ Restart your PC to make sure the problem has been rectified.