When you start your computer that is running Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), you may receive the following error message:
Windows could not start because the following file is missing:
\system32\drivers\ntfs.sys
This issue may occur if you performed the following steps:
- You installed Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2).
- You installed the Windows XP SP1 rollup that is described in the following article:
826939
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/826939/
)
Update Rollup 1 for Windows XP is available
- After the 826939 Update Rollup was installed, you enabled hyper-threading, or you added a second processor to your computer.
This issue occurs because the 826939 Update Rollup 1 for Windows XP was released before Windows XP SP2. The rollup should not be installed after Windows XP SP2 is installed.
To resolve this issue, follow these steps:
- Insert the Windows XP startup disk in the floppy disk drive, or insert the Windows XP CD in the CD drive, and then restart the computer.
- Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD drive if you are prompted to do this.
- When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
- If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.
- When you are prompted, type the Administrator password. If the Administrator password is blank, press ENTER.
- At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following lines. Press ENTER after each line.
cd system32
ren ntkrnlpa.exe ntkrnlpa.old
ren ntoskrnl.exe ntoskrnl.old
cd "c:\windows\driver cache\i386"
expand sp2.cab -F:ntkrpamp.exe c:\windows\system32
expand sp2.cab -F:ntkrnlmp.exe c:\windows\system32
cd c:\windows\system32
ren ntkrpamp.exe ntkrnlpa.exe
ren ntkrnlmp.exe ntoskrnl.exe
- Type exit to quit Recovery Console. Your computer will restart.
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.
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