2 days ago, my FRIENDS laptop crashed on him and now when he tries to reboot the computer it goes to the safe mode menu but whichever option he chooses it does an automatic restart.  the error that comes up is saying his windows/system32 file is missing or CORRUPT.  he DOESNT have the windows restart disc and is wondering if there is a way to reconfigure windows without it.It may be STARTING the shut-down during his choosing an option, I have had a similar problem, and got it to start-up by remembering the exact locations of the OPTIONS and clicking one each time, as quickly as possible, until it started.

That is if the options are applicable.

I don't think that it would hurt to try this, you need to be pretty quick.

I'm sure there are other metods, but this may be worth a try.

Someone will come along with a different choice that will work if this doesn't.

JpBoot to the original CD and do a repair

Alan <><  Everyone needs a real Windows CD sooner or later. In his case it appears to be sooner.