Hi,

I recently downloaded what I thought was a proxy program, but turned out to be a command line based program that deletes system32 in a very quick way... I tried to look at the code by changing it to .txt but it wasnt in a READABLE format. anyway now I cant log into my computer because it has an error message when I try to type in the admin password. I cant restore it either because thats windows based and probably got deleted.. all I WANT to know is there a way to reinstall all the system32 .dll files without having to reformat? I also have all my firefox history in the hdd and id rather not lose that. Ive tried safe mode but it doesnt work. the only thing ive come close to was booting windows xp disk and hit "r" to repair it and got to a command line with a bunch of stuff related to the systemroot and whatnot. so is there any way to recover without reformatting?

edit- oh and I have a dell xps gen 5 with xp home... I know dell SUCKS but I was ignorant at the timeIf program had deleted all files in system32 you wouldn't be able to get to the login screen. That being said though, if files have been deleted your best bet is probably to do a repair install of XP.

You should also scan you computer for virus in case it installed something nasty.
AVG is pretty good and free.I cant login or go into safe mode, my only choice is to do the repair install, which im trying to do. Im using method 2 to do the repair because method 1 requires being able to login... which I cant. So when I got to method 2 it asks me to either quick format w/ ntfs, regular format w/ ntfs, or leave the current file system (no changes). I assumed the latter but it says nothing about that on the microsoft website... it says press "R" to repair, which is the first step, not the 2nd... so im really confused.I don't understand what you mean. You shouldn't be getting a message about formatting your drive, that is part of the XP clean install. Please read the instructions on the website i linked to carefully.I did, and that is what I get.

this is the order I get. I have a dell, so I have to press F12 to boot the CD.

1 go to boot from cd-rom
2 press any key to boot cd
3 wait for windows to load
4 comes to screen with 3 options: enter for install, "R" for recovery, f3 for quit
5 press enter
6 press f8 to agree to license
7 comes to blue screen with harddrives listed
8 chose first partition
9 options are quick format, regular format, leave file system (no changes)

Thats what I get and I followed EVERY step

if I DONT press a key to boot from cd, it says "Load needed DLLs for kernel"

edit- even when I change the boot order from the bios screen it still comes up with the same thing.

I tried another option in the recovery console before this with the commands:

md tmp
copy C:\xxx C:\xxx

and everything to a temp file that I found on microsoft, then I did a chkdsk /r to see if I could repair some things, but nothing worked

if it helps, I could give you a link to the program that screwed the whole thing up, but dont open it for it will do the same thing to yours.From the Recovery Console try running fixboot and fixmbr...After step 6 the install should be detecting your current XP installation but it apparently isn't.
Try patio's suggestions and also the possible fix listed under warning #2 on the repair install guide.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm#warning2apparently dell computers have to have a cd to do a repair installIf you can borrow an XP CD that is the exact same version you could do it and still save your data...


Repair Install of XPI have my xp cd.

but as I said, dells require their own cd to do a repair install

anyway, it says when I try to start

"load needed DLLs for kernel"

is there anyway to fix this without a repair install? it obviously deleted all my important .dll files. is there anyway to reinstall just the dlls? like download them, and put them on a cd. then somebody could tell me the commands I have to write for them to be installed.. or something.Put in your XP CD...
Go to Start/Run and type in sfc /scannow and hit Enter...
LET it run til it finishes and re-boot.Ill say it again, I cant start or login to my computer. not safe mode, not regular mode, nothing. only thing I can do is run recovery console or reinstall xp. and reinstalling xp on a dell will force you to format one of the partitionsThen your best option would be to swap that drive into another machine jumpered as a slave. Copy and burn the data you need from it.
Then return it to the Dell and do a clean install...

p.s. I would run a virus scan on it in the other machine just to be safe.