barrowhill wrote:

Friend has asked for help having just dropped off his emachines 3240 desktop
after falling for Microsoft support scam. He can't believe he fell for it
and feels a complete idiot.

System (XP Home) now no longer boots as C:/Windows/system32/config/system
file is indicated as missing or corrupt

Cannot use recovery console as asking for administrators password which is
unknown

Cannot resort to last known good configuration as get BSOD error 0x09A
(System license Violation)

Cannot get to safe mode or command prompt ditto system file

Cannot repair windows installation as this option not given.

can anyone help with suggestions as to best way forward. Re-install is last
resort. I there a way round recovery console password ??


Make a clone or image backup of the old hard disk. Flatten and rebuild
Windows XP (install a fresh copy by having the install wipe and format
the OS partition). After all, if this customer has a legitimate copy of
Windows XP then they have the install CD for it (or the hidden restore
partition on the hard disk). Then reinstall all the customer's apps, if
they're willing to pay for your time, and assuming they have the
legitimate install CDs for the software. Then recover data files from
the cloned drive or explore the backup partition image.