Stop error 0x00000074 – BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO

Problem:

This STOP error occurs on startup if the SYSTEM registry hive is corrupted.

Solution:

Restore the SYSTEM hive from the backup that Windows automatically creates on every successful startup.

Procedure:

1. Go to the Repair Console using a boot disk and open a command prompt.
2. Go to E:\Windows\system32\config.
3. Back up all existing registry hives.
4. Overwrite SYSTEM with E:\Windows\system32\config\regback\SYSTEM.
5. Reboot.

Limitations:

This will correct a one-time corruption of the SYSTEM registry hive, but it is possible that the system may be in a condition to cause the problem to recur the next time it is successfully started. This would require the fix to be performed on every reboot.