missing or corrupt file

[goat_roper_me]

hello all
i have a lady friend that turned her computer on today and she got a screen that said missing or corrupt file and it showed
this /windows/system32/confg/system what can be done to fix it or do i have to format the hard drive and reinstall windows xp
on it she dont want to do that cuz shes got stuff on it she dont want to lose i had the same problum about 1 1/2 years ago and called mirosoft and thay walked me thro the repair but its been so long i dont remember how to do it so if some one can send me a walk thru on how to fix it that would be a great help
thanks all
goat_roper_me

[Monty007]

Hi goat_roper_me, good to cya back! Ok you need an XP cd for this:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

[goat_roper_me]

monty007 thanks for the site i think this will fix her problem ill have to go get the pc and try it again thanks a bunch she mite evin give ya a kiss if i get it done and it works
thanks again
goat_roper_me

[Kimlou]

How does this help? One of the steps is: "Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and
press R to start the repair." How do I know what I want to repair? I am not a computer technician. I only know how to use a computer. I made it that far, using the the XP installation disc that came with the computer, in 2002 (XP was already installed when I purchased the computer). I got a long list of codes that are meaningless to me and asked to select one. I can not get into Windows at all. (Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINNT\system32\config\SYSTEM.)

HELP!