It is not an uncommon phenomenon that the Windows system gives an error, indicating damage to system files, partitions, or the operating system itself. Needless to say, the user has in such situations little choice, but to opt for Windows data recovery. This process though not impossible, may at times be difficult to perform. For example, flashing of an error message indicating absence or damage of the Boot.ini file, or the file containing incorrect entries is a clear indication of an unbootable system, amounting to loss of all the data saved in the hard disk, unless ways are devised to recover partition.

Following error messages are indicative of the above mentioned problem:

'Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:

Windows\System32\Hal.dll'

Or,

'Invalid Boot.ini'

To handle the situation, start the computerusing the Windows XP installation disk, and get into the recovery console. After this, rebuild the file using Bootcfg.exe tool. To do this, follow the below mentioned steps:

Configure the system to boot from the disk. After this, insert the disk, and then boot the system. You will get the 'Press any key to boot from CD' message. After booting from the disk, you get 'Welcome to Setup' message. Just start the Recovery Console, by pressing R. In case you have more than one operating systems installed on your system, chose the drive on which the operating system that needs to be repaired is installed. On getting the command prompt, type bootcfg /list. On pressing Enter, entries in the Boot.ini file appear. After this, type bootcfg /rebuild. This command searches the hard drive for any Windows installation, and displays results. After this, follow the instructions that appear. Hit Enter when done.

This process ensures the problems coming due to Boot.ini file missing, damaged, or containing incorrect entries.

But in case the above steps do not handle the problem, then, you will need to perform an in-place upgrade of the Windows operating system. But before performing the same, you will need to take backups of all your vital data, and validate it, as there is a possibility of data loss in such situations. But in case, backups are not possible, then you will need to rely on a Windows partition recovery software to retrieve your data that has been lost, deleted or become inaccessible.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a user-friendly application that is widely used to recover partitions and the data stored therein. With support for NTFS, NTFS5, FAT32, VFAT, and exFAT file systems, the software is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP and 2000.