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

On Windows XP Home Edition, got this message at startup:

Windows NT could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
Winnt_root\System32\Ntoskrnl.exe
Please re-install a copy of the above file.


Solution from Microsoft KB314477
Turns out it maybe a bad entry in boot.ini file.
Several approaches to fix this problem.

Method 2

Use the Bootcfg utility in the Recovery Console to correct the Boot.ini file:

1. Use the Windows XP CD-ROM to start your computer.
2. When you receive the message to press R to repair Windows by using the Recovery Console, press the R key.
3. Select the Windows installation that you want, and then type the administrator password when prompted.
4. Type bootcfg /rebuild, and then press ENTER.
5. When the Windows installation is located, the following instructions are displayed:
   Add installation to boot list? (Yes/No/All)
   [Type Y in response to this message.]
   
   Enter Load Identifier:
   [This is the name of the operating system. Type Windows XP Professional or Windows XP Home Edition.]
   
   Enter OS Load options:
   [Leave this field blank, and then press ENTER].
   After you perform the preceding steps, restart the computer, and then select the first item on the boot menu. This should allow Windows XP to start normally.
   
   After Windows XP has successfully loaded, the Boot.ini can be modified to remove the incorrect entry.

For more information about how to edit the Boot.ini file, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Performed method 2 but still seeing error message on reboot.

Attempting to fix bad sectors CHKDSK /r from recovery console and then I'll retry Method 2.
This also failed.  Rebuilding the machine.

Download Windows XP Reskit Tools

Download Windows XP Reskit Tools: "Download the Windows XP Support Tools (12.5mb)"

Provides the InstSrv.exe utility to add and remove services

Map current folder location as a local drive.

@echo off
subst V: /D
subst V: "%CD%"
subst
PAUSE

Host file location in Windows

Try to locate any existing hosts file on your computer: 
 

Windows 95/98/Me c:\windows\hosts

Windows NT/2000/XP Pro  c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Windows XP Home c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

 

(you may need administrator access for Windows NT/2000/XP)

Never use Windows FixBoot!

I recently had a slave IDE ntfs drive parition go alittle south where Windows XP recognized the entire drive but saw it as Raw formatted partition.  Unfortunately, I did not realize until it was too late that fixBoot from XP recovery console creates a FAT12 Boot partition.  So now, I hosed up a perfectly good hard drive with 70 GB of family photos. 

Looking through my   software collection, I had an old copy spinrite 3.1 that had helped me recover files from a FAT32 drive 5 years ago.  I purchased and downloaded Spinrite 6.0 from Home of Gibson Research Corporation .  Spinrite failed to recognize my ~190 GB IDE drive and saw it as an oversided 128 GB drive.  Too nervous to proceed, I downloaded a demo copy of Partition Table Doctor from ptdd.com.  It saw the drive correctly as a 190 GB NTFS drive with a corrupted boot sector.  but of course the demo version would not fix the problem, had to purchase the full version.

But when I followed the link to purchase it, I found it was no longer being sold.

Partition Table Doctor Personal Edition	Single License	End of Marketing EASEUS aims to offer more professional data recovery software Data Recovery Wizard other than Partition Table Doctor now!
Partition Table Doctor Unlimited Edition	Unlimited License
Partition Recovery For Windows (Partition Table Doctor Windows version)	Single License
Partition Recovery Bootable CD (Partition Table Doctor DOS version)	Single License

Rats!  But I discovered that is was bundled and sold here:

Personal Data Recovery Package

Contains Partition Table Doctor and Data Recovery Wizard to recover data from disaster suffering partition or disk. The final tools for protecting your data from being lost. Single License.

Buy Now
Read More

It cost me $90 instead of just $45 but the software did work!  and I did get a refund for spinrite 6.0.

And of course, I immediately backed up my 70 Gbs of photos with only losing 3-4 photos.

 

So, don't use FixBoot!