Windows XP Registry Recovery
Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive (file): SystemRootSystem32ConfigSOFTWARE or its log or alternate
How to recover your registry:
Hopefully you had Windows System Restore enabled before your registry was corrupted (it is enabled by default). Otherwise you are done and you’ll have to reinstall everything.
Microsoft has a really long article here.
I will outline the major steps.
1. Pull your hard drive and connect it to another computer. Run a chkdsk on the drive to check for errors. If it finds any, you should back up your important files right away.
2. Locate the System Volume Information folder on the root of the drive (it is hidden).
3. Drill down into the folders and locate a snapshot folder for a previous day when your computer worked. This folder will contain a backup of your registry.
4. Copy these files to the Windowssystem32config folder:
5. Rename the files (after backing up the old files with these names):
6. Put the drive back in your computer and boot up. If the drive doesn’t have any other corruption, it should work.