Vista fails to boot after SP1 install - ntoskrnl.exe 0xc0000098

Vista fails to boot after SP1 install - ntoskrnl.exe 0xc0000098

You'll need to manually restore some files again to the version that came with your Windows installation DVD. Use the Windows DVD to boot into repair mode and restore these files using the command prompt:

In your "\Windows\System32\" folder, restore just these files:

hal.dll

ntoskrnl.exe (You shouldn't need to replace it because it's not really corrupted.)

ntkrnlpa.exe (Same as ntoskrnl.exe. Try booting without replacing them first)

And in your "\Windows\System32\Drivers" folder, restore these:

acpi.sys

msisadrv.sys

pci.sys

volmgr.sys

volsnap.sys

disk.sys

Make sure to rename or backup the files you're going to replace (just in case you do something wrong). All the original files you'll need to replace your "corrupted" files with should be found inside the virtually mounted drive (X:\), so they should be in "X:\Windows\System32\" and "X:\Windows\System32\Drivers\" (you don't need to "expand" any files like the old XP days, you'll just need to use basic "copy" and "rename" commands).

HINT: If you're not too comfortable using the command prompt, you can use the notepad's file browser to copy and paste files from inside the repair DVD. Just type "notepad.exe" in the command prompt and set the file type to ALL inorder to see non-txt files.(WARNING: It doesn't prompt you when overwriting files and It doesn't show hidden or system files, but you shouldn't need it to anyways)

After it boots successfully you should try to reinstall SP1 again BUT DO NOT USE WINDOWS UPDATE TO REINSTALL IT, DOWNLOAD THE STANDALONE RELEASE. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B0C7136D-5EBB-413B-89C9-CB3D06D12674&displaylang=en It's highly recommended to reinstall SP1 again because eventhough after you're going to boot, Windows will say that it's removing all SP1 files because the install failed, it actually doestn't replace most of the system files. Your copy is going to be a hybrid between no SP and SP1. When you reinstall SP1, Stage 3 is going to be repeated twice, once before Stage 1 and then again after Stage 2. But that is completely normal.

You should'nt need to restore any other files for you Windows to boot. Don't just replace all the files inside your "System32\Drivers\" folder like what that article said, that will probably do more harm than good. I used the debug boot log file from inside my Windows folder (ntbtlog.txt) to determine which files Windows is using while attempting to boot, and then I checked their file version from inside the repair DVD (right click>properties>details or just leave the mouse pointer on the file for a second); If it was 6.0.6001.18000 (SP1 release version), I replaced it with the old version from my boot DVD.