How can I return to XP from 2000?

[bofh1961]

I'm trying to fix a PC that had problems booting up into XP. Unfortunately someone else "who knows a bit about computers" got to it before I did and decided to fix it by installing 2000 on the same partition. He then created a new user account with the same name as the owner used in XP. The owner then found that nearly all the data was missing. I've retrieved the missing data by booting with the Ubuntu live CD and copying the files from the previously inaccessible "Windows User" folder onto a USB drive but I've very little idea how to put XP back on. Between us we don't have any XP media, a licence key or the original Administrator password. The PC gives me the options to boot into 2000 or boot into XP but, when I try XP I get the following message; "Windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEMd" Any ideas anybody?

[Boris]

Without an XP CD (of the right flavour - Home or Professional and OEM or Retail depending on what version is installed) and the Product Key you will find it very difficult to sort this out.

If you had a CD you could attempt to repair this error by starting Windows setup using the original setup CD and at the first screen selecting the "R" option to repair the PC via Recovery Console.