Microsoft Windows XP is based upon the architecture of Windows 2000 and NT. But sometimes, during Windows XP installation, you may face issues like system file corruption. In such cases, you should take data backup as the solution may require a clean Windows reinstall. In case of backup unavailability or other issues like error occurrence while restoration, hard disk recovery becomes necessary to retrieve lost data.

As a practical scenario, you may encounter the following error during Windows XP bootup:

“The file C:\windows\system32\c_1252.nls is missing or corrupt”

The error message occurs due to the corruption or loss of ‘c_1252.nls’ file.

• NLS stands for National Language Support. The files with .nls extensions are code page that consist of tables. They are used to translate text into other languages or alphabets.

Solution

The possible solutions are:

•You can use Windows XP operating system disk to start the system and select recovery console option. You need to use the chkdsk/r command in recovery console. This command is used for repairing hard disk errors.
•If the problem persists, you can replace the required system file (c_1252.nls). It can be accomplished through Recovery Console with these commands:

cd system32
ren c_1252.nls c_1252.old
expand Drive Letter:\i386\c_1252.nl_ c:\windows\system32

Here, drive letter: can be C:, D: as per the system.
• If hard disk is formatted with FAT32 file system, you can replace the file by using Windows 98 emergency boot disk. After starting the system using this CD, the following commands need to be typed at the command prompt:

c:
cd windows\system32
ren c_1252.nls c_1252.old
extract drive:\i386\c_1252.nl_

This method is useful when Windows XP Recovery Console is not able to solve the problem.

•You can also try upgrading Windows XP

•If this doesn’t resolve the system behavior, you can go for clean Windows XP reinstall after backing up all important data. Backup must be checked as incomplete backup may lead to hard drive recovery post data loss.

Hard disk recovery is possible using commercial data recovery tools. These hard drive recovery software can scan the drive and recover data. The applications can be used in each logical data loss situation. They offer interactive interface and advanced options to achieve precise data recovery.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is the finest hard drive recovery
tool that provides a solution to all Windows data loss situations. It can recover lost data from NTFS5, NTFS, vFAT, FAT32 and FAT16 file system. It is compatible with Windows Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000.