I have Windows 2000 SP4 and been receiving the error stated below:
Windows 2000 could not start because of an error in the software.
Loader Error 3
I tried everything to fix it. I already run the chkdsk and fixmbr but it didn't work. How can I fix this issue? I need to finish my work.
Software Loader 3 error is caused by the system registry hive. It may be corrupted or may be too large to launch. There is a limitation to the total available space on loading the drivers in the registry key HKLMSYSTEMCCSServices. On some instances, or in your situation, there is no enough space to start the drivers so your computer stops and give you the same error. When a device or any drive has been removed from your computer, Windows 2000 remains the registry entries just in case you will put the device back to your system. This is part of the Plug and Play feature. The issue can be obtain when the set of drivers has been reconfigured. If they will be detected and create duplicates. And therefore if the drive grows larger or over 700, you are most likely to receive this error.
To fix this, you need the Windows 2000 Recovery Console disk. Boot from it and then change the present system hive in the WINNTSYSTEM32CONFIG and then change it with a smaller one from the WINNTREPAIR hive so you can boot into it. Once done, it is possible to load the default hive and check what is taking too much space in your hive.
