thanks...
checked it out but it already has start type to REG_DWORD 0
as mentioned in guides for this i have the following:
scsi0.sharedBus = "none"
scsi0.virtualDev = "lsisas1068"
memsize = "2048"
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.fileName = "SERVERNAME.vmdk"
when i reboot after the restore i load the hive as mentioned and make sure it is the OS drive system hive i am loading. The start key is 0.
still stuck but thanks for the link