WHAT TO DO WHEN WINDOWS 9x OR M.E. WILL NOT BOOT
(From the archives of wawadave`s knowledgebase)

BASICS
You will need a windows M.E. boot disk. If you don't have one you can download one from www.bootdisk.com
Put the Boot Disk into the drive and reboot. Choose to start up without CD-ROM support and press Enter. Your system will boot into the DOS Command Prompt - a black screen showing just 'A:\>_' in the top left corner. (The underscore symbol - '_' - is the flashing cursor).

Run through the instructions below. If one step fails to cure the problem then proceed to the next instruction. The commands you need to type are shown in bold italic in the following instructions, with the command repeated showing the spaces when necessary.

The commands should all be typed in after the 'A:\>' prompt. If your prompt is different then simply type

a:\

and press the Enter key.

Please note that the spaces in the following commands are very important. Omitting a space or adding an extra one will cause the command to fail.


FIRST STEPS

At the Command Prompt, type
sys c:
sys{space}c:

and press Enter. You should get a message telling you that the System File Transfer was successful. Remove the Boot Disk, turn off your system using the power button then reboot as normal.

If the System File Transfer was unsuccessful, type
fdisk /mbr
fdisk{space}/mbr

and press Enter. When the fdisk command has finished running, remove the Boot Disk, turn off your system using the power button then reboot as normal.

To restore the Registry to an earlier date, type
scanreg /restore
scanreg{space}/restore

and press Enter. You have 5 Registry restore points set by default,and each new day you try to restart computer you lose one older restore point. Choose the most recent restore point first, then try the preceding one, and so on. If the earliest Restore Point will not allow your system to boot then continue with the following instructions.

Delete the Windows Temporary files - type the command
del c:\windows\temp\*.*
del{space}c:\windows\temp\*.*

and press Enter.

Delete the swap file - type
del c:\win386.swp
del{space}c:\win386.swp

and press Enter.

Check the file named 'bootlog.txt' (although this file may not be present on your system). Type
type c:\bootlog.txt
type{space}c:\bootlog.txt

and press Enter


FURTHER STEPS

The last line of the bootlog.txt file may show the cause of Windows not loading.

To view the last few lines of this file, type
type c:\bootlog.txt
type{space}c:\bootlog.txt

and press Enter

If it is a file, for example 'c:\windows\abcd.exe', then rename it by replacing the last 3 letters of the filename with 'old'. In the following command, change 'c:\windows\abcd.exe' to the exact path and filename shown in the last line of bootlog.txt:

ren c:\windows\abcd.exe c:\windows\abcd.old
ren{space}c:\windows\abcd.exe{space}c:\windows\abcd.old

and press Enter.

If Boot Logging has not been enabled - there is no file named bootlog.txt - it should be possible to generate a log by the following method:

At the Command Prompt, type

c:\

and press Enter.

Type

copy msdos.sys msdos.old
copy{space}msdos.sys{space}msdos.old

and press Enter.

(This keeps a copy of the file should anything go wrong during the next part. To restore the original file, type

copy c:\msdos.old c:\msdos.sys
copy{space}c:\msdos.old{space}c:\msdos.sys

and press Enter. Choose to replace the file when prompted.)


Now type

attrib msdos.sys -s -h -r
attrib{space}msdos.sys{space}-s{space}-h{space}-r

and press Enter.

Type

edit msdos.sys
edit{space}msdos.sys

and press Enter.

This will open the MS text editor with the file msdos.sys loaded. Press CTRL + End (hold down the Ctrl key, tap the End key then release the Ctrl key) to place cursor at the end of the last line of text (after the rows of 'XXX's). Press Enter to start a new line and type the following:

BootMenu=1

and press Enter.

BootMenuDefault=2

and press Enter.

BootMenuDelay=1

and press Enter.

DisableLog=0
(Note - the character at the end of that line is zero, not the letter 'O')

Press the Alt key to highlight the File menu, cursor down 3 times to highlight 'Save' and press Enter.
Press Alt again, cursor up twice to highlight 'Exit' and press Enter. This will bring you back to the Command Prompt.

Type the following command at the Command Prompt:

attrib msdos.sys +s +h +r
attrib{space}msdos.sys{space}+s{space}+h{space}+r

and press Enter.

Finally, remove any boot disks from the floppy drive or CD drive and shut down your system using the power button. Wait 30 seconds and boot your system up again. It is likely that windows will still not boot, but a log will be generated up to the point where the boot fails. The last part of the log can be read by typing

type c:\bootlog.txt
type{space}c:\bootlog.txt

and press Enter.


ADVANCED STEPS

You can also do a system restore from DOS with a boot disk. See this article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];Q279736

How to Start the System Restore Tool From a Command Prompt
The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition

Summary
Windows Millennium Edition (Me) includes the System Restore tool, however, you cannot start the System Restore tool from a command prompt. Because of this, it may be useful to start the System Restore tool when you are unable to start your Windows Me-based computer normally or in Safe mode. This article describes how to start the System Restore tool when you are unable to start your Windows Me-based computer normally or in Safe mode.

To start the System Restore tool when you are unable to start your Windows Me-based computer normally or in Safe mode, you can temporarily change the Windows shell from Explorer.exe to Progman.exe:

1. Start your computer by using the Windows Me Startup disk.
2. At the Startup menu, choose Minimum Boot.
3. At the command prompt, type edit c:\windows\system.ini, and then press Enter.
4. Edit the shell= line so that it looks like this:

shell=progman.exe

5. Press ALT+F, and then press S to save the changes to the System.ini file.
6. Press ALT+F, and then press X.
7. Remove your Windows Me Startup disk, and then restart your computer.

When your computer restarts, Program Manager should start. If Program Manager does not start, repeat steps 1-7, being careful to follow these steps exactly, and then continue to the next step.

8. On the File menu, click Run, type msconfig in the Command Line box, and then press Enter.
9. Click 'Launch System Restore' to begin restoring your computer to a previous, functional state.

NOTE: After you configure your computer to start Program Manager, you can start the System Restore tool by typing C:\windows\system\restore\rstrui.exe at a command prompt, and then pressing Enter.

For additional information about the System Restore tool, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/267951/EN-US/ in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.


'NOTHING TO LOSE' STEPS

And now for a restore of windows functions, written by "newgrl". Please note - this is a last ditch way to open Windows if all else has fails and you have nothing to lose.

Name: newgrl
Date: December 24, 2001 at 22:19:09 Pacific
Subject: replacing system.ini

On the root of the C: drive (... where I am assuming Windows ME is installed) there should be a hidden file named system.cb. This is a "backup" system.ini that contains no third party drivers.

Copy system.cb to c:\windows and rename it to system.ini, then see if you can boot up. If you can, you will have to reinstall a bunch of drivers, including video, sound, scanners, cameras, etc... but you should be able to boot.

Here's how to make it work from boot disk:

You will need to reboot with the M.E. bootdisk in the drive. If you dont have one you can d/l one from www.bootdisk.com . Choose to boot without cd-rom suport. At the a: prompt, type

c:\

and press Enter. Next, type

Then type

copy system.cb windows\system.ini
copy{space}system.cb{space}windows\system.ini

and press Enter.

If you get the message saying "Overwrite system.ini? (Yes, No, All)", press Y and then Enter.

You can run scandisk from the DOS Prompt to check for errors on the hard disk. Any errors found may be the cause of Windows not booting up. A large number if errors may indicate the need to replace the hard drive.

When Windows M.E. is installed, copies of your registry files are made and remain unmodified until the next time windows is installed. This Registry backup file, system.1st, is located in the root directory (C:\). If all else fails, you can restore your system to its installed state by copying these files over those in use. Note that, although it wont have any of your most recent settings, Windows should start. If you restore the backup registry file then you will need to reinstall any device drivers and software which is not included in the Windows installation disks. Make sure you have the appropriate installation disks and serial numbers if applicable.

A final solution would be to reinstall windows over its self. This is not always successful, but is worth trying before a complete reformat and install. This operation can be performed from the DOS Command line. Depending on the location of the CAB files, one of three commands may be entered. If one doesn't work then the other will. No harm will be done by the command which does not work - it will just fail. Type either

c:\windows\options\cabs\setup

and press Enter, or type

c:\windows\options\install\cabs\setup

and press Enter, or type

c:\windows\cabs\setup

and press Enter. Windows Setup will now start. Make sure you have your Windows Product Key handy - you may be asked for it to complete the setup procedure.

Have a nice day.

Hello!

The above post was very detailed and I am sure it would have helped lots of people!

However, for my situation, I cannot even get progman.exe to run! There is some problem with the program loader itself. Basically, my steps:
1. Installed new Hard drive
2. Installed Windows Me
3. Installed all of my apps + MS Office 2000 Pro
4. Attempted to install Office SP3.
5. On restart, "Error loading explorer.exe. Reinstall Windows"
6. When I modified system.ini to progman, I simply got "Error loading progman.exe. Reinstall Windows". Any suggestions?

Thank you in advance!

Taarik.

You could reinstall windows me over itself . The procedure will only repair me and won't change anything else . There are three points that look like you are doing the wrong thing but if you take the recommended options you will loose all of your data and apps .

When told that your system already has an os installed and you should abort , chose to install .

When told that a windows folder already exists and are asked if you want to install into a different folder choose to install into the existing windows folder.

When asked if you want to save your existing file system choose no , keep the existing file system . If you save it , it will be saved and a new one will replace it , a new one without any of your files or apps .

Helo Nosirrah!

Well, before you got a chance to reply, I bit the bullet, quick-formatted and re-installed from scratch. This time, I installed most Windows and Office updates first and then made a backup. Then I installed my utility software. So far so good...

(Can you believe I'm still running Millenium?? It's because I am one of those freaks who don't believe in violating software licensing agreements! Thank God my newer HP laptop is running XP!!)

Still, thank you for your explanation, and I will certainly keep it in mind next time.

Taarik.