problem erm

The alternative to slaving the drive into another computer to make backups of data that could be lost is to go ahead and install to ANOTHER folder other than C:\WINDOWS to create a parallel installation that should at least allow the system to boot, but that would mean reinstalling all the drivers, etc.

If the C:\Windows folder is accessible, then some of the files like address book, email files, favorites, etc may still be available to retrieve from the folders:
c:\windows\favorites
c:\windows\application data\address book\<username.wab>
c:\windows\application data\identities\{long-number}\microsoft\outlook express\<*.dbx files>
c:\windows\application data\proof\custom.dic  (the common dictionary)
c:\windows\application data\internet explorer\<*.bmp files> (custom wallpapers)
c:\windows\application data\templates\  (ms office and other custom templates)
c:\windows\desktop\<user files and folders saved there>
c:\windows\<*.ini files> (if named after programs these can hold user settings)

Usually the C:\My Documents folder and contents will remain intact, even after a repair installation BUT IF the computer was set up for more than one user profile, then the "My Documents" folder plus Favorites, Desktop, etc will be stored separately for each user profile under:
c:\windows\profiles\<username>\foldername

Bill

I really appreciate the responses so far;

one rather major problem however (which I stupidly forgot to mention), is that she does not have a Win98 CD.. :-\

(But I would be able to shove her HDD into my computer as a slave if necessary..)

In this case, what would you recommend?


Thanks very much

In that case, you obviously want to try your best to fix the problem in place as you don't have the means to reinstall without buying a Win98 retail CD from eBay.

You can always try and assess the extent of the damage by slaving the drive to another system and seeing if (a) the Windows folder is still there and apparently accessible from Windows Explorer and (b) if the sub-folders are there and accessible.  The problem is, as you say, that your knowledge of Win98 is limited and you won't necessarily recognise if any of the standard Windows sub-folders are missing.

IF the C:\Windows\SYSBCKUP folder is accessible, then there should be 5 backup *.CAB files named rb0000.cab to rb0001.cab (I think I've got the names right - not at Win98 right now).  These are created once a day when SCANREG creates a backup of the two registry files and a couple of configuration files.  You can unpack them with WinZip and place it in the root of the affected drive, and then run the FIND command to locate the CD-Key that would be required to reinstall Windows.  The DOS Command in Win98 that should find the value containing the CD-Key is:

FIND.EXE /I "ProductKey" SYSTEM.DAT

The DOS Program FIND.EXE is in C:\Windows\Command, but if you are doing this in WinXP you could copy find.exe to a Win98 boot floppy, boot the system to the floppy, and then run the following command from the A:\> Prompt, assuming you placed SYSTEM.DAT in the root of the affected drive and removed the Hidden attribute from it:

find /i "ductKey" c:\system.dat

optionally send the output to a new text file on floppy:

find /i "ductKey" c:\system.dat > a:\CDKEY.TXT

The affected hard drive is FAT32 and will be seen by the Win98 Boot Floppy, whereas an NTFS Drive (as you would probably have on a WinXP machine) would not be seen by the floppy, so the affected drive should still be seen by the floppy as C:

There is always a possibility that the affected hard drive still has a folder:
C:\Windows\Options\CABS
or
C:\Windows\CABS.

If this exists, then that may well contain all the CAB files and other necessary files that could be used to reinstall Windows.  If the folder exists and is accessible, then you could burn the entire contents of C:\Windows\Options\CABS to a CD and you could have a reinstall CD.  It all depends on whether the contents are a full copy of the "win98" folder of a standard Win98 CD.  In general, it will contain :

base4, 5, and 6.cab
catalog3 and chl99.cab
driver11 to 20.cab
mini, precopy1, and precopy2.cab
net7, 8, 9, and 10.cab
win98_21 to _74.cab
win98_ol.cab
It MUST also contain SETUP.EXE or it will not be usable.

In addition, the standard files in a Win98se "win98" folder is:
DELTEMP.COM, DOSSETUP.BIN, EXTRACT.EXE, FORMAT.COM, INTL.TXT, OEMSETUP.BIN
OEMSETUP.EXE, readme.txt, SAVE32.COM, SCANDISK.EXE, SCANDISK.PIF, SCANPROG.EXE, SCANREG.EXE,  SETUP.TXT, SETUP0.WAV, SETUP1.WAV, SETUP2.WAV, SMARTDRV.EXE, SUBACK.BIN, SUCATREG.EXE, SUHELPER.BIN, W98SETUP.BIN, WB16OFF.EXE, XMSMMGR.EXE

If you have this all, then you're laughing.  If not, then the next stop may be eBay.

One thing you COULD look for as well, and I've seen this previously, is if the Windows folder has been accidentally moved into another folder.  Normally Windows will strongly object to and refuse to allow this, but as I said I have seen this more than once and can't explain how the system allowed it to happen.  I could only assume that it happened during what seemed to be a partial screen freeze with Windows Explorer open, where the users kept clicking around the place and dragging the mouse without realising that they were actually grabbing and dropping folders/files.  If this IS the case (very unlikely), then it could be fixed by moving the WINDOWS folder back to the C: Drive again.

One other thing you may have to consider is whether this was an upgrade over Win95.  That would add additional complications.

Good luck, you'll need it.

Just be careful if slaving the drive into Windows XP as it can add some exotic files to the affected hard drive.  You don't want it trying to enable system restore on the drive or Indexing anything on it using the Indexing Service.  I can't be more specific about this, but I've always been very careful not to open or save any files when doing this with a Win98 FAT32 drive slaved to an XP machine.  Always best to try and access another Win98 computer if possible.

lol Thanks very much BillDL; your responses are most informative :)


Out of luck, my brother recently got a new computer--leaving me to do what I want with his old one (an XP). But I also happen to have an old HDD from a very old computer of mine, with Win 98 SE installed :-D

So I'll shove that into the XP machine, slave the busted Win 98 HDD, and see how far I get :-)


No doubt I'll be back before the problem is resolved ;-)

Thanks again

Check to see if the Window .CAB files are in the WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS or INSTALL folder.
If they are, you can boot to a command prompt either with a boot disk or the boot menu, and run Setup from there.
You will still need the Install key from the registery.

Hey everyone; sorry about the delay.
My mum's friend has only just been able to bring the computer round..

It turns out that both my old HDD and my mum's friends drive are both 98 SE's.

So I shoved my old drive into her machine as the primary, and slaved her existing one.

I booted up, and tried to access the My Documents folder (there's one both in the C:\ and C:\WINDOWS); both are giving an error and not allowing me in.
So it would seem that there's some sort of corruption.

(I can get into all the other folders so far without any error mind you; but all the important SYS files are missing).

The problem now becomes recovering as many files from her My Docs folder as possible.
She's not bothered if the computer doesn't work again, so long as she can get her holiday pics off the computer (which are all in the My Docs folder).

When I try to run the scandisk on the slaved drive, it doesn't seem to do anything; it just hangs (but it doesn't crash).


Is it possible to recover the files still? Any suggestions how?


Thanks very much

Thanks Bill; I'll give that a try tomorrow :)

Thank you all (especially Bill)! :D

Thank you, InteractiveMind and you are most welcome.
Did you manage to retrieve the data you needed, or did you manage to do a reinstall from CAB files on the hard drive(s)?

@ InteractiveMind .. you're very welcome.

I managed to recover the needed files :)
My mum's friend is going to get a new computer soon though, so she said not to bother trying to fix it :D

Thanks again

  >I managed to recover the needed files<       <--- Excellent!
Thanks for reporting back  :)

Yes, that's good news, and a relief.