corrupt dll file

Well, there is no valid file name of appmmts.dll    Windows XP has a file called appmgmts.dll in the Windows\System32 folder, and all I can find about it so far is that it has something to do with Microsoft Software Installation service.  You can get a new file from your Windows XP installation CD.   go to Start -> Run, type MSCONFIG and click OK, click the button for Expand file.  Type in the name of the file  to replace in the File to Restore field, in the Restore From field, choose the option (probably the drive letter for your CD-ROM/DVD where you will place the WinXP installation CD), and type the name of the destination folder (Windows\System32) in the field for Save file in.  Then click the Expand button.

If that doesn't work, try the other methods from this MSKB article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;888017
How to expand Windows XP files from the installation disk

Then reboot and see if the problem goes away.

yes that's the name of the file; sorry for the typo.  I will try this and post results

when I navigate to \system32\ there is no file named "appmgmts.dll" in the folder.  Do I still use the expand to put the file there?

So it's missing, not corrupt.  The answer is: Yes.

pjfromny--Another way to replace missing or corrupt operating system files is to run SFC /SCANNOW from a command prompt.  You may be asked for the WinXP CD.
http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/howto-24.html

pjfromny--"Chkdsk ran, and I believe that it made changes to the disk, though the message flashed too quickly on the screen to read. "
You can get the report on what happened when you ran chkdsk by looking in Event Viewer.(Start|Administrative Tools|Event Viewer). Click on "Application" in the left panel. When the right panel opens up look for an entry called Winlogon.

I expanded the appmgmts file into system 32.  There was no difference in being able to install or run the Maxtor program.  

I ran the SFC/SCANNOW utility.  It completed and seems to have caused a new probelm - my display is compromised and I received the mesage: "The ATI Control panel failed to initialize because no ATI driver is installed, or ATI driver is not working properly.  ATI control panel will now exit."

This is worse.  How do I fix the ATI driver?  How do I track down the issue with the Maxtor and Unibluie programs?

I inserted my applications and drivers CD from HP to see if I could reinstall my graphics driver.  It returns the message:

"Application Installer has encountered a problem and needs to close"

What now?

This is starting to sound like more of a problem than disk corruption.  Have you tested your memory?  Most memory test programs (like Memtest or WinDiag) are run from a floppy disk, so you would need a floppy drive on your computer, even a USB floppy drive if you can choose to boot from a USB device in your BIOS.  Here's some info about WinDiag:

Windows Memory Diagnostic
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

The Windows Memory Diagnostic tests the Random Access Memory (RAM) on your computer for errors. The diagnostic includes a comprehensive set of memory tests. If you are experiencing problems while running Windows, you can use the diagnostic to determine whether the problems are caused by failing hardware, such as RAM or the memory system of your motherboard. Windows Memory Diagnostic is designed to be easy and fast. On most configurations, you can download the diagnostic, read the documentation, run the test and complete the first test pass in less than 30 minutes.

If you don't have a floppy drive or cannot boot from one, then you can download the ISO files for this very good utilities boot CD and burn it to a CD with some third party program that burns ISO files (such as Nero Burning ROM or Roxio Easy Creator);  the Ultimate Boot CD has some memory test programs that you can run after booting to the CD:

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

You need the Ultimate Boot CD if you want to:

Run floppy-based diagnostic tools from CDROM drives. More and more PCs are shipped without floppy drives these days, and it is such a royal pain when you need to run diagnostic tools on them.

Free yourself from the slow loading speed of the floppy drive. Even if you do have a floppy drive, it is still much much faster to run your diagnostic tools from the CDROM drive, rather than wait for the tool to load from the floppy drive.

Consolidate as many diagnostic tools as possible into one bootable CD. Wouldn't you like to avoid digging into the dusty box to look for the right floppy disk, but simply run them all from a single CD? Then the Ultimate Boot CD is for you!

When you boot up from the CD, a text-based menu will be displayed, and you will be able to select the tool you want to run. The selected tool actually boots off a virtual floppy disk created in memory.



Ultimate Boot CD has tools in the following categories:
Hard Disk Installation, Hard Disk Diagnosis, Hard Disk Device Management, Hard Disk Wiping, Hard Disk Cloning, Hard Disk Sector Editing, Partition Tools, Boot Managers, File Tools, NTFS Tools, System Burn-in Test, CPU Test, Memory Test, Peripherals Test, CPU Information, System Information, Benchmark Applications, BIOS Utilities, DOS Boot Disks, Antivirus Tools, Network Tools.

I am assuming that you're writing your comments from another XP computer.  Hopefully, this has a CD burner on it, if you need to download and burn the ISO file for Ultimate Boot CD.  If you have a CD burner, but no commercial program such as Nero or Roxio for burning bootable CDs (the normal Windows XP built-in burning routines cannot burn a bootable CD), then you can try this free program, CDBurnerXP:

http://cdburnerxp.se/

I am writing from a Vista computer.  I have a windiag CD, with "windiag.iso" on it, and am not sure what to do with it.  I am not able to interupt the the boot order with the escape key, and boot from it.

I can burn a CD on this machine.

I understand that you are suggesting checking memory, and I will continue to work on that.  What about the option of a Windows repair install?

Windiag is now in its third pass; no errors found.

Am working on UBCD.

Is it possible that this is a result of drive errors, causing windows errors?  It did something similar last August.

Is there a way to tell positively that this is a disk issue, and if so, is it advisable to just get a new drive and rebuilt it?  Is there a way to repair the damage to windows?

UBCD has a bunch of disk drive diagnostics on it too, so you can try those.

Ran windiag with no errors.

Ran the HD test from UBCD with no bad segments reported.

What other tests do I run?

If the drive has no errors, how do I fix windows?  Is there a way to repair it without reintalling it; i.e. without needing to reinstall all software?

Another good site explaining the slipstreaming of SP3 into XP:

You can slipstream SP3 into your XP installation CD, so that then when you have to do a repair install or a complete reinstall, it will save you a great deal of time in downloading all the Microsoft patches to bring your system up to date.  You do this by using a free program called nLite, as described on this page:

http://www.lancelhoff.com/2008/03/12/how-to-slipstream-service-pack-3-into-windows-xp/

pjfromny, how is it going?

Have finally (this morning) completed the SP3 Slipstream CD.  Have not used it yet.

Tried to download an updated Maxtor package and install that, with same error: "Maxtor encountered an error, needs to close.."  When I did the required reboot during that install, I got the "Windows has recovered from a serious error" message, even though nothing odd happened during the install.  The error file, which I sent, was reported as corrupt.  I tried another uninstall/reinstall of the Uniblue program; same result.

I was able to reinstall the graphics driver; seems to have been successful.

There have been some weird firewall issues: I use the CA Security suite.  Even though I have not uninstalled it, CA reports no firewall installed.  I reinstalled it, and CA reports it as installed and active, though Windows does not think it installed (and Win usually recognizes CA firewall).  Twice II"lost" the CA firewall and have reinstalled it.

I am in the process of uninstalling: Maxtor, Uniblue, and now I am uninstalling CA security in case it is causing problems.

In using the Windows repair - is the repair option in any way destructive?  Can I anticipate running it and preserving registry, setting, etc?

Thank you.

The XP Repair option is supposed to be pretty safe and nondestructive -- I have had to use it a few times and didn't have any troubles.  But then if you can back up your important data, write down your important settings, etc., you will be safer.  See the MichaelStevensTech site I gave above for more info...

in the middle or repair...  its stuck saying "Setup cannot copy the file CMPROPS.DL_" but the file is on the CD, I point to it and it will not copy.  Setup won't move forward.

I followed this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/915161

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:
Press SHIFT+F10 to open a command prompt.
At the command prompt, type CopyDrive Letter:\i386\Filename.dl_ %systemroot%\$win_nt$.~\i386, and then press ENTER.

Note In this command, Drive Letter is a placeholder that represents the drive letter.

Note In this command, Filename is a placeholder that represents the file name.
Close the command prompt, and then click OK.

I checked to be sure I had typed the command line exactly, and it says that the file name, file directory, or volume label syntax is incorrect.

I use D for my drive label - its the CD drive for the source file.

I tried again to type the command line in:  ended up with "cannot find path" error.  I tried to just type in the source part of the command, not recalling that it would put the file in the directory where I was.

So it copied the file to the following location:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\inetsrv

Went back to installation and told it to skip the cmprops.dl_ file.  It is now at the same error regarding the licwmi.dl_ file.

Questions: Is the cmprops.dl_ in the wrong location?  Should I delete what I installed and is there a different way to specify the destination that works?

Do I do the same with the licwmi.dl_ file?  And what is the destination?

This has gotten quite complex - should I close this question, award points, and start a new question?

pjfromny

You put the command down as CopyDrive Letter, with CopyDrive as being the command?    It is supposed to be, in your case, Copy D:\i386\  etc.

No, I used D as the drive letter, which is the name of my CD drive, where the source file is.  I though I was copying the file manually from the CD to its destination.  I just don't understand what I assume to be the destination part of the command:
%systemroot%\$win_nt$.~\i386

I am using the command prompt to look around, and found a CMPROPS.dll file in the system32 folder; is that where it belongs, and if its there, does it matter that it was skipped in the installation?  If the licmwi.dl_ file is also there, should I skip it in the installation?

licmwi.dll is also in the system32 directory

I just started up my virtual machine of Windows XP Pro, to check for the proper destination of the files you're having problems with.

CMPROPS.DLL  --  Windows\System32
LICWMI.DLL     --   Windows\System32

The %systemroot%\$win_nt$.~\i386  presumably is a temporary subdirectory created during system setup.  %systemroot%  is a system variable which usually stands for  C:\Windows directory.  (Since some people might have their Windows directory called something else, like WinNT for example, and since Windows can be installed on another drive or partition than C:, the setup process uses the variable.)

There seem to be many, many files which cannot be copied.  I have copied about 50 thus far.  DO I just keep doing this?

I decided to copy the files from the CD I386 directory to a directory on the HD to see if the installation could copy them from there, but that did not work.

So I am copying each one as setup is unable to do so.  Is this ill-fated?  Is it pretty unlikely to be successful, and I should quit ands try again?

I have done some internet looking and can't fund anything that would seem to explain this.  I've never had a setup program do this.

I finally gave up copyinh the files one by one.  The article http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/filesnotfound.htm

seemed to indicarte that course of action.

I'm now booting from HD to see what's there and not.

Putting it back together again.  It boots, most (all?) applications seem to be there.  Checking to see if original problem has been corrected and whether I corrupted anything in the repair.

Going to close out question now; am working to pull windows back together at this point.

Thank you for your help.  I don't know what happened with the repair, but it seems like I may be able to "bring things back" without starting all over again.

Just for anyone looking for this error in the future.  I came across it today and was looking for the solution here in EE and in Google for about an hour.  Finally I decided to try a fix that microsoft listed as applying to Windows Server 2003 found here...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/818464

When you receive the error: Setup Cannot Copy the File: CMPROPS.DL_ just leave it up and press shift+f10 (This opens a command prompt)  Next type in this command.

esentutl /p %windir%\security\database\secedit.sdb

(%windir% is usually c:\windows).

Hope this helps everyone in the future!