Missing system.ini file

[zach1288]

My stepdad has an old winbook laptop running windows 98 and when you start it up it says that system.ini is missing or corrupt, then you click any button and it starts to boot into windows GUI but the start button and icons dont appear. How can i fix this problem? Also i talked him into a new Dell desktop, if i get this winbook fixed whats the best way to transfer all of his data from the winbook to the new dell desktop?

[glc]

You don't need to fix it. All you have to do is pull the hard drive and use a USB adapter to transfer the data.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...-25-35&cat=HDD

[Dan Penny]

If he does want to fix the system.ini problem;

Boot to a command prompt. Either

1) Boot with a Win98SE Boot Disk* choosing without CDROM support

or,

2) Boot the machine and as soon as the POST completes (when you see "Starting Windows 98") start tapping either F8 or the Ctrl key to get the MS Startup Menu. You have to be quick.

When you get to the command prompt (either A:\> with a bootdisk or C:\> from the startup menu) type in scanreg/restore and hit Enter. This will restore the system.ini and win.ini files along with the system.dat and user.dat files.



*The above bootdisk image file is a self extracting file and has to be executed (run) from a running Windows(9x) machine in order to create the actual startup diskette on one of your floppy disks. (This image file produces the same bootdisk which 98SE creates.) This downloaded image file will format the floppy disk to ensure its integrity, write the files to the disk, then verify the file write, so it'll take a minute or three to create the bootdisk.

Ensure the floppy drive is set as the first boot device in the bios.

NOTE: When you boot a machine with this boot floppy, it creates a RAMDRIVE in system memory to contain DOS system tools/drivers. Thus it will move your "normal" CDROM device/drive letter "up" one level. (If your CDROM is normally E: it will be F: when booting with this bootdisk.)

The path to the found CDROM will be set with the bootfiles, so entering A:\>f:\setup is the same as entering A:\>setup at the A:\> prompt. There is no need to include the cdrom drive letter. The CDROM device letter will be assigned near the end of the floppy boot process, right after MSCDEX is loaded.

[zach1288]

Originally Posted by glc You don't need to fix it. All you have to do is pull the hard drive and use a USB adapter to transfer the data. http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...-25-35&cat=HDD

I bought this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812156101

but the new pc wont recognize the USB device?