A quick howto-- Windows 9x

Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own wayNaples, FL Icrontian
edited July 2005 in Science & Tech
How to get Windows 98 (possibly NOT SE) to refuse to load with this on the screen:

NTLDR Missing
Press Any Key to Restart

Answer: Install a Windows NT, or XP Micro Technologies mouse driver by runing the Mouse Browser install from floppy (it does not check for what windows is loaded.).

_________________________________________________________

Howto recover from this without reloading Windows 98:

1. Boot from a Windows 98 Emergency Boot Diskette or Windows Startup diskette.

2. Type this: c:

3. Type this: cd Windows\Command

4. Type this: scanreg /restore

5. Using down arrow choose the listing that is next one down from top .cab listed. Let scanreg do it's thing, then remove the floppy and restart.

6. IF restart fails repeat 1-4 and then choose one further down. 98 keeps 5 backups of registry, each from a startup attempt, by default.

It CAN keep more-- does anyone remember the reg key hack for telling 98 how to keep 20 registry backups???

This is also how to recover when a 98 or 98 SE (have not checked this in Me) box's registry gets corrupted.

Comments

  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited July 2005
    Straight_Man wrote:
    How to get Windows 98 (possibly NOT SE) to refuse to load with this on the screen:
    Why would anyone want to get Windows 98 to refuse to load? ;D
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited July 2005
    No one WOULD want to mess up 98 deliberately, but wrong type drivers -- ie NT drivers not labelled as same, and driver loader programs that do not check for Windows version valid for driver-- will in fact do this. Editing registry wrongly might also trigger need for this fix.

    Had to use this fix this morning when I tried to install Mouse Browser. I've used it several hundred times over the years.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited July 2005
    Straight_Man wrote:
    No one WOULD want to mess up 98 deliberately, but wrong type drivers -- ie NT drivers not labelled as same, and driver loader programs that do not check for Windows version valid for driver-- will in fact do this. Editing registry wrongly might also trigger need for this fix.

    Had to use this fix this morning when I tried to install Mouse Browser. I've used it several hundred times over the years.
    I think you missed my point mate. Never mind. ;D:)
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited July 2005
    The "format c:" command fixes the problem real well too, John. ;););D;D


    Actually, I think I know what he's alluding to here. A long time ago (and in a galaxy far away :D ), I had decided to try messing with dual booting Win95 and WinNT 4.0 on my laptop (on the same hard drive and partition :rolleyes: ) and I was messing around and for some dumb reason, borked the NTLDR file up and that message would come up. After fiddle-farting around with it for a day or 2, trying to figure out what I had done, I ended up formatting and reinstalling instead of trying to get Win95 working again.

    You live and learn, I say. ;D;D
  • b0wzb0wz Tri-Cities Washington, USA
    edited July 2005
    Nice tip!! :) As someone who repairs things (not wipe them out) that will come in handy from time to time, some people hate to loose documents, pictures (not everyone has removable drives, extra hard drives, etc. etc...).....there are programs that will only run on 98 or older type stuff.......with xp, xp64bit, 64bit linux and all the fun making them play well together.....nice to see valuable information on the old stuff
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited July 2005
    Thats what partitions are for, and backups. Having multiple partitions allows you to have the important stuff on a D: partition so you can do format c: anytime you wish since its just the OS and programs. Those can be reinstalled at will.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited July 2005
    True mmonnin, pros and heavy enthusists back up, but Joe user does NOT normally do that. But, the recovery I mentioned takes only about 5-8 minutes including DOS booting-- all the scanreg /restore needs is a un-.cab/.cab extract of four-six files(Config.sys, Autoexec.bat, win.ini, system.ini, system.dat, and user.dat(last two are registry core, first four can have driver calls in them in 95, 98, SE, AND Me). It is FASTER than a reload or overwrite with backups.

    The equiv in 2K or XP would be last known good position. Me would need to be able to get into Windows in safe mode, AFAIK, to get a recovery point in place.

    bowz, happy you like this idea.
Sign In or Register to comment.