Catastrophic systems failure

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WDWormack Thresholds Austin Apartments - 04 Feb 2004 16:30 GMT

Request urgent assistance: any reader.

I placed my Windows 95 O/S in the recycle bin then lost
power to my computer. When power was restored to my
computer I cannot re-engage windows can anyone provide
assistance

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Jim Eshelman - 04 Feb 2004 17:07 GMT

> I placed my Windows 95 O/S in the recycle bin then lost
> power to my computer. When power was restored to my
> computer I cannot re-engage windows can anyone provide
> assistance

You deleted the entire Windows folder? Is that what you did?

Reinstall Windows. And all your applications.

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Jim Eshelman, MS-MVP Windows
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Ben Myers - 05 Feb 2004 00:24 GMT

If you are saying that you moved the "c:\windows" folder to
the Recycle bin, start the computer in DOS and type
"dir /s /b c:\recycled\win.com" and press "Enter". Then
repost with the result.

Ben

> Request urgent assistance: any reader.
>
> I placed my Windows 95 O/S in the recycle bin then lost
> power to my computer. When power was restored to my
> computer I cannot re-engage windows can anyone provide
> assistance

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cquirke (MVP Win9x) - 08 Feb 2004 08:10 GMT

On Wed, 4 Feb 2004 08:30:26 -0800, "WDWormack Thresholds Austin

>Request urgent assistance: any reader.

>I placed my Windows 95 O/S in the recycle bin then lost
>power to my computer. When power was restored to my
>computer I cannot re-engage windows can anyone provide
>assistance

Was this some sort of experiment to see if you you could wreck your
installation? If so, it's partially successful :-(

Possible fix approaches:

a) DOS diskette boot, Norton EnErase
b) Parallel install to C:\NOTWIN, pull from Recycle Bin from there

There's more detail on (2), as follows...

1) First, from DOS mode boot, do this:
Ren C:\PROGRA~1 PF!

2) Then do this, to back up your MSDOS.SYS:
Attrib -r -h -s C:\MSDOS.SYS
Copy C:\MSDOS.SYS MSDOS.SY!

3) Now install same Win95 version to C:\NOTWIN
- very imortant NOT to use same dir as last time
- else you will be in the way for the Recycled extract

4) Now run the new Windows, and restore all from Recycle Bin

5) Shutdown, Restart, F8 key to get boot menu, Command Prompt Only
Ren C:\PROGRA~1 PF_
Attrib -r -h -s C:\MSDOS.SYS
Copy C:\MSDOS.SYS MSDOS.SY_
Copy C:\MSDOS.SY! MSDOS.SYS
Attrib +r +h +s C:\MSDOS.SYS

6) Reboot Windows; expect old Windows with several blank icons
- run Windows Explorer, rename C:\PF! to "Program Files"
- now you should be sorted!

If you are worried that installing Windows might clear the recycle
bin, do these steps to address that:

2.5) Rename away existing Recycle Bin from DOS mode
Attrib -r -s -h C:\RECYCLED
Ren C:\RECYCLED RECYCLE!

5.5) Rename back the old Recycle Bin
Attrib -r -s -h C:\RECYCLED
Ren C:\RECYCLED RECYCLE_
Ren C:\RECYCLE! RECYCLED

If you still have a vestigial C:\WINDOWS with a Win.com in it that
blocks the installation of OEM Win9x CD, add these steps:

2.6) Rename away existing WIN.COM
Ren C:\WINDOWS\WIN.COM WIN.CO!

5.6) Rename back the old WIN.COM
Ren C:\WINDOWS\WIN.CO! WIN.COM

When all is done, you can clean up all the left-over *_ stuff:

End) Clean up the leftovers
- delete C:\PF_, C:\RECYCLE_, C:\MSDOS.SY_, C:\NOTWIN

HTH. Now; don't do it again! ;-)

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