Starting an XP computer on an MS-DOS system diskette

[Kim_il_Zoom]

Hello,

A friend of mine has found some virus files on his
HDD, which he is trying to erase. Since they seem
to be "locked", he cannot do it from Windows Explorer,
neither from the ordinary window, nor from Safe Mode
Windows or its CMD prompt.

I have been thinking of doing it for him, after
starting his computer from an MS-System diskette.
The funny thing with his computer, which normally
runs Windows XP, is that you only end up on the
A:\ drive after starting on the systems diskette,
and it seems impossible to change to C:\.

Quite strange, IMHO, since I thought that the
whole idea with a systems diskette was to be
able to reach the whole HDD without possible
locks applied by the Windows OS!

Would appreciate any ideas which could help us
from A:\ to C:\ after starting on an MS-DOS
diskette!

TIA,
Kim

(e-mail address removed)
[remove the excess x:s]

 

[Abel Diaz]

To be able to read the hard drive from DOS mode, you
would need to use a third party application. I have used
NTFSDos Pro and it works well. The reason is that your
hard drive is formatted with NTFS. You cannot read NTFS
while in a DOS environment, unless you use an NTFS reader
like NTFS Pro.

 

[george]

the installation of xp has most probably converted the c: drive to the NTFS
file system, which cannot be read from standard MS-DOS.
So booting this system from a Windows 9x type system diskette is a no go and
will only end up on a: (which you've experienced).
That's the way the cookie crumbles.
There are however various methods of getting into the system.
One of them would be to start the system with the CD drive first in the bios
startup sequence and having the XP CD in the drive.
Setup will lauch and somewhere along the line you are asked what you want.
Indicate you want to repair (Manually) and it will start what's known as the
'Recovery Console' from the CD.
This is a mini (mini) dare I say, XP OS, that will enable you to at least
use some commands from a command prompt (Type Help in the command prompt to
see the available ones) and that might possibly be enough to get back into
the game.
If not, then you might want to resort to creating some sort of Recovery CD
(http://flyakite.msfnhosting.com/BartPE.htm) with a lot more functionality,
but you'll have to create that one on another machine.

hth to get you going

george

 

[george]

True, but seeing he has (he thinks) a virus, just being able to read isn't
good enough. He has to be able to delete and write to it as well and *that*
version costs $$$.
)
george

To be able to read the hard drive from DOS mode, you
would need to use a third party application. I have used
NTFSDos Pro and it works well. The reason is that your
hard drive is formatted with NTFS. You cannot read NTFS
while in a DOS environment, unless you use an NTFS reader
like NTFS Pro.

-----Original Message-----
Hello,

A friend of mine has found some virus files on his
HDD, which he is trying to erase. Since they seem
to be "locked", he cannot do it from Windows Explorer,
neither from the ordinary window, nor from Safe Mode
Windows or its CMD prompt.

I have been thinking of doing it for him, after
starting his computer from an MS-System diskette.
The funny thing with his computer, which normally
runs Windows XP, is that you only end up on the
A:\ drive after starting on the systems diskette,
and it seems impossible to change to C:\.

Quite strange, IMHO, since I thought that the
whole idea with a systems diskette was to be
able to reach the whole HDD without possible
locks applied by the Windows OS!

Would appreciate any ideas which could help us
from A:\ to C:\ after starting on an MS-DOS
diskette!

TIA,
Kim

(e-mail address removed)
[remove the excess x:s]

.

 

[Kim_il_Zoom]

Hi all,

Thanks a lot for your advice. Yes, that seems to be
the problem/solution.

And to you George, I have to tell you that his
fully paid, well reputed AV software has indeed
found viruses, and although the parameters are set
to remove the infected files, they seem to fail in
this case. He is now communicating with the people
at the company.

In the meantime, I was thinking of the more hands-on
DOS approach, but sofar alas!

Rgds,
Kim

True, but seeing he has (he thinks) a virus, just being able to read isn't
good enough. He has to be able to delete and write to it as well and *that*
version costs $$$.
)
george

To be able to read the hard drive from DOS mode, you
would need to use a third party application. I have used
NTFSDos Pro and it works well. The reason is that your
hard drive is formatted with NTFS. You cannot read NTFS
while in a DOS environment, unless you use an NTFS reader
like NTFS Pro.

-----Original Message-----
Hello,

A friend of mine has found some virus files on his
HDD, which he is trying to erase. Since they seem
to be "locked", he cannot do it from Windows Explorer,
neither from the ordinary window, nor from Safe Mode
Windows or its CMD prompt.

I have been thinking of doing it for him, after
starting his computer from an MS-System diskette.
The funny thing with his computer, which normally
runs Windows XP, is that you only end up on the
A:\ drive after starting on the systems diskette,
and it seems impossible to change to C:\.

Quite strange, IMHO, since I thought that the
whole idea with a systems diskette was to be
able to reach the whole HDD without possible
locks applied by the Windows OS!

Would appreciate any ideas which could help us

from A:\ to C:\ after starting on an MS-DOS

diskette!

TIA,
Kim

(e-mail address removed)
[remove the excess x:s]

.

 

[Kim_il_Zoom]

OK, George, that might also be worth trying!
BTW, the startup MS-DOS disk we tried was made by XP.

Rgds,
Rolf

the installation of xp has most probably converted the c: drive to the NTFS
file system, which cannot be read from standard MS-DOS.
So booting this system from a Windows 9x type system diskette is a no go and
will only end up on a: (which you've experienced).
That's the way the cookie crumbles.
There are however various methods of getting into the system.
One of them would be to start the system with the CD drive first in the bios
startup sequence and having the XP CD in the drive.
Setup will lauch and somewhere along the line you are asked what you want.
Indicate you want to repair (Manually) and it will start what's known as the
'Recovery Console' from the CD.
This is a mini (mini) dare I say, XP OS, that will enable you to at least
use some commands from a command prompt (Type Help in the command prompt to
see the available ones) and that might possibly be enough to get back into
the game.
If not, then you might want to resort to creating some sort of Recovery CD
(http://flyakite.msfnhosting.com/BartPE.htm) with a lot more functionality,
but you'll have to create that one on another machine.

hth to get you going

george

Hello,

A friend of mine has found some virus files on his
HDD, which he is trying to erase. Since they seem
to be "locked", he cannot do it from Windows Explorer,
neither from the ordinary window, nor from Safe Mode
Windows or its CMD prompt.

I have been thinking of doing it for him, after
starting his computer from an MS-System diskette.
The funny thing with his computer, which normally
runs Windows XP, is that you only end up on the
A:\ drive after starting on the systems diskette,
and it seems impossible to change to C:\.

Quite strange, IMHO, since I thought that the
whole idea with a systems diskette was to be
able to reach the whole HDD without possible
locks applied by the Windows OS!

Would appreciate any ideas which could help us
from A:\ to C:\ after starting on an MS-DOS
diskette!

TIA,
Kim

(e-mail address removed)
[remove the excess x:s]

 

[Harry Ohrn]

The MS-DOS diskette created by XP is a simple Windows Me DOS disk. As such
it can't read the NTFS file format even though it was created from XP. It
only contains the basic system files to start into DOS. Nothing more. George
mentioned an NTFS reader app that runs off a DOS floppy. Here is a version
that is freeware http://www.ntfs.com/products.htm

I suspect you might end up frustrating yourselves trying to get this going.
You might want to just run a Repair Install (info on how to do that here
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm . If you have access to
another computer running Windows XP or Windows 2000 you can pull the drive
and connect it to that system and pull data off the drive to backup what's
important and then do a fresh install.


--

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp

OK, George, that might also be worth trying!
BTW, the startup MS-DOS disk we tried was made by XP.

Rgds,
Rolf

the installation of xp has most probably converted the c: drive to the
NTFS file system, which cannot be read from standard MS-DOS.
So booting this system from a Windows 9x type system diskette is a no go
and will only end up on a: (which you've experienced).
That's the way the cookie crumbles.
There are however various methods of getting into the system.
One of them would be to start the system with the CD drive first in the
bios startup sequence and having the XP CD in the drive.
Setup will lauch and somewhere along the line you are asked what you
want.
Indicate you want to repair (Manually) and it will start what's known as
the 'Recovery Console' from the CD.
This is a mini (mini) dare I say, XP OS, that will enable you to at least
use some commands from a command prompt (Type Help in the command prompt
to see the available ones) and that might possibly be enough to get back
into the game.
If not, then you might want to resort to creating some sort of Recovery
CD (http://flyakite.msfnhosting.com/BartPE.htm) with a lot more
functionality, but you'll have to create that one on another machine.

hth to get you going

george

Hello,

A friend of mine has found some virus files on his
HDD, which he is trying to erase. Since they seem
to be "locked", he cannot do it from Windows Explorer,
neither from the ordinary window, nor from Safe Mode
Windows or its CMD prompt.

I have been thinking of doing it for him, after
starting his computer from an MS-System diskette.
The funny thing with his computer, which normally
runs Windows XP, is that you only end up on the
A:\ drive after starting on the systems diskette,
and it seems impossible to change to C:\.

Quite strange, IMHO, since I thought that the
whole idea with a systems diskette was to be
able to reach the whole HDD without possible
locks applied by the Windows OS!

Would appreciate any ideas which could help us
from A:\ to C:\ after starting on an MS-DOS
diskette!

TIA,
Kim

(e-mail address removed)
[remove the excess x:s]

 

[Kim_il_Zoom]

Harry,

Thank you very much for that info!

Rgds,
Kim

 

[XS11E]

And to you George, I have to tell you that his
fully paid, well reputed AV software has indeed
found viruses, and although the parameters are set
to remove the infected files, they seem to fail in
this case. He is now communicating with the people
at the company.

In the meantime, I was thinking of the more hands-on
DOS approach, but sofar alas!

Tell him to go to Panda AV and do an online scan, they're VERY good
about removing things.
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm

His "paid, well reputed AV software" is possibly not up to date, maybe?
None of them work if not updated regularly.

Another problem is that he may not have a virus, it could be some other
type of mal-ware so have him download and run SpyBot S&D, it's free
(but a donation would be nice) from:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

PS, often infected files can be removed by booting into safe mode.

 

[Kim_il_Zoom]

Hi XS (hope it´s OK if I only use your first name),

Thank you for your suggestion to try the Panda
online scan. I will pass on your suggestion to
my friend. If Panda is good at killing bugs as
well, then BINGO!

His software is very much up-to-date, so that
cannot be the culprit. He has already tried
deleting the virus file in Safe Mode, to no
avail (C:\WINDOWS\svchost.exe Infection: W32/Plexus.B)

My experience with AV software vs. spyware is
that they do not "overlap". What is regarded as
virus by AV is usually not spotted by for example
Spybot(which I use myself) and spyware is not
regarded as virus by AV programs.

Various anti-spyware, such as Ad-Aware and Spy-
bot do overlap to some extent; at the same they
seem to chase different species of bugs, so I use
both.

My friend lives in a country with poor telephone
lines, so his Panda online scan may literally take
days. OTH, they do not pay much for domestic phone
calls over there <g>!

Regards,
Kim

 

[XS11E]

Hi XS (hope it´s OK if I only use your first name),

You can call me anything as long as you call me when dinner's ready!

Thank you for your suggestion to try the Panda
online scan. I will pass on your suggestion to
my friend. If Panda is good at killing bugs as
well, then BINGO!

I can only say it worked for me and I've recommended it to others
who've also had success with it. Having said that, I'm not a big fan
of Panda AV products in general, just the online scan...

His software is very much up-to-date, so that
cannot be the culprit. He has already tried
deleting the virus file in Safe Mode, to no
avail (C:\WINDOWS\svchost.exe Infection: W32/Plexus.B)

My experience with AV software vs. spyware is
that they do not "overlap". What is regarded as
virus by AV is usually not spotted by for example
Spybot(which I use myself) and spyware is not
regarded as virus by AV programs.

You are absolutely correct BUT sometimes what is really spyware might
act like a virus or possibly vice versa, that's why I recommend a
spyware removal tool to see if it finds anything.

My friend lives in a country with poor telephone
lines, so his Panda online scan may literally take
days. OTH, they do not pay much for domestic phone
calls over there <g>!

Check the Panda website, I think you can maybe log off and then
continue the scan and reconnect for results? Or did I find that on
some other site? Take a look, it might help.

BTW, if you're talking about days to scan and disinfect maybe it's time
to think about backing up needed files, scanning the backups and then
formatting and reinstalling from scratch? That can often be done in
less time than tracking down a problem...