Compress old files

[Guest]

Hopefully someone can help with this query. I have searched the internet and
no other occurence of this problem seems to appear so I must be unique in
some way...

OS : XP Media Center

I decided to clean up my hard-drive using Windows System Tools, Disk
Cleanup. I had 'Compress old files' selected (on) and when the tool started
to compress the files I got a message saying that 'certain Windows files that
were required by the system were being changed. Insert o/s disk to put files
back to original state.' (note: at no point was I told what specific files
were being compressed when compression was being done or what files were
being looked for on the o/s disk).

I inserted the first o/s disk and was informed that what was being looking
for was not on that disk, so I inserted my second disk. Same result, files
that were being looked for could not be located. I then cancelled the
compression.

When I restared my machine I now get a message 'Unable to load os'.

So how do I get out of this pickle ? Is there some way I can get back into
the o/s (safe mode ?) and uncompress any Windows system files ? Any
suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

As mentioned I did a search on the web to see if any other occurences
similar to this had occured but nothing seems similar.

 

[RobinS]

This is a .Net Programming newsgroup. You need to find one that is
pertinent to your problem. Please look for a group with "Windows"
in the description.

Robin S.