Editing the boot.ini file in Windows 2000

G

Guest

How do I edit the boot.ini file if Windows 2000 will not boot up? One of the
computers in my office will not start Windows because it says the file
"NTOSKRNL.EXE" is missing or corrupt. A search on microsoft's support page
says to edit the boot.ini file. i searched again on how to edit the boot.ini
file, but the directions were for if Windows is running. How do I do it if
Windows won't start? Thank in advance!

Dave
 
D

Dave Patrick

You can start the recovery console and from a command prompt issue the
command;
fixboot
to repair the bootsector.

To start the Recovery Console, start the computer from the Windows 2000
Setup CD or the Windows 2000 Setup floppy disks. If you do not have Setup
floppy disks and your computer cannot start from the Windows 2000 Setup CD,
use another Windows 2000-based computer to create the Setup floppy disks.
Press ENTER at the "Setup Notification" screen. Press R to repair a Windows
2000 installation, and then press C to use the Recovery Console. The
Recovery Console then prompts you for the administrator password. If you do
not have the correct password, Recovery Console does not allow access to the
computer. If an incorrect password is entered three times, the Recovery
Console quits and restarts the computer. Note If the registry is corrupted
or missing or no valid installations are found, the Recovery Console starts
in the root of the startup volume without requiring a password. You cannot
access any folders, but you can carry out commands such as chkdsk, fixboot,
and fixmbr for limited disk repairs. Once the password has been validated,
you have full access to the Recovery Console, but limited access to the hard
disk. You can only access the following folders on your computer:
%systemroot% and %windir%

Or try creating a boot floppy. For the floppy to successfully boot Windows
2000 the disk must contain the "NT" boot sector. Format a diskette (on an NT
machine, not a DOS/Win9x, so the NT boot sector gets written to the floppy),
then copy ntldr, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini to it; and possibly
ntbootdd.sys. Edit the boot.ini to give it a correct ARC path for the
machine you wish to boot.


--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| How do I edit the boot.ini file if Windows 2000 will not boot up? One of
the
| computers in my office will not start Windows because it says the file
| "NTOSKRNL.EXE" is missing or corrupt. A search on microsoft's support page
| says to edit the boot.ini file. i searched again on how to edit the
boot.ini
| file, but the directions were for if Windows is running. How do I do it if
| Windows won't start? Thank in advance!
|
| Dave
 
G

George Hester

It depends where it is. If it is on the root of the OP Sys then you can try
the Repair Console and try to edit the boot ini then. Remeber it is
readonly and hidden so you'll have to attrib -h boot.ini then attrib -r
boot.ini before you can work on it. You just stick the Windows 2000 CD-ROM
in during the bootup. You'll see the options then to get to the Repair
Console. I believe edit and attrib are available there.
 
D

Dave Patrick

In order to have access to the root you'll need to have already;

Control Panel|Admin Tools|Local Security Policy Recovery console:"Allow
floppy copy and access to all drives/folders" set to enabled.

Then from the recovery console command line;
SET allowallpaths = TRUE

to gain access to all folders.

Much easier to just create a boot floppy. (assuming only an arc path problem
exists)


--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| It depends where it is. If it is on the root of the OP Sys then you can
try
| the Repair Console and try to edit the boot ini then. Remeber it is
| readonly and hidden so you'll have to attrib -h boot.ini then attrib -r
| boot.ini before you can work on it. You just stick the Windows 2000
CD-ROM
| in during the bootup. You'll see the options then to get to the Repair
| Console. I believe edit and attrib are available there.
|
| --
| George Hester
 
G

George Hester

Hi Dave. Well I see that Local Security Policy is not enabled by default.
Interestring I guess that's why the last time I used the Recovery Console I
wasn't able to get off the root. Either that or I was stuck in C:\WINNT.
Don't recall. In any case assuming they get to the root when the go into
Recovery Console that should be sufficient for the op's purpose. But if
they get to C:\WINNT then oh boy for the Windows Help makes no mention of
it. But I also see now that edit is not available. Only type. Oh well
chalk that up to not checking before I blabbered.
 
E

Eric McG

Your standard quotation, for Recovery Console advice, has an error in it where
it states; "You can only access the following folders on your computer:
%systemroot% and %windir%", since these two environmental variables actually
define the same path.

You can access the root folder without enabling the Local Security Policy
beforehand.

Here's an excerpt from the MSKB article covering Windows XP (the article for
Windows 2000 is not presently available, but this quotation is identical in it):

---quote--
When you use the Windows Recovery Console, you can use only the following
items: . The root folder
. The %SystemRoot% folder and the subfolders of the Windows installation
that you are currently logged on to
. The Cmdcons folder
. The removable media drives such as the CD-ROM drive or the DVD-ROM drive

---end quote---

To verify the Windows 2000 version of this subject, query Google for kb229716,
then select the cached version.
 
D

Dave Patrick

Confirmed! You do indeed have access to the root of the system and or boot
partitions.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Your standard quotation, for Recovery Console advice, has an error in it
where
| it states; "You can only access the following folders on your computer:
| %systemroot% and %windir%", since these two environmental variables
actually
| define the same path.
|
| You can access the root folder without enabling the Local Security Policy
| beforehand.
|
| Here's an excerpt from the MSKB article covering Windows XP (the article
for
| Windows 2000 is not presently available, but this quotation is identical
in it):
|
| ---quote--
| When you use the Windows Recovery Console, you can use only the following
| items: . The root folder
| . The %SystemRoot% folder and the subfolders of the Windows
installation
| that you are currently logged on to
| . The Cmdcons folder
| . The removable media drives such as the CD-ROM drive or the DVD-ROM
drive
|
| ---end quote---
|
| To verify the Windows 2000 version of this subject, query Google for
kb229716,
| then select the cached version.
|
| --
| Hope this helps..Reply in newsgroup only.
| Eric McGillicudy
 

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