How to remove a driver in Recover Console?

[Guest]

I installed a printer driver that is causing my Win2K Server to BSOD with
Stop: 0x0000001E (0xC0000005,0x804A1A51, 0x00000000, 0x000000B0)
KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED. I can't boot in Safe Mode, or any mode for that
matter without BSOD, so how can I remove the driver using Recovery Console?
Which directory would it be in?

 

[Steve Duff [MVP]]

If you are really sure that is the problem, you can navigate to %windir%\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86. You'll find files there and
in subfolders of that such as "2" and "3".

I'd suggest however that you try just renaming spoolsv.exe (in system32) to spoolsv.xxx which will prevent the print spooler service
from starting and give you a chance to try various things from within Windows. It would be unusual for a print driver to be able to
create a kernel mode exception unless it is completely custom-coded - if it is a USB device the problem may lie there.

Steve Duff, MCSE, MVP
Ergodic Systems, Inc.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Steve, and you are correct it MAY not be the print driver. The only
other possibility is the most recent Windows Updates that I did. If that's
the culprit, how can I back out of those?

 

[Steve Duff [MVP]]

I would probably recommend that you just do a setup-mode repair by booting from your Windows CD.

Skip the initial repair console option and choose to install Windows. When it says there is already a Windows, would you like to
repair it?, that's the repair you want. It will run a full setup and keep your existing Windows configuration. This will mostly back
you out to the service pack that is on your CD and so you'll need to reapply updates and service packs (except of course the
offending one.)

If the setup won't repair your existing Windows because your current service pack level is too far past your CD, you'll need to
first build a "slipstreamed" CD with Win2K SP4 or XP SP2 integrated into it. The information to do this is widely available on the
web, or post back if you need to and I'll give you details. You of course need another machine or a separate, clean Windows install
with a CD-RW to make this.

I have seen some issues relating to the post-SP4 rollup. If you get any more insight into the problem, please post back.

Steve Duff, MCSE, MVP
Ergodic Systems, Inc.