Invalid Boot.INI

G

Guest

Hi

Hopefully someone will have a great answer for this one.

When I boot my system I get a message stating invalid Boot.ini
Booting c:/Windows

I have had a look at the Boot file in windows and its blank

What should I do?

Regards
 
W

WinGuy

Ian said:
Hi

Hopefully someone will have a great answer for this one.

When I boot my system I get a message stating invalid Boot.ini
Booting c:/Windows

I have had a look at the Boot file in windows and its blank

What should I do?

Regards
Click to expand...

I don't think boot.ini is a valid XP operating system file, although it
might have something to do with some program or device that you have
installed. Does your Event Viewer report an error that seems to be
associated )right click My Computer, choose Manage, expand the Event Viewer
entry). How about your Device Manager, any problems being shown there? Right
click My Computer, Properties, Hardware, Device Manager.
 
W

Will Denny

| | > Hi
| >
| > Hopefully someone will have a great answer for this one.
| >
| > When I boot my system I get a message stating invalid Boot.ini
| > Booting c:/Windows
| >
| > I have had a look at the Boot file in windows and its blank
| >
| > What should I do?
| >
| > Regards
|
| I don't think boot.ini is a valid XP operating system file, although it
| might have something to do with some program or device that you have
| installed. Does your Event Viewer report an error that seems to be
| associated )right click My Computer, choose Manage, expand the Event
Viewer
| entry). How about your Device Manager, any problems being shown there?
Right
| click My Computer, Properties, Hardware, Device Manager.

Hi

Boot.ini is one of the main bootup files and **is** a valid file. If you
are not sure of your facts...
 
W

Will Denny

Hi

Try this:

Have a look for a file named boot.bak in Windows Explorer, rename it to
boot.txt. Open it in Notepad and copy/paste the contents into the empty
boot.ini file. Reboot your system.

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups


| Hi
|
| Hopefully someone will have a great answer for this one.
|
| When I boot my system I get a message stating invalid Boot.ini
| Booting c:/Windows
|
| I have had a look at the Boot file in windows and its blank
|
| What should I do?
|
| Regards
 
S

SomewhatAnonymous

Will Denny said:
| | > Hi
| >
| > Hopefully someone will have a great answer for this one.
| >
| > When I boot my system I get a message stating invalid Boot.ini
| > Booting c:/Windows
| >
| > I have had a look at the Boot file in windows and its blank
| >
| > What should I do?
| >
| > Regards
|
| I don't think boot.ini is a valid XP operating system file, although it
| might have something to do with some program or device that you have
| installed. Does your Event Viewer report an error that seems to be
| associated )right click My Computer, choose Manage, expand the Event
Viewer
| entry). How about your Device Manager, any problems being shown there?
Right
| click My Computer, Properties, Hardware, Device Manager.

Hi

Boot.ini is one of the main bootup files and **is** a valid file. If you
are not sure of your facts...


--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, you are very correct and I errored in my reply, badly. Yes, and
it's the one I edit often after installing Recovery Console so as to not
have a 30-second delay at bootup (I change it to a lower time period). Not
enough coffee yet this morning, I guess, as my reply was definitely brain
dead. My apology for the bad advice - I definitely should have known better.
I'll try to be more carefull. :(

One note more, though. To see boot.ini file in root of drive C the explorer
view must be set to show both hidden and system files. Then right-click the
boot.ini file, choose properties, and remove the read-only attribute. When
done editing, change its attribute back to read-only and change the explorer
view to not show hidden and system files.

Thanks, Will.
 
W

Will Denny

| | > | > | | > | > Hi
| > | >
| > | > Hopefully someone will have a great answer for this one.
| > | >
| > | > When I boot my system I get a message stating invalid Boot.ini
| > | > Booting c:/Windows
| > | >
| > | > I have had a look at the Boot file in windows and its blank
| > | >
| > | > What should I do?
| > | >
| > | > Regards
| > |
| > | I don't think boot.ini is a valid XP operating system file, although
it
| > | might have something to do with some program or device that you have
| > | installed. Does your Event Viewer report an error that seems to be
| > | associated )right click My Computer, choose Manage, expand the Event
| > Viewer
| > | entry). How about your Device Manager, any problems being shown there?
| > Right
| > | click My Computer, Properties, Hardware, Device Manager.
| >
| > Hi
| >
| > Boot.ini is one of the main bootup files and **is** a valid file. If
you
| > are not sure of your facts...
| >
| >
| > --
| >
| > Will Denny
| > MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
| > Please reply to the News Groups
|
| I'm sorry, you are very correct and I errored in my reply, badly. Yes, and
| it's the one I edit often after installing Recovery Console so as to not
| have a 30-second delay at bootup (I change it to a lower time period). Not
| enough coffee yet this morning, I guess, as my reply was definitely brain
| dead. My apology for the bad advice - I definitely should have known
better.
| I'll try to be more carefull. :(
|
| One note more, though. To see boot.ini file in root of drive C the
explorer
| view must be set to show both hidden and system files. Then right-click
the
| boot.ini file, choose properties, and remove the read-only attribute. When
| done editing, change its attribute back to read-only and change the
explorer
| view to not show hidden and system files.
|
| Thanks, Will.
Hi

Ian has said that boot.ini is blank - ? empty - so I assume that show hidden
files and folders has already been activated. Removing the read only
attribute is a good point though.
 
W

WinGuy

Will Denny said:
Ian has said that boot.ini is blank - ? empty - so I assume that show hidden
files and folders has already been activated. Removing the read only
attribute is a good point though.


--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups
Click to expand...

I always try to keep in mind with my replies that others reading might have
a similar problem and so I try to go over the obvious too, just in case. :)
But I didn't even hold to that rule with my reply to Ian which was, as you
thankfully pointed out, in error. Really, I need much more morning coffee
than I suspected.

I'll bow out of this topic, I try to only respond to topics that have
received no timely response and I think I'm getting a little too eager to
try to be of help. ;/

Thanks for stepping in to help Ian, Will. I'm positive that your advice will
get his system performing better. Have a nice day! You too, Ian. :)
 
W

Will Denny

Hi

In msconfig make sure that 'Use original BOOT.INI' is enabled on the General
tab. Click on the boot.ini tab - what do you see in there - if anything?
The contents of boot.ini should look something like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

not necessarily the last line and would depend on your own system setup.
You can rebuild boot.ini via the Recovery Console:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prmc_str_masc.asp

right hand side - near the bottom of the page.

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups


| Hi Will
|
| This is the only boot file on my system unfortunatly
|
| Any other ideas?
|
| "Will Denny" wrote:
|
| > Hi
| >
| > Try this:
| >
| > Have a look for a file named boot.bak in Windows Explorer, rename it to
| > boot.txt. Open it in Notepad and copy/paste the contents into the empty
| > boot.ini file. Reboot your system.
| >
| > --
| >
| > Will Denny
| > MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
| > Please reply to the News Groups
| >
| >
| > | > | Hi
| > |
| > | Hopefully someone will have a great answer for this one.
| > |
| > | When I boot my system I get a message stating invalid Boot.ini
| > | Booting c:/Windows
| > |
| > | I have had a look at the Boot file in windows and its blank
| > |
| > | What should I do?
| > |
| > | Regards
| >
| >
 

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