invalid boot.ini

[Kandra]

Hi,

When booting up tonight, I had to go through scandisk on
all my drives...it found several files that were either
truncated or damaged, lost clusters etc. (which totally
amazed me as the night before I had shutdown just fine).
Oh, after this I did do a virus scan and everything was
just fine.

Anyway, now when I bootup I have an "invalid boot.ini
file, booting from C:/Windows" message.

What can I do to fix this? When I try a recovery it asks
for an administrator's password. When I installed XP (many
many months ago), I never set one...so how can that be
resolved also?

Thank you so much!

Kandra

 

[Marshall]

The boot.ini is a text file that sets the directory
location of the operating system and the OS kernal. On my
machine it looks something like this.

Please note that the last 2 lines in this message should
be one line in the boot.ini file. If you can boot to the
command prompt and create this test file (using your
Windows Home Directory) it should work. This assumes
however that the OS is on the C drive and it's the first
disk controller, first (usually master) disk on that
contoller, and the first partition on that disk. If you
can get to the command prompt and try this and all those
conditions I mentioned are not true, then the computer
will give you an error saying it can't find the operating
system - leaving you no worse then you are now.

Good Luck

Marshall

Remember that the last 2 lines here should be on one line
in the file you create.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft
Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect

 

[Kandra]

Thanks, Marshall!

One (or 2) questions....I am in Windows now, it *will*
load. When I do a search for boot.ini it comes up with
nothing...and I do have search set to look for hidden
system files.

Yes, C: is where Windows is...I believe all your
conditions are met. Does the boot.ini file reside in the
C:\Windows directory or in the root of C:? Also, I do have
other drives...do I need to put those in the .ini file?
So, using Notepad, I believe I can just create the file
and put it where it needs to go...which I'm assuming is
the C:\Windows directory, but I wanted to make sure.

Thank you sooo much!

Kandra

-----Original Message-----
The boot.ini is a text file that sets the directory
location of the operating system and the OS kernal. On my
machine it looks something like this.

Please note that the last 2 lines in this message should
be one line in the boot.ini file. If you can boot to the
command prompt and create this test file (using your
Windows Home Directory) it should work. This assumes
however that the OS is on the C drive and it's the first
disk controller, first (usually master) disk on that
contoller, and the first partition on that disk. If you
can get to the command prompt and try this and all those
conditions I mentioned are not true, then the computer
will give you an error saying it can't find the operating
system - leaving you no worse then you are now.

Good Luck

Marshall

Remember that the last 2 lines here should be on one line
in the file you create.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft
Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect

-----Original Message-----
Hi,

When booting up tonight, I had to go through scandisk on
all my drives...it found several files that were either
truncated or damaged, lost clusters etc. (which totally
amazed me as the night before I had shutdown just fine).
Oh, after this I did do a virus scan and everything was
just fine.

Anyway, now when I bootup I have an "invalid boot.ini
file, booting from C:/Windows" message.

What can I do to fix this? When I try a recovery it asks
for an administrator's password. When I installed XP (many
many months ago), I never set one...so how can that be
resolved also?

Thank you so much!

Kandra
.

.

 

[Chris Lanier]

Invalid Boot.ini" or "Windows Could Not Start" Error Messages When You Start
Your Computer
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=330184

Thanks, Marshall!

One (or 2) questions....I am in Windows now, it *will*
load. When I do a search for boot.ini it comes up with
nothing...and I do have search set to look for hidden
system files.

Yes, C: is where Windows is...I believe all your
conditions are met. Does the boot.ini file reside in the
C:\Windows directory or in the root of C:? Also, I do have
other drives...do I need to put those in the .ini file?
So, using Notepad, I believe I can just create the file
and put it where it needs to go...which I'm assuming is
the C:\Windows directory, but I wanted to make sure.

Thank you sooo much!

Kandra

-----Original Message-----
The boot.ini is a text file that sets the directory
location of the operating system and the OS kernal. On my
machine it looks something like this.

Please note that the last 2 lines in this message should
be one line in the boot.ini file. If you can boot to the
command prompt and create this test file (using your
Windows Home Directory) it should work. This assumes
however that the OS is on the C drive and it's the first
disk controller, first (usually master) disk on that
contoller, and the first partition on that disk. If you
can get to the command prompt and try this and all those
conditions I mentioned are not true, then the computer
will give you an error saying it can't find the operating
system - leaving you no worse then you are now.

Good Luck

Marshall

Remember that the last 2 lines here should be on one line
in the file you create.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft
Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect

-----Original Message-----
Hi,

When booting up tonight, I had to go through scandisk on
all my drives...it found several files that were either
truncated or damaged, lost clusters etc. (which totally
amazed me as the night before I had shutdown just fine).
Oh, after this I did do a virus scan and everything was
just fine.

Anyway, now when I bootup I have an "invalid boot.ini
file, booting from C:/Windows" message.

What can I do to fix this? When I try a recovery it asks
for an administrator's password. When I installed XP (many
many months ago), I never set one...so how can that be
resolved also?

Thank you so much!

Kandra
.

.

 

[Alex Nichol]

When booting up tonight, I had to go through scandisk on
all my drives...it found several files that were either
truncated or damaged, lost clusters etc. (which totally
amazed me as the night before I had shutdown just fine).
Oh, after this I did do a virus scan and everything was
just fine.

Anyway, now when I bootup I have an "invalid boot.ini
file, booting from C:/Windows" message.

Set the BIOS to boot CD before Hard Disk. Boot the XP CD and, instead
of Setup, take the immediate R for Repair. Assume any password
requested is blank, and TAB over.
Give
BootCfg /Rebuild