Notepad program is MIA

  • Thread starter Thread starter MG.
  • Start date Start date
M

MG.

Hello to all.
My daughter has my old Dell D4300 running Win XP Home SP1. I just recently
used the XP repair/recovery console (a WONDERFUL thing) to get her up and
running again. By the way, thanks to Charles White for an OUTSTANDING web
page.
http://www.digitalwebcast.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/cw_boot_toot.htm


Dell tech tried to help but was unable to get me going. As a result of Dell
tech's help, I now have a boot screen at startup that asks which OS I want
to start "winxp" (created during my session with Dell tech) and "Microsoft
Windows XP Home Edition" (the repaired working version of windows).
I want to edit the "boot.ini" file to delete the reference to the unused,
non-functioning OS "winxp", but notepad will NOT open the program and does
not appear in the list of "Open with" programs when I right click the
filename. How do I get it to appear on the list so I can edit the boot file
and get the PC to immediately boot to the correct OS? The "boot.ini" file
is now associated with WordPad which is obviously NOT a good thing.
I did notice that for some reason, her copies of "notepad.exe" are in
different directories than on my PC also running XP Home.

Thanks in advance to all and best regards,
Morey G
 
notepad.exe lives here:
C:\WINDOWS
C:\WINDOWS\system32
C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache
=====

Will this open Notepad?
Start | Run | Type: notepad | OK
Start | Run | Type: notepad.exe | OK
=====

Right click boot.ini | Open with | Browse button |
Browse to and select: Notepad.exe |
Start | Run | Type: msconfig | OK |
Boot.ini tab | Check All Boot Paths button |
Check: Always use the selected program to open this kind of file | OK
=====

A dialog box will open detailing the location of any invalid operating
system locations | Confirm you want to remove the entry and reboot

[[Check All Boot Paths - This button will check the boot paths for all
operating systems listed in the BOOT.INI to ensure they point to a valid
operating system. ]]

Msconfig image
http://www.winnetmag.com/Files/16/20784/msconfig.gif

=====

It's possible that a virus has disabled Notepad. Update your anti virus
software and run a full system scan.
 
Wesley,
Thank you for the response, I'm sorry it took so long for me to get back
here but work has been a real pain in the a**!
I tried the "Open with" procedure before I posted and Notepad does not even
appear in the list of programs. That has been the main problem. If I
navigate to its location on the HDD and double click, it opens fine. I just
can't get the association to stick to the ".ini" file types.
Thanks, too for the info on boot.ini. The path leads to a valid OS, just
not the proper one. I'm not sure how I created that second boot path, but I
sure would like to eliminate it.

Best regards,
Morey

Wesley Vogel said:
notepad.exe lives here:
C:\WINDOWS
C:\WINDOWS\system32
C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache
=====

Will this open Notepad?
Start | Run | Type: notepad | OK
Start | Run | Type: notepad.exe | OK
=====

Right click boot.ini | Open with | Browse button |
Browse to and select: Notepad.exe |
Start | Run | Type: msconfig | OK |
Boot.ini tab | Check All Boot Paths button |
Check: Always use the selected program to open this kind of file | OK
=====

A dialog box will open detailing the location of any invalid operating
system locations | Confirm you want to remove the entry and reboot

[[Check All Boot Paths - This button will check the boot paths for all
operating systems listed in the BOOT.INI to ensure they point to a valid
operating system. ]]

Msconfig image
http://www.winnetmag.com/Files/16/20784/msconfig.gif

=====

It's possible that a virus has disabled Notepad. Update your anti virus
software and run a full system scan.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.
Wes

In
MG. said:
Hello to all.
My daughter has my old Dell D4300 running Win XP Home SP1. I just
recently used the XP repair/recovery console (a WONDERFUL thing) to
get her up and running again. By the way, thanks to Charles White for
an OUTSTANDING web page.
http://www.digitalwebcast.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/cw_boot_toot.htm


Dell tech tried to help but was unable to get me going. As a result
of Dell tech's help, I now have a boot screen at startup that asks
which OS I want to start "winxp" (created during my session with Dell
tech) and "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" (the repaired working
version of windows).
I want to edit the "boot.ini" file to delete the reference to the
unused, non-functioning OS "winxp", but notepad will NOT open the
program and does not appear in the list of "Open with" programs when
I right click the filename. How do I get it to appear on the list so
I can edit the boot file and get the PC to immediately boot to the
correct OS? The "boot.ini" file is now associated with WordPad which
is obviously NOT a good thing.
I did notice that for some reason, her copies of "notepad.exe" are in
different directories than on my PC also running XP Home.

Thanks in advance to all and best regards,
Morey G
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