MS-DOS Setup Appears to Corrupt or Damage Windows .INI Files (105791)
The information in this article applies to:
• Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.0
• Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.2
• Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.21
• Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.22
This article was previously published under Q105791
SYMPTOMS
MS-DOS Setup may appear to corrupt or damage your SYSTEM.INI,
WINFILE.INI, or PROGMAN.INI files.
CAUSE
This problem occurs due to the difference in how MS-DOS and Windows
interpret corrupted SYSTEM.INI, WINFILE.INI, or PROGMAN.INI files.
While Windows simply ignores garbage in corrupted .INI files, MS-DOS
may interpret such characters as an end-of-file (EOF) marker
(depending on the type of data corruption).
RESOLUTION
To first determine if your .INI file problems are the result of
existing corruption and then to correct such problems, use the
following steps:
• Copy the unmodified backup .INI file over the corrupted one. For
example, type copy c:\windows\progman.bak c:\windows\progman.ini at the MS-DOS command prompt and then
press ENTER.
• Edit the .INI files with a hexadecimal editor and remove the data
corruption.
MS-DOS Setup ignores any data corruption involving the standard
character set (that is, incorrect text or corrupted text in your .INI
file is ignored). However, incorrect formatting characters or other
values can cause problems. For this reason, you need to look at the
files with a hexadecimal editor.
• Run SETUP /E to install the optional programs (Microsoft Backup,
Microsoft Anti-Virus, and Microsoft Uninstall).
| Modification Type: |
Major |
Last Reviewed: |
11/19/1999 |
| Keywords: |
KB105791 |
|