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Invalid Boot INI File

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by hawk22, 2009/10/17.

  1. 2009/10/17
    hawk22

    hawk22 Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Somewhat strange to me anyway I am working a relatives PC and this is strange to me, at boot up it comes up with:
    Invalid Boot INI file booting from C:\ and it boots without any problems and runs fine.
    Any thoughts on this.
    running XP pro
     
  2. 2009/10/17
    Steve R Jones

    Steve R Jones SuperGeek Staff

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    And when you look inside the boot.ini file - what do you see?
     

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  4. 2009/10/18
    hawk22

    hawk22 Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Sorry Steve a bit slow coming back, I have disconnected the PC in question at the moment had other things to to.
    But when I reconnect I thought I might try to Rebuild following those instructions I would like your comments on that if you wouldn't mind Steve.
    Rebuild Boot INI in Windows XP

    There have been several complaints regarding IE8 causing deletion of the boot.ini file on certain systems. Uninstalling IE8 will roll you back to IE7 and cure the problem in those systems.

    After rolling back to IE7, you'll have to rebuild the boot.ini again but let me suggest an easier way to do that.

    Click Start > Run > type cmd > press Enter > then in the command screen type copy C:\WINDOWS\pss\boot.ini.backup C:\boot.ini > press Enter.

    (Be sure to include the space after COPY and BACKUP.)

    If it asks to overwrite the existing, type Y and press Enter. It should say "One file copied." Close out the command screen and reboot for effect.

    cheers
    hawk22
     
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  5. 2009/10/18
    Steve R Jones

    Steve R Jones SuperGeek Staff

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    I find that Extremely hard to believe....Even under the anythings possible catagory.

    I've never seen the copy/restore command before - but its legit. As long as the backup is the needed file you could give it a shot...WHen in doubt - post the content of both files.
     
  6. 2009/10/18
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    Did you have IE with the ASK toolbar by chance?
     
    Arie,
    #5
  7. 2009/10/18
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    Interesting... I don't know if that file will be present on every machine... on my XP machine it isn't, probably because I've never changed the boot.ini file. Not sure if a copy would be saved when the original gets deleted.
     
    Arie,
    #6
  8. 2009/10/19
    hawk22

    hawk22 Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Hi and thanks Arie, and no it is not it could not find the path.
    But I did roll back to IE7 never had much luck with 8

    So I now went to the more realistic version of using the Installation CD, and this did work first time.
    I include the instructions here for anyone that should need to fix their BOOT.INI.
    The instructions are quite easy to follow, all you have to remember is type the OS that you are using in my case it was: Microsoft Windows XP Pro

    How to rebuild the Windows boot.ini.
    Question:

    How to rebuild the Windows boot.ini.
    Answer:

    Users who have a corrupt or missing boot.ini file, are running Microsoft Windows XP, and have a Microsoft Windows XP CD can rebuild the systems boot.ini file by following the below steps.

    1. Insert the Microsoft Windows XP CD into the computer. Note: If you have a system recovery CD or restore CD (not a Microsoft CD) these steps will likely not work for your computer.
    2. Reboot the computer with the CD and press any key when prompted to press any key to boot from the CD. If you do not receive this prompt and/or are not able to boot from the CD see document CH000217.
    3. Once in the Microsoft Setup menu press R to open the recovery console.
    4. Select the operating system you wish to use; if you only have Windows XP on the computer you will only have one prompt.
    5. Once prompted for the password enter the Admin password and press enter.
    6. Once at the command prompt type bootcfg /rebuild to start the rebuild process.
    7. The rebuild process will step you through a number of steps depending upon how many operating systems you have on the computer and how the computer is setup. Below is a listing of the common steps you are likely going to encounter.

    * Prompt for the identified versions of Windows installed. When you receive this prompt press Y if the bootcfg command properly identified each of the Windows operating systems installed on the computer. It is important to realize this command will only detect Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows NT installations.

    * Prompt to enter the load identifier. This is the name of the operating system for the boot.ini. For example, Microsoft Windows XP Home users would enter Microsoft Windows XP Home edition.

    * Prompt to Enter OS load options. When this prompt is received type /fastdetect to automatically detect the available options.

    8. Once you have completed all the available options in the rebuild and are back at the prompt type exit to reboot the computer.
     

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