Long rambling about Register Editing

Wouldn't it be very nice if these online help files would actually contain the same info as the installed files ?

I have seen info somewhere ( written by MS ) that says Scanregistry only backups up the System.dat and User.dat. Of course we know that is wrong also.

In Win95 I used to manuall copy the four files in DOS and then copy them back in DOS if needed.

markp62

Would you do me a favor please ?

I would do this myself but I have to get ready for our trip. And it may be Thursday or Friday before I get back on here. I may get back on this AM and I may not.

Look through the CHM file in question and see what it says about using scanreg /restore. I ask this as I have seen some info somewhere that says NOTHING about booting into DOS to use it.

I have also seen info about going to the DOS Prompt ( window ) which is not correct either.

In 98 and 98SE Scanreg /restore must be used from the command prompt at boot up ( or a floppy boot will work too ). Not a DOS Prompt ( Window ) or the DOS Mode from within Windows.

Have a nice day and I will be back ASAP.

BillyBob

 

This is also mis-leading. It is from the same section of the CHM file as previous.

It in no way mentions the importance of the system.ini and Win.ini

And nowhere do I see any mention that 95 or 98 WILL NOT boot if the System.ini is corrupt or missing.

Again. if I am wrong WHY does scanregistry back all four files ? And restore all four files when scanreg /restore is used.

Could it be that they are actually important ?

And believe it or not somethings that are in the system.ini and win.ini ARE included in the so called registry.

At one time I took out some file association and references to software that no longer existed using Norton WinDoctor. And they kept getting put back in. Come to find out they were in either the system or win.in ( I forget which ). Once I removed them from there they stayed out.

Now I really gotta go.

BillyBob

 

The registry (made up of user.dat and system.dat) gets loaded first. This is the core, or "kernel" of the OS.
If something in the registry points to any external program, it is put on "hold" until the GUI loads. The GUI consists of everything in the registry to do with the way windows looks, colors, styles, fonts, sizes, etc.
System.in then loads, being all things necessary for the system to run, producing the gui, etc.
Win.ini then loads, being externally called windows settings, parameters for programs, and settings for the gui, etc.
Files can be run/loaded in Windows in 4 different ways.
1.) Autoexec.bat or config.sys
2.) Registry call. Editable in msconfig/startup.
3.) Win.ini
4.) Startup folder.

Windows can work with an abbreviated system and win ini files, but not if they're missing completely. You just won't get many progam files, startup files, and gui files. Basically you will end up at a DOS prompt if too much is missing, which means it's almost unrecoverable, except with an overlay install.

Win98 (by default) does one registry .cab backup per calendar day, on the first boot after midnight.
It defaults to 5 backup .cab's and then overwrites the oldest.
You can change this to 10 (or more) by editing the scanreg.ini file.
If you have 5 unsuccessful boots in 5 days, all the working .cab's are lost, because Windows doesn't know if it was a successful boot or not, and simply overwrites the old with the new, working or not.

I hope this gives a little insight into the workings of it all.

 

Thank you reboot​

If you have 5 unsuccessful boots in 5 days, all the working .cab's are lost, because Windows doesn't know if it was a successful boot or not, and simply overwrites the old with the new, working or not.

That is the reason I say that users should understand how this works and keep a good track of the backups.

Deleting the ones that may be known to be bad and making one when the system is known to be good.

It can save a whole lot of headaches.

BillyBob

PS
I had an hour longer than I thought.

BB

 

I have seldom seen a thread like this one.
Can someone explain the point of it all - in simple terms ..
Thanks and
regards

 

Well, we've kinda wandered from the topic, but...

Here's a few points:

Editing the registry is risky.
Windows 98 makes registry backups that DO include system and win.ini
Don't rely solely on these to save your butt!
Backing up the registry manually does work.
Restoring that backup requires a bootable machine.
If you wish to move the default "My Documents" folder from C to anywhere else, it requires editing the registry.
I don't have a Win98 machine handy, or I could tell you exactly which keys to edit.
If you wish to move/change any other default save location (in Win, or in IE), it's doable. (See above re: lack of Win98 box).
There's probably more

Note, Addendum to my above post:
Scanreg must be run from DOS. NOT a DOS window.
Start with a DOS diskette, or restart in DOS mode, or F8 the option to Command prompt only will work. (Safe mode command prompt may not, because of the path to the scanreg.exe file, although you can manually path to it if needed). Opening a DOS box will not...even if it says the procedure to restore an older version of the registry has completed, it has NOT.

 

BillyBob
The Chm file says nothing on Scanreg.exe, the search turned up 0 hits. But does mention running Scanregw.exe from Start\Run.
In relation to 95 it does mention using Cfgback as a method to create compressed backups. I have experimented with it when I had 95a and found it unreliable as far as actually restoring one of these backups. It would make a backup just fine. I did a search through the M$ knowledge base and M$ confirms it as unreliable. I was using the Eru utility when I was experimenting, which is much more reliable.
No mention of Eru in the Chm file either.
I at this moment have a backup of my 98SE registry using Eru, just in case of the scenario posted by reboot concerning unsuccessful boot ups.
By default, Eru backs up these files, in uncompressed form, the extension's middle letter renamed to '_' , the attributes are archive.
Autoexec.Bat, Config.Sys, System.Dat, User.Dat, Protocol.Ini, System.Ini, Io.Sys, and Msdos.Sys .

 

Greeting from Atlanta Georgia.

This is just what I was afraid of.. They only put in 1/2 of the strory.

It tells how to make the backup but I take it that it says nothing about restoring them. Then what good is the backup if you do not know how to use it.

reboot

Scanreg can be run right from the Start/run line in Windows. If all is correct it will switch to a DOS Windows and run. Complete with the question about making a backup.

SCANREG /RESTORE does indeed need to be run fron DOS. I did check that out earlier.

merlin

If you can not figure out the point of these last few replys, I ani't gonna tell you either.

AH shucks maybe I will anyway.

Some of them are saying that MICROSOFT puts out some incorrect. incomplete and/or mis-leading info.

And we are trying to get the CORRECT info to you.

BillyBob

 

OK, a few things I maybe didn't explain quite right.

Scanreg can run from a window, but you cannot do a restore from the same window, confirmed by BB, thankyou.

Christer.
Yes, you can move the .cab files and store them anywhere you like. If you need to restore one of those cab files, move it back to the original location.
You can move the "My Documents" folder, however, the default download location in IE does not always change. You sometimes need to edit the registry to point to the new location of the folder, or select a different download location. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and when downloading MSUpdates, they may not work any more, because the default "My Documents" location is no longer valid.
What I was getting at, was not just moving the My Documents folder, but changing the default for everything that normally goes to c:\My Documents to a completely different folder, such as e:\other\downloads. You must edit the registry to achieve this.
Changing the Temp, and Windows\temp locations can be done in msconfig, but requires some registry editing, especially if you are moving things to a ramdrive (but that's another story).

Anyhow, thanks for pointing out some of the things I missed or got wrong. I'm doing this all from memory, as I don't currently have a Win98 box to test it all on.

 

No matter whatt you move or change, be prepared for some things not to like the idea.

Any software that has an .INI file within the program folder may not accept the changes.

I had a big fight with one of my PhotoSuite programs over this.

I had a tough time making it recognize the moved My Docs folder.

It took me a while to get it to realize that is was going to do things my way.

Am being taken out to dinner Gatta go.

BillyBob

 

Nope. Some software will ALWAYS want to install to c:\program files\something and will ALWAYS default to downloading and/or saving stuff in c:\My Documents, no matter what Windows thinks.
It's usually the result of shoddy software.

Relocation isn't a problem, as you've demonstrated.
Relocation and renaming is the issue that causes problems. If you don't want to use c:\My Documents, but want to use c:\Downloads\Scanfirst (for example) for the default, then you must edit the registry, which was part of the original poster's question I think.

Like I said, if I had a Win98 box here, I could tell you exactly which entries to edit and how.

 

If changing the location of these folders is the first thing that is done on the freshly installed OS, before any other software is installed, then all subsequent installations must get the message, don´t they?

They could and maybe should but do not bet your life on it My friend.

BillyBob