System.dat & User.dat missing

I wanted to make a copy of my User.dat and System.dat files for back-up purposes but when I navigated to C:\Windows the files weren't there. I thought I must have been looking in the wrong place so I did a search thru Start/Find/Files and Folders and came up empty.Is there a reason they are not there?Is there a way to replace them?Any help would be appreciated.Thanks in advance.

 

Rackster--Those two files are the guts of your Registry so I doubt you do not have them. But you have looked in the normal place for them (C:\Windows)
However they could be "Hidden Files ".
Click Start|Settings|Folder Options|View tab|Files and Folders section/Hidden files|check the box Show All Files|click Apply|OK
If the box is already checked, you might try to run scanreg /restore from a DOS Prompt, but I have not provided details, since I suspect you will find that the files were hidden and not need to do anything more complicated.
And if you are running ScanRegistry at boot, you really do not need to backup these files. That is the function of ScanRegistry. The first time you boot each day, it creates a copy of your Registry in C:\Windows\Sysbckup under the name rbxxx.cab, where the xxx is a number. If you have the rbxxx.cab files you are running ScanRegistry and you have the Registry backups.

 

Whoa!!!! LOL!

These are not the guts of the registry, "these are the rergistry "!!!

If you are booting to the windows desktop then you have an intact and stable registry.

You just have not found them. If I were you I would not look any more! Use a registry backup utility and let it do the job.

Lol!

Mike

 

Well after showing all files, they still weren't there.I was pretty sure they were the "guts" of the registry so I do know they must be somewhere.I did look for the rbxxx.cab files and they were there...zipped,but there.For the record I am booting to the desktop with no troubles,I just wanted a copy of these files because I have read in magazines and probably in these forums too,that its a good idea to have them backed-up.I'm going to search for a registry back-up utility but any other suggestions would be helpful.

 

Browse to the newest rbxxx.cab file to a disk it is what you want!

It is the registry compressed to a cab file, probably still will not fit on a disk.

mike

 

Rackster

If you back up the System.dat and User.dat also make sure you backup the System.ini and the Win.ini at the same time.

All four files make up the COMPLETE regisrty. And all four files are required to be syncronized.

As you may have seen the RB00X.cab file does contain these four files.

U R right Mike

The .zip file is just slightly too big for a floppy,

BillyBob

 

As you have posted in the W98 forum, I assume you are using W98, which doesn't use User.dat and System. dat files for the Registry, which is why you can't and won't find them..System.ini and Win.ini are not part of the Registry, but are worthwhile backing up, providing not too many changes to your system have been made since you back up any of these sorts of files...See also below.
Welshjim put you on the right track re the RBX files, they are your W98 Registry files, but I wouldn't recommend saving these to disk anyway for a number of reasons. The main one being that if you were to go too far back when trying to fix a problem you may cause more trouble than you are prepared for, especially if you have made any hardware or software changes... Your intentions are good, but I would stick with just the last couple of most recent successful reboots and they are available via the Reg Restore features in W98..
Others may have differing opinions, so wait and see what people come up with.

 

Wow!

I try to learn something new everyday!

Win98 don't use a Registry?

Whats is in the RBxxx.cab files anyway? Can you tell me how to open one so I can see the files?

Yeah and that stuff that shows up in Regedit?

Rackster you should keep yours, you know just in case.

But me I am deleteing that old Registry editor since it is useless and I found them big old System.dat and User.dat files just taking up space so they are history!

Mike

 

Mflynn,

Whatever you do, do not remove system.dat and user.dat from your Win98 PC !


Topdog : Are you feeling OK ?

regards

 

SINCE WHEN ?

One of them does get lost or corrupted you will soon find out.

And they are CLEARLY VISIBLE in the C:\Windows folder on EVERY ONE of my machines, And always have been.

If 98 does not use them then why in hell won't Windows run correctly if they get S.C.R.E.Wed up ?

If it does not use them then WHY does Scanregistry back them up and Scanreg /restore restore them ?

The system.ini and Win.ini may not be considered part of the registry. ( Debateable ) BUT, the system WILL NOT BOOT with a bad or missing System.ini

WHY did Microsoft smarten up and make Scanregistry include them in the RB00X.CAB files ?

ALL FOUR files work together. And should be backed up and restored AT THE SAME TIME.

No they are not. They are only BACKUPS that Windows MAY use if needed. And contain the four files.

1--System.dat
2--User.dat
3-System.ini
3-Win.ini

I believe RB stands for Registry Backup.

On my machine right now a 1.7meg .cab file contains about 7meg of data. 6+ meg for the System.dat alone. And Windows WILL run without those RB00X.CAB files. You just don't have any reg backups. ( not sensible but it can be done )

I myself just select one of them in the left pane of PowerDesk ( Windows Explorer replacement ) and it show the four files in the right pane.

Sounds reasonable to me.

BillyBob

 

No way Mike will fall for Topdogs joke post, but I also hope less informed members did not.
Otherwise we will get a lot of posts like
"I am using my friends PC to post this, as mine is belly up ... "

 

Has anybody ever noticed ?

Scanregistry makes files named rb00x.cab. ( all lower case )

When a scanreg /restore is done it makes a file named Rb00x.cab. ( the R being upper case. )

The Rb00x.cab is also seen by scanreg /restore but is labled as NOT STARTED which means it has not been use to start Windows.

I think Win98 is a little smarter than some of us give it credit for being.

I have also seen a Rb00x.cab file without doing a scanreg /restore. This tells me that Windows found the existing one to be bad and used one of the other rb00x.cab to replace it.

I believe that is one of the main ideas behind the scanregistry and the rb00x.cab files.

I had noticed this before but just never dug into it very far untill today.

BillyBob

 

Important rule of posting here:
Do NO harm!

 

Yeah Jim and Merlin

You both are right, but sometimes when you are playing joking having fun it does get out of hand. Happend when we were kids and still happens 40 years later because some of the kid is still in there! Smile!

Someone new on the BBS or a visitor or just without experience could take as fact. Especially someone that does not know we get crazy silly sometimes, could think we are serious.

So Rackster the files are needed by windows. They are Hidden and can be seen in different ways. Best you backup the rbxx.cabs as advised and ignore the rest of our childish play.


Mike

 

I think that what not started means is that the backup isn't one that was created automatically (the first boot of the day). If it says started it means it was created during the first boot of a given day. You can check this out by running scanregw 5 times in windows. Choose to make a backup each time and then boot to a dos prompt and run scanreg /restore and you'll see that each one of the backups will be labeled as not started. The reason you see a "not started" one after you restore a backup is because the current registry is backed up by scanreg before it restores the one you chose to restore. Being it was created by scanreg it and not during the boot process it too gets labeled as not started. Confused yet?

 

Zander

I do believe you are quite correct.

No confusion whatsoever.

And thank you for adding the very usefull info.

BillyBob

 

It is true that scanregistry only makes one rb00x.cab file per day on its own.

But, if you have made major changes or done a lot of cleanup work and want only the lastest backup you can delete all of the rb00x.cab files and restart Windows and it will make a new one.

I just did the same this morning. I un-installed about 20meg of software that was doing nothing but take up disk space. Cleaned the reg with Norton WinDoctor. Restarted Windows. Deleted 5 rb00x.cab files. Ran Norton Optimization Wizard. It did its thing in about 15 seconds and restarted Windows and 30 seconds later BINGO !! I have an brand spanking new up to date rb00x.cab file.

I also do this JUST BEFORE installing any new hardware or software.

If you make changes today that you want to be permanent then yesterdays backup may be no good. And the one from 5 days ago is most certainly useless and may be a trouble creator.

BillyBob

 

I seem to have put my fingers into gear before engaging my brain and should have reread my post before releasing it. It wasn't a joke post, just badly thought put and put together(which is probably just as bad)..
For that I apologise unreservedly for any possible harm which may have resulted,
Iwas going to clarify myself here, but after some thought I may only dig a bigger hole and most of those of you who took me to task have done that anyway.

Sorry again and I can assure you it won't happen again.
In fact it may be prudent, if I can't delete it, maybe the Mod's will do it for me.....(silly embarassed smile and exits sate left with tail between legs).. Hope I haven't been banished????

Edit:
OK guys, I know where I went off the track. My mind was looking at the Backup aspects of the post and the files which I was thinking of are the User.Da0 and System.Da0 files which were the Registry backup for W95..
W98 does not create these files as such, but backs up the Registry and bundles, with it into the RB00x.CAB files, the Win.ini and System.ini files.
The .dat files do in fact(as you have pointed out) exist in the Windows directory and are used to set up the Windows environment, along with the win.ini and system.in files.
I agree that Windows will not work if any or all of these files are missing or corrupted, but the two ini files are not part of the actual Registry. I could quote from books on the Registry which would prove, or at least back up most of what I am saying.
The registry and ini files are structured differently, edited differently and go about their business differently. The original W95 Registry was created to overcome the multitude of limitations which exist in the ini files systems.
There was/is a file system used pre W95 (Win3.1) which was a predecessor to the Registry and were called .Reg files, but I only know of them and not much more, although I do seem to remember playing around in some of them , a long time ago.
Every piece of hardware and software had it's own ini file(s) which would alter/add to any existing versions, or even just dump it's own ini file into your Windows or System directories and this problem was addressed prtly or wholly with the introduction of the Registry. All these ini files would need to be located and backed up as well, so they could be used in the event of a complete reload, or at least kept so that the user could read the files to restablish(edit) their software environment to where it was beforehand.
I believe myself, if Microsoft could think of a way of doing it and keep still the masses happy, the ini files would disappear all together and the whole mess controlled by the Registry or something completely new..

Of course none of the above excuses what I originally posted and the way I presented it.
Again I apologise for that....

 

I accept.

but the two ini files are not part of the actual Registry. I could quote from books on the Registry which would prove, or at least back up most of what I am saying.

You are right about that. I have also read books ( or help files ) that say the two files are not part of the Registry.

But in some cases they DO NOT even mention the two .ini files and their importance to the system.

But still others do say they should be backed up also.

Along the same lines. I read a MS help article that said that Windows makes a reg backup everytime it is restarted. Well, we all know that that is not true.

This type of mis-leading info may leave some of the less knowledgeable users in trouble.

I have personally been involved in a case where a user would not believe me and thought the two files were not needed and DELECTED them ( and also all of the various backups of same that Windows had made ). It is a darm good thing ( for him ) that he had scanregistry loading and had me as a Crane to lift him out of that hole.

If the two .ini files are not part of the registry then would some kind person please explain this.

I would use Norton Windoctor to clean up the reg. Next time I ran it some of the same things were back. Clean them again to have them come back AGAIN. And kept coming back UNTIL I cleaned out of the System or Win.ini ( which ever one they were in )

I have also found that when I change ScreenSavers, the change is recorded in the System.ini.

I noticed yesterday that the System.ini said that I had a standard PCI VGA Video card. HUH ??? I have an AGP Nvidia GeForce 4. No wonder I had video problems.

I redid the Video drivers last night and now it says Nvidia GeForce 4 in the System.ini.

So, even if you do not consider the System.ini and Win.ini to be part of the Registry, at least realize the importance of same and back them up at the same time. Scanregistry does this very nicely.

BillyBob

 

TopDog

Don't be too hard on yourself!

I did worse than you!

I should have known better.

My inner child comes out sometimes.

Mike