Stepping through boot

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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

Hi!
In Dos days, you could mutter a mantra and hit some key (forgot
which), and your PC would boot line by line through Autoexec.bat and
Config.sys.

Anything like that for Windows 98 SE ?

Or better (??), can I have Win98 build a log of what goes on at boot?

TIA
-- A
André H. Faure <amifar.oy@kanetti.fi>
Amifar Oy, Jyväskylä, Finland

 

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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

André H. Faure <Andre.Faure@<ERASE>kanetti.fi> wrote in
news:MPG.1d30f03de03207969896a3@news.jippii.fi:

> Hi!
> In Dos days, you could mutter a mantra and hit some key (forgot
> which), and your PC would boot line by line through Autoexec.bat and
> Config.sys.
>
> Anything like that for Windows 98 SE ?
>
> Or better (??), can I have Win98 build a log of what goes on at boot?
>
> TIA
> -- A
> André H. Faure <amifar.oy@kanetti.fi>
> Amifar Oy, Jyväskylä, Finland
>

Hit F8 when the message 'Starting Windows 98' appears. This will give you a
menu with the option to confirm each step *and* the option to create a file
'C:\bootlog.txt'. (Hidden and system)

 

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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

André H. Faure <Andre.Faure@<ERASE>kanetti.fi> wrote:

>Hi!
>In Dos days, you could mutter a mantra and hit some key (forgot
>which), and your PC would boot line by line through Autoexec.bat and
>Config.sys.
>
>Anything like that for Windows 98 SE ?
>
>Or better (??), can I have Win98 build a log of what goes on at boot?
>

Turn on the computer and press the Ctrl key as soon as the first
information of any kind shows on the screen. Hold it down until the
Windows Startup Menu appears and you can choose the "Step by Step
Confirmation" option.

You can also create a log file for the boot, and this will be saved in
a hidden file named bootlog.txt in the root directory of the boot
drive (normally c:\bootlog.txt). Any existing bootlog.txt file will
be renamed bootlog.prv and any existing bootlog.prv file will be
deleted.

If you have trouble getting to the Startup Menu you can set it to
appear automatically by using Start - Run - MSCONFIG and click on the
Advanced button on the General tab. In the Advanced window click on
the checkbox for "Enable startup menu" to select it then click on
Apply and OK as needed to exit.

Go back into MSCONFIG and turn off the Startup menu when you are
finished with it.


Note that a bootlog.txt file produced by Windows is quite lengthy and
unless you are looking for something specific so you can find it with
text search tools any manual analysis will be quite time consuming and
cumbersome.

There is a free utility called bootlog analyzer which can be
downloaded from http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/pk29/

Also there is one glaring weakness in the bootlog.txt file. It
classes a number of items as "failures" when they really should be
regarded as "not required". There is a Microsoft Knowledge Base
article that documents these:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;127970

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm

 

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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)

Thank you both!
--
André H. Faure <amifar.oy@kanetti.fi>
Amifar Oy, Jyväskylä, Finland