Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (
More info?)
On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 07:30:03 -0700, "Angel"
>The system indicates it has Windows 98 but goes into a C prompt. Any ideas
>how to start graphical Windows 98 from a command prompt?
First: Do you have a boot diskette or CD in the relevant drives? If
so, remove these, and ideally prevent those drives from booting first
via the relevant CMOS settings.
Enter the VER command. If you see "MSDOS 6.22" or similar, as opposed
to a Windows 9x version number, then someone did a SYS C: from an
MS-DOS diskette boot, or you are somehow trapped in an F8 "Previous
Version of MSDOS" session. The latter is common only in Win95 SR2.
Enter the EXIT command. You may be in the middle on a "Specify a
new..." DOS mode .pif session, and that will continue (across reboots)
until you Exit it via that command.
If still no joy, then I'd enter the following command:
EDIT C:\WINBOOT.INI C:\MSDOS.SYS
These files, in that order, inform the boot process where Windows is,
and whether or not it should be booted (as opposed to DOS mode).
Normally, C:\WINBOOT.INI is not present, so that it is C:\MSDOS.SYS
that is in effect. The syntax of both files is the same; it should
have a [Paths] section that points to your Windows directory, and an
[Options] section that has a big wad of ; xxxx... lines to pad it out.
PgDn past all of those lines to see if there are extra "live" lines
added after that! Any line starting with ; is inactive.
If you find the file is a tiny stub, with just one line like ;FORMAT
or ;SYS at the top, then that's your problem - something ate your
MSDOS.SYS and you need to write a new one. Reply to that effect if
so, and I'll paste something that should work.
If you see a line within the [Options] section like this...
BootGUI=0
....then that's your problem; that line prevents Windows from starting
up and forces you to stay in DOS mode instead.
If still no joy, enter the following command:
EDIT C:\CONFIG.SYS C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT
Look for a line in Config.sys like this...
DOS=SINGLE
....and if you see that, expect to see three lines at the end of
Autoexec.bat that state "these lines were added by Windows" and have
something like WIN.COM /WX etc. in there.
The DOS=SINGLE line will force the system to stay in DOS mode, and is
used internally by the system (along with WIN.COM /WX etc.) to manage
a "Specify a new..." DOS mode .pif session.
If the system shows the Windows splash screen (as an in-progress .pif
session does not) and then stay in DOS mode, even after you enter EXIT
as a command - then you're in the "double launch misbehavior".
What happens when you run a DOS mode "Specify a new..." .pif is:
- C:\Config.sys and C:\Autoexec.bat are copied to C:\*.WOS
- new copies of those files are extracted from the .pif
- the system shuts down and restarts into the session
If you launch the session twice before the shutdown and restart can
commence, then this is what happens...
- C:\Config.sys and C:\Autoexec.bat are copied to C:\*.WOS
- new copies of those files are extracted from the .pif
- C:\Config.sys and C:\Autoexec.bat are copied to C:\*.WOS
- new copies of those files are extracted from the .pif
- the system shuts down and restarts into the session
....and you can see the problem. When the session is ended via the
EXIT command, the "live" files go back into the .pif (thus
re-incorporating any changes) while the .WOS are renamed back to the
"live" names. But the .WOS are not the Windows system settings files
they should be, but another instance of those from the .pif - so the
..pif session starts all over again.
This time, the system has no awareness (mystery: What is the nature of
that awareness?) that a "Specify a new..." session is in effect.
That's why you see the splash screen, and why EXIT doesn't (it has no
idea what session to "exit" from).
If this is the problem, then don't just edit out the DOS=SINGLE line,
as is usually advised. Rename away the files, like this...
REN C:\CONFIG.SYS CONFIG.EDM
REN C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT AUTOEXEC.EDM
....so they won't be used, and reset. This will give a cleaner result
than running Windows on top of inappropriate settings.
Still no joy? OK, then it sounds as if something worse has happened,
like the loss of part or all of the Windows subtree. You can't boot
Windows if the Windows code isn't there to be booted!
>--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -
Error Messages Are Your Friends
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