# [SOLVED] DOS command



## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

I added Win98 upgrade(from a disk) to old win98 on computer. Now I have no Icons on desktop just picture. I can open c/window in safe mode but think I need to delete a program. I keep getting explorer error. I cannot use disk drive (think I used up memory. What dos command do I use to get into ADD/REMOVE in Windows?


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## korgul (Jun 5, 2002)

Not sure if I understand you right.

You want to get to Add/Remove programs in the control panel from DOS

Can't be done.

You say you can get into safe mode. You should be able to get into it from safe mode.


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

I cannot get to control panel. There is no icons on desktop.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Can you start in safe mode by tapping F 8 key while the computer is starting up? Does safe mode load the desktop correctly?

Also, it's a bit hard to follow what you are saying, so if you could give us a step by step breakdown of exactly what you did and why, it would help.


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

I think I made a mistake and put 98 upgrade on top of 98 program that was on drive C: No icons on desktop. The computer didn't have much memory.  I have to use dos command to get rid of a program so that I can get back into windows 98.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

What program are you trying to get rid of? I'm sorry, but you still aren't making yourself clear.

Do you want to format the hard drive and install Windows fresh?


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

yes I can get into safe mode by tapping F8. I was trying to upgrade windows 98 should have been update. Made a mistake. I think I put another 98 on the computer and ran out of memory. 
I installed 98 upgrade from disk drive. Shut down , waited, turned computer on ....no icons on desktop. just desktop picture.

can get into safe mode and can boot from A drive. Thought I could cd C: then cd windows..and then use dos command to get to add/remove to restore memory.


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

no I just want to get the windows program back. I need to backup files on the computer. I can only use dos commands to run computer


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

You perhaps ran out of hard drive space? Hard drive space and memory are two completely different things.

In safe mode, does everything appear normal except for the size of the screen? Do you have icons?

I still have no clue what you mean when you say you can only use dos commands to run the computer


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

Hi Candy, Hope you can help me. I was trying to update win 98. Had a disk that said upgrade 98. (big mistake) I put it in drive d: and loaded it in the computer. When I rebooted I got an error message..Explorer caused an invalid page fault in Module SHLWAPI.DLL at 017f:70bd40f2 

when I closed the error window, I had no Icons on the desktop, so I could not get into windows to fix my mistake. Hope you can help me.


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

I think you are right. It is the hard drive space that (I think) ran out.


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## korgul (Jun 5, 2002)

In Dos do you have a folder called windows000 and one called Windows?

Just curious.


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

what would I type to see if I have "A folder called windows000 and one called Windows"?


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## korgul (Jun 5, 2002)

If it is the shlwapi.dll file that is causing problems you can download a new one here.

http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?shlwapi

you will winzip to extract the file to the desired place. Most likely going to be c:\windows\system


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## korgul (Jun 5, 2002)

Background on file: Contains utility functions for handling paths, urls, strings, registry entries and color settings


From what I have gather on the net with the file error that you posted and with what you have attempted. It looks like you are running a new version of IE and when you installed the win98 upgrade it replaced this file with an older one that is not compatible with a newer version of IE.

Just a guess.


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## korgul (Jun 5, 2002)

To check for file names you can search or just browse

To browse:
c:\dir /w/p 

This will give you a list of the folders and files on C: in a wide format, it will also pause for you to read them. Hit any key and you will be taken to the next page.

To search:
c:\dir windows* /s/p

This will search for any file or folder that begins with windows. It will also pause at each full screen to allow you to see the files and locations.


Ref
/w = wide format
/s = search
/p = pause
dir = lists files in a specified directory


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

How do I fix it? I screwed up. lol


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## korgul (Jun 5, 2002)

were you able to get the file downloaded?

Save the file to a location on your had drive. After download is finished browse to that folder and double click on the shlwapi.zip file. This will open winzip, you must have winzip, extract the file to the same folder that the zip file is in. When it is finished close winzip. You should now be at the folder with the shlwapi.zip and shlwapi.dll files. Drag and drop the dll file to a floppy disk.

Take that disk to the broken pc and boot into dos. insert the disk with the shlwapi.dll file on it.
Type in at the command prompt

rename c:\windows\system\shlwapi.dll shlwapi.old

say yes to any prompts now type in

copy a:\shlwapi.dll c:\windows\system

This will copy the file from the A:\ drive to the c:\windows\system folder

Remove the disk and reboot. Cross fingers and hope for the best.


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

yes I got the download. Thank you I hope this fixes it.


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

KORGUL, Love the fish picture thanks for your help & everyone else.


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## korgul (Jun 5, 2002)

Thank you

Did that fix it for ya?


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

Don't know, have to take the disk to a different location. I will know tomorrow if it works. Thanks so much for your time.


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## korgul (Jun 5, 2002)

Your welcome

Let us know if it works.


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

I have added this site to my Favorites...I will make sure to come back to tell you the results.


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## korgul (Jun 5, 2002)

Only to your favorites. You gotta set us as your home page.


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

Good Morning, I am back, still trying to get windows 98 up and running. I have been able to boot in dos and went to "edit sysedit" I changed Shell=Explorer.exe to Winfile.exe. Now I get an error message that says drive C: not enough memory. 

If I can't fix the problem and get windows back, can I do "copy" in dos mode and send a file to the floppy? If so will the copy be in dos?


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

Good Morning, I am back, still trying to get windows 98 up and running. I have been able to boot in dos and went to "edit sys edit" I changed Shell=Explorer.exe to Win file.exe. Now I get an error message that says drive C: not enough memory. 

If I can't fix the problem and get windows back, can I do "copy" in dos mode and send a file to the floppy? If so will the copy be in dos?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

To copy a file from dos to a floppy, go to the directory where the file resides.

Then type

copy nameoffile a:

and hit enter


*still not sure exactly what you are trying to do though*


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

I hope I can explain better. The windows98 icons are gone from the desktop. So far I can boot up from drive A: but can only use dos commands. I am afraid that I will loose the files in C: drive. I thought I might be able to copy the files onto a disk and use another computer to open it. Both computers have windows98. The most important one is not working right.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

What files do you plan on copying to a disk?

Can you just try a windows overinstall? Do you have icons on the desktop if you start in safe mode?


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

I can start in safe mode but no icons. just four corners that say safe mode


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

At this point I would suggest a windows overinstall. Did you ever figure out if you have a second windows directory as was mentioned previously?


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

yes I have windows and windows98


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

So you have 2 directories, one called windows and one called windows98. Which one is the second installation?


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

It is windows 98


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## AKA Arizona (Jul 22, 2003)

(Candy all most sounds like a sound card hehe) After reading the post and how screwed up winders (no typo) is I would save what I could and format the rest with a clean install of Winders........


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

I'm thinking perhaps of removing the new windows directory, and reinstalling to the old windows directory. Anyone have any better ideas (except format  )


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

I would like to take your suggestion and have a drink. lol but that won't fix the computer. I am going to go to the other computer in about an hour. I am praying that this time I have fixed it. I no longer get the explorer page fault message. Now it is kernel something. I am going to try and copy all of the important files to drive a: I hope I can open them and be able to read it. I am getting very frustrated. Thanks everyone for all your help.


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

If this last thing works, I would like to donate. I am new here so I am not sure how to do it. I read the affero but am still confused. Do you accept checks? Where do I sent it to? When I have more time I would like to sit in on the chats. I think I could learn a lot.


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## korgul (Jun 5, 2002)

Before you try this I want to get others input as I am not sure it will work the way that I am thinking.

While at a Dos Prompt type in

sys c:\windows 98

My thinking is that it seems that the Windows 98 directory is where the PC is trying to boot from. We know that the original windows installation works. So, by copying the working system files over to the new windows 98 directory it should work.

What are everyones thoughts on this.


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## korgul (Jun 5, 2002)

Scratch that it, I don't think it will work. If Windows 98 is the boot directory it will just copy to and from the same place. 

Do you have a boot.ini file by chance?

from a DOS prompt type

dir boot.ini /s


If it finds one type in 

rename boot.ini boot.old


Now type in 

Rename windows 98 winback

Here is what we have done. The first command will search the C:\ drive for a boot.ini file.

The second command will rename the boot.ini file to boot.old

The third will rename the windows 98 directory to winback

Reboot 

My thinking is this. If the computer has a boot.ini file it is trying to boot from the windows 98 directory. By renaming it, it will not use one and boot from the windows directory. By renaming the windows 98 directory we are just making sure that it is using the windows directory to boot.


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## NiteHawk (Mar 9, 2003)

Form the DOS prompt do this:
*
C: * if you are not already there 
*
dir win*
*

You are looking for two things
1. how many directories there are that are named windows or a variation of windows. A directory is denoted by to the right.

2. At the end, it will tell you how much free space you have.

What are the results?


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

Now I am getting the message "Shell 32. DLL File is linked to missing export SHLWAPI.DLL:SHRegGetUSValue A" I have no idea what that means.


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## NiteHawk (Mar 9, 2003)

Let's check both how many folders you have that are called windows, and how much free space you have left. 

Can you do what I asked in post #42?

Thanks


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

I have two folders called Windows. One is Windows, and the other is Windows 98. I wish I could give you more information but I am not using the computer with the problems. I have to go to another location. It is a friend of mine. I do remember a message saying not enough memory. I should be able to go to the computer tomorrow. Thank you so much for your reply.


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## NiteHawk (Mar 9, 2003)

OK, at the moment I'm more concerned about disk space. Don't confuse disk space with memory. It's a common misunderstanding.


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

Hello NiteHawk, The computer says she has 512 bytes. I hope that is the information you needed. There is always so much to learn.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Hopefully that is Megabytes


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

Yes it is.


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

Megabytes that is. Sorry


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## NiteHawk (Mar 9, 2003)

512M, altho it could be free space, sounds too much like the amount of memory.


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## daniel_b2380 (Jan 31, 2003)

..let me see if i have this straight,
..if all you want to do is recover info/records/documents off the hard drive and you have access to a second computer,
..1)set the jumpers as a 'slave' on the messed up drive,
..2)make sure the jumpers on the drive of the working pc are set as 'master',
..3)install the messed up drive in the working pc,
..4)copy off the 'stuff' you need, 
..5)remove the messed up drive, 
..6)reset the jumpers on the drives back to where they were,
..7)replace the messed up drive back in the original pc and reformat, etc.,
..this way, there's no messing with dos, [or whatever that foreign language is], other than in the formatting, etc.,

hope this helped,
have a good day,
daniel_b233804


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## NiteHawk (Mar 9, 2003)

foreign language ???


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

Thank You for the information Daniel. My problem is the second computer is a laptop,and the messed up one is a desktop.

I am determined to fix the problem. Plus It is great that I am able to learn from everyone. Monday I will be back in front of the headache computer for another try. Thanks Everyone for your help.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Any progress


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

Good Afternoon, I still have had no luck bringing back the Icons for windows. I did find information about the computer. There is Dir/Windows 0 files 0 bytes
says 1 dir(s) 8,013.06 MB free

I know the information is still in there...I can't format because I can't loose the files. I did try to ....dir boot.ini /s but the computer didn't find it. I also tried ...scanReg/restore...still no luck. I think I need to go to C:Windows\ system.ini ...then to edit system.ini Then I get lost. I think I need to change something but am having a mental block. I guess I will need to sit down and start reading the Dos for Dummies book.


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## daniel_b2380 (Jan 31, 2003)

..littleacre,
..don't you have a friend or acquainance that you could 'borrow some time' on their computer?, 
..the suggestios i made about the jumpering would not mess up their system any, [as long as you put it back],

..i don't know if you did any searching, but here are a few links:

<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=MS+DOS+commands>
Microsoft DOS
<http://www.computerhope.com/msdos.htm>

autoexec.bat and the config.sys.
<http://www.computerhope.com/ac.htm>

edit command
<http://www.computerhope.com/edithlp.htm>

sys command
<http://www.computerhope.com/syshlp.htm>

hope this helped,
have a good day,
daniel_b23804


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

A directory of windows with zero files, is not a good sign. That usually means that the whole directory got zapped or deleted somehow. I don't believe we are at a point where you can't format because you can't lose the files, I think you probably already have 

How large is the hard drive? About 8 gigs or so?


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## NiteHawk (Mar 9, 2003)

I would like you to do the following commands from DOS
*
C:
dir /on > root_lst.txt
cd \windows
dir /on > C:\win_list.txt
*
on your next two posts attach the root_lst.txt file which will be found in C:\
And on your sexond post attach the win_list.txt file
You can only attach one file per post.


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

Hello again, thought I wanted to let you know the computer is fixed. 

After spending two days and 10 hours on the telephone. I thought the best thing to do was call microsoft corporation. Wow was that a chore. I guess all the tech support people are in India. I think I talked to four different people, some were very hard to understand, but I finally was able to get the windows back on the computer. It cost $35.00 but that was all it cost no matter how many times I called (Untill the same problem was fixed)

The interesting thing was when the tech guy asked me if I was running spybot on my computer. I was..... humm how did he know I had that on my computer? 

Thank You so much for trying to help me. I had to go into dos and retype in some of the commands. :up:


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Was format c: one of them


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## littleacre3 (Oct 25, 2003)

no we did not format the c drive.

I think one of them was C:\windows\system> ren and then the file name.
had to rename files to old extension.
had to do that about three times


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