# Solved: Missing: C:\Windows\Temp



## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

Hello,

How may I restore the folder C:\Windows\Temp? System Restore is not available.

I would also **** to ask whether this command line in MSDOS and found on the Delindex freeware would effectively remove this folder:

deltree /y c:\temp\

What does the */y* signify?

From many startups it seems clear that Windows does not replace this file.

Thanks.


----------



## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

All you need do is open the Windows folder and create a new one named "Temp". But Windows will replace the folder any time it is missing, unless you have other problems.

It sounds like the folder's missing is not your real problem. What lead you to this conclusion and what errors are you receiving?


----------



## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

Hello Elvandil,

Thanks for responding.

I first thought something was wrong this morning when I used Adobe 6. It placed .tmp files on my desktop and an empty Adobe folder. I was unable to delete them. Alt|Ctrl|Delete revealed it still to be running after closure.

Then I made a recording using SBLV and found more .tmp in the Recordings folder.

In the last few days I have made extensive use of the Delindex freeware and accompanied this by the use of these MSDOS commands, applied manually:
C: 
cd\windows 
smartdrv 
deltree tempor~1 
deltree history 
deltree temp 
deltree cookies 
deltree recent 
scandisk

This was in an attempt to resolve a difference detected in the use of these two methods of cleanup between this Me system and a fellow forum member's Me system.

I have used both methods myself for some months now.

I also have installed the software known as PurgeIE, and, for the first time since obtaining it some months ago, the Preview revealed the absence of the folder in question and the presence of multiple clipboard deletions.

The 'errors' are those stated. Plus the fact that I was not able to do a System Restore.

I know my system has changed from yesterday. Is it possible that ME's capacity to replace the temp folder has been compromised?

I can think of nothing else to tell you, at this time.


----------



## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Since I don't have a copy of ME available at the moment, I can't help you with the setails, but it looks like maybe your environmemt variables have been altered, or at least the specification of the temp location in your startup files. It is possible that these important files were deleted or altered.

Try running "sysedit" and looking through your configuration in System Properties to see where and how the temp directory is specified.


----------



## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

There should be a couple lines in your autoexec.bat file that look like this:

SET TEMP=C:\Windows\TEMP 
SET TMP=C:\TEMP 

You can post your entire autoexec.bat contents if you need help interpreting it.


----------



## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

Elvandil said:


> There should be a couple lines in your autoexec.bat file that look like this:
> 
> SET TEMP=C:\Windows\TEMP
> SET TMP=C:\TEMP
> ...


SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H5 P330 T6
SET CTSYN=C:\WINDOWS
C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\SBLIVE\DOSDRV\SBEINIT.COM
SET windir=C:\WINDOWS
SET winbootdir=C:\WINDOWS
SET COMSPEC=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM
SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND
SET PROMPT=$p$g
SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP

How does that look?

And when I ran msconfig this appeared (see gif)


----------



## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

And there is nothing in my config.sys file.

How do I run sysedit? My mind is black as far as system properties is concerned!


----------



## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

OK. Autoexec.bat looks fine, but that message you got indictes a virus, malware, or registry damage to me.

I'd start with a complete scandisk, AV scan with updated profiles, and then scan with Ad-Aware and Spybot. If that doesn't solve the problem after a reboot, you could try reverting to an older saved copy of the registry since it may be corrupt.

Boot from a startup floppy and type: scanreg /restore
Then, choose a copy of the registry that you used before the problem began.
--------------------------
Run: regedit

See what is specified under this key for TMP and TEMP:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment

If you want, you could export the entire Environment key, open the exporetd file with Notepad, and paste its contents here.


----------



## Deke40 (Jun 27, 2002)

aarhus2004 said:


> What does the */y* signify?


The /y just lets it go ahead an auto delete without giving you the "Do you want to do this (Y) (N) notification.


----------



## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Environment]
"EnvAction"=dword:00000000
"BLASTER"="A220 I7 D1 H5 P330 T6"
"CTSYN"="C:\\WINDOWS"
"windir"="C:\\WINDOWS"
"winbootdir"="C:\\WINDOWS"
"COMSPEC"="C:\\WINDOWS\\COMMAND.COM"
"PATH"="C:\\WINDOWS;C:\\WINDOWS\\COMMAND"
"PROMPT"="$p$g"
"TEMP"="C:\\WINDOWS\\TEMP"
"TMP"="C:\\WINDOWS\\TEMP"
"RegEnvSize"=dword:000000bd
"RegEnvCRC"=dword:8a23280d
"ConfigEnvMod"=dword:317d43f3
"ConfigEnvSize"=dword:00000000
"ConfigEnvCRC"=dword:00000000
"AutoexecEnvMod"=dword:317d43f3
"AutoexecEnvSize"=dword:000000fc
"AutoexecEnvCRC"=dword:f6162499


----------



## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

"I'd start with a complete scandisk, AV scan with updated profiles, and then scan with Ad-Aware and Spybot. If that doesn't solve the problem after a reboot, you could try reverting to an older saved copy of the registry since it may be corrupt."

I have done all those, Evandil.

And thanks, Deke.


----------



## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Is that a cut and paste? Those "\\" should all be single "\". That looks very strange. To me, anyway. Possibly that is correct in ME, but I don't see how it could be!

Export the key for safe-keeping and try editing it.

Are you running any security-type programs that may be blocking these from being changed and interfering with the normal operation of your machine? Any "registry monitors" or other, similar things?


----------



## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

Here are the System Info, Software Enviroment, Enviromental Variables.


----------



## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

I don't see "TEMP" there. Can you add "TEMP C:\Windows\Temp" ?


----------



## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

It is a Notepad C & P.


----------



## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

Elvandil said:


> Is that a cut and paste? Those "\\" should all be single "\". That looks very strange. To me, anyway. Possibly that is correct in ME, but I don't see how it could be!
> 
> Export the key for safe-keeping and try editing it.
> 
> Are you running any security-type programs that may be blocking these from being changed and interfering with the normal operation of your machine? Any "registry monitors" or other, similar things?


I use only Registry cleaners. jv16pt and RegSeeker. have done so for many months. One monitor only i.e. Control Panel Monitor.


----------



## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

I edited the registry key to remove the \\s and merged it. I rebooted. I do not have a c:\windows\temp folder.


----------



## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

I have restored the registry. The \\s occur in the export process while the key retains the \.


----------



## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

Hello,

I restarted after doing the scanreg /restore and ME hung up during that process. I shut it down and then rebooted with an EBD. From DOS I did a scandisk and the reboot took me into Safe Mode.

I did a System Restore to a point not previously used. It was successful.

I used Windows Explorer to check for a temp file. It was there. In msconfig environmental variables were saved to the registry.

Without knowing what the hell has been going-on I have my system back.

Thanks to Elvandil and Deke for the support.


----------



## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Have you created the folder? It may not be created by Windows until needed.

If you make one, does it stay put?


----------



## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

We bumped heads there, Elvandil.

Thanks for the input.


----------



## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Just out of curiosity, does that reg key still have the double // ?


----------



## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

Yes and no, Evandil, see post 18.

And for your delight!! I repeated myself after post 19 by doing the manual deltree cleanup and lost the temp file. After a reboot it still wasn't there so I put it in place. If WinMe recreates that temp folder it is not doing for me. Maybe my system is, as I am, getting, rather too old for this business. However I am content that I have two choices or maybe three. Don't use that particular deltree command. Or use it and be prepared to replace the temp folder and find out, in a perfect WinMe set-up, whether the folder would be recreated. And that might involve doing a format and install.

I shall leave that one for another rainy day.


----------



## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

Not being satisfied I looked further.

I am not in the habit of looking at my HD LED when I wait for bootup to complete, rather I await the disappearance of the hour glass by the arrow on my screen.

I have, however, detected a second or so further activity of the hard-drive by noticing a flickering LED subsequent to the disappearance of the hour glass.

If I do not wait for this completion, the temp folder will not be re-created by Windows (after it has been deleted by the DOS command in my cleanme.bat i.e. *deltree temp*).

Clearly it was never deleted by Delindex (*deltree y/ c:\temp\*) but was always deleted by the cleanme.bat (*deltree temp*) and, on those occasions where the file did not have the time to be re-created (in view of the above), I was left without a temp file.

I am pleased to have resolved this apparent mystery, and to share it with you.

Best wishes,


----------



## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Thank you for the information. I am one who does, in fact, watch the HD light. That is why I am often perplexed by people who claim to have amazingly fast boot times. I count the time from when the machine is turned on to when all activity of the HD ceases, indicating to me that all programs are initialized, all services started, and all drivers loaded. 

This can take 4-5 minutes on my machine, but then I have some self-created services with built-in delays to be sure that they interact with the desktop, and around 20 added startup programs.

But I don't consider the machine "booted" until it has finished loading from the HD completely.

PS. I used to have ME on another partition, but now run it as a virtual machine within XP, and I have it on my laptop. I love it, too, and think it is very stable, reliable, and a big improvement over 98 .


----------



## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

Hello *Elvandil*,

Your post made good reading. Thank you.

I have *BLA* (BootLogAnalyzer)

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,22895,y,1,00.asp

and I have always been puzzled about the duration of the start-to-finish times on it. Around one minute. But I know there is actually a longer period than that involved.

I am, from now on, going to be watching the HD LED as you do.

You will know just how much of a newbie I remain if I admit to having not a clue about WinMe as "a virtual machine within XP". I don't mind. After four years, and approaching my 70th., I like to think I am still learning.

Best wishes, *Elvandil*.

PS. I don't wish to mislead other newbies who may read this thread. So, although I would have put serious money on the 'solution', I would have lost it. I 'tested' the theory before posting and was convinced I had the answer. I continued testing it after posting. With the *deltree temp* command. The re-creation ceased after probably four of five more successes! I was shocked. But *GoJoAGoGo* had originally suggested to me that I was, perhaps, doing it too much. I will settle for that, *Joe*


----------

