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fishman625
2 Posts
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August 30th, 2004 14:00
Disappearing AUTOEXEC.NT
I am running Windows XP Home on a DELL 733 XPS with 384 meg on RAM. Last night my son tried start an old DOS card game. It failed with a message box saying something like it could not find /window/system32/autoexec.nt. I also checked a on Windows 16 bit application that I use called Stanford Graphics. It would not start either. I searched for the autoexec.nt file and found a copy in the repair directory. I copied into the System32 directory and all the applications now work OK. This morning when the computer was booted the autoexec.nt file was gone again.
I did a search of Google and found many users with the same problem. The only update done was a Norton LiveUpdate. The applications worked the day before and users reported the problem in the beginning of August. I do not think it is Norton because users have reported it for more than a month and I update weekly.
Does anyone know why this is happening? I am going to try by setting autoexec.nt to read-only. I am wondering why this is happening?
Thanks for the help.
I have just done exactly what you suggested, but still cannot run any old programs, receiving the message: C:|windows\system32\autoexec.nt not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications
I really need to install some software for my children, and am pretty stuck here. Any good suggestions welcome!
I did recently install Microsft servicepack 2, so it may have something to with that; otherwise I'm not sure what it could be?
fishman625
2 Posts
327
0
Posted November 3rd, 2004 12:00
What I did to resolve problem was to restore the AUTOEXEC.NT file from a backup and set the properties to read only. My quess is that something we all installed was deleting it. By setting it to read only it can not be deleted.
If you do not have a backup, you can use the XP CD. It is not service pack 2 as I had the problem before service pack 2 was available.
Another way to get the file is to copy it from another PC.
Hope this helps.
bibek
55 Posts
327
0
Posted August 30th, 2004 16:00
I experienced the same problem and fixed it using the Support Page HERE.
(However that page leaves out some vital information)
Follow these steps:
Insert the Windows XP CD (from Dell) into the CD drive or DVD drive.
Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.
At the command prompt, type the following commands, pressing ENTER after each command:
expand CD-ROM Drive Letter:\i386\config.nt_ c:\windows\system32\config.nt
expand CD-ROM Drive Letter:\i386\autoexec.nt_ c:\windows\system32\autoexec.nt
expand CD-ROM Drive Letter:\i386\command.co_ c:\windows\system32\command.com
exit
(Replace CD-ROM Drive Letter with the letter of the drive where the CD is located)
e.g. If the CD is in D:\
The first command prompt will be:
expand D:\i386\config.nt_ c:\windows\system32\config.nt
When you have performed these commands, I recommend restarting your computer and then try starting your programs.
This is due to a corrupted autoexec.nt, config.nt or command.com file usually. Exact reasons would depend on your system but this should not happen again.
Hope this helps.
Message Edited by bibek on 08-30-2004 06:08 PM