Win 95 won't start

Question

I loaned my Dell computer to a friend for an extended time period, and recently got it back. Now Windows 95 won't start. I keep getting error messages about system.ini being damaged and missing vxd files. On top of that, I can't even get the Win 95 cd-rom to auto start, so I can reinstall Windows (part of my problem may be I can't remember what the cd-rom drive letter is). I did copy my C drive to D a long time ago, and tried starting Windows from there to no avail either. Even a Safe mode start didn't work (got same error message). I was able to boot to the command prompt and use Dos commands. Any suggestions?

Denny Denham · Answer

tfox37380, If you have a Dell Windows 95 Recovery CD see the instructions here. If you have a retail copy of Windows 95 (not a Dell branded CD) see the instructions here.

--CMOS-- · Answer

if you made any bakups of your system files then just copy that file 'system.ini' over. If you did not then you can go in (from command prompt) and edit that file. The vxd files are files that are either refered from the system.ini or from the registry. Usually you can just keep pressing a key like enter until they all go away. Uninstall and reinstall your drivers for network componets and if they still come up on startup then do the same with everything else.

--CMOS-- · Answer

you can get system files from almost anywhere on the web. or you can copy them over using the /s thru your startup (boot) disk

tfox37380 · Answer

I've tried using the start-up disk that I created a long time ago: the a: drive spins for about 30 secs but nothing happens and it stops. I've also tried the W95 cd, but again nothing happens: the drive indicator lights for just an instant, and again nothing happens. I think the problem may be that my cd rom isn't reading the cd. I can't even 'see' it using DOS commands; I thought the cd-rom was my d: drive but there is something there that appears to be a copy of my c: drive. Can anyone help?

--CMOS-- · Answer

Could be helpful. . . but not really . . . install a Linux Package -- lol

Windows General

Win 95 won't start

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