Windows ME error

Question

Hi

I have some questions and I hope someone can help. My daughter has an older Dell Dimension 4100 Pentium III with Windows ME. On start up we get "error loading explorer.exe, need to reinstall windows". We have the reinstall disk but a start up disk was never created. We tried to create one on a different pc but some of the files were missing or corrupt. I see on the forum that someone else used bootdisk.com.

Is this site safe to use? Can I download directly to a disk or cd without downloading to my hard drive first? Could I use the Windows XP disk that came with my newer Dell to start hers? Any other options?

I know just enough to get into a big mess. Thanks for any help.

Denny Denham · Answer

soucy48,

The bootdisk.com site is safe to use. You must download the files to your hard disk, then transfer them to a floppy diskette. Your Windows XP CD will be unusable because it cannot boot to a DOS prompt, although you could use it to go through the first portions of an XP install (until you have deleted the C:\ partition, recreated it, then formatted it with the FAT32 file system), stop the installation, then install ME. (A downloaded startup floppy disk is probably a more direct way of getting her hard drive formatted.)

volcano11 · Answer

bootdisk.com is safe to use.  You can download the bootdisk software to any computer and run it to create a bootable floppy disk.  You can then use that floppy disk on another computer. Steve

soucy48 · Answer

Thank you for your help.  I successfully downloaded the disc and have partially installed.  I am getting a prompt:   Overwrite C:/Windows\Explorer.exe? y or n. What do I put? Thanks

Denny Denham · Answer

soucy48,

Did you format C:\ before using the Windows ME CD? It sounds as though it is trying to do a "dirty" install, which normally results in an unstable system. The messages you should see during an install are listed here.

Windows General

Windows ME error

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