[PCuser499]

I have a Toshiba notebook which came pre-installed with Windows XP MCE (Media Center Edition). Some of the files were apparently corrupted causing me to hang when I use Windows update. So I contacted "Windows Support Online" and they told me to runSfc /purgecache sfc /scannowwhich I did. Scannow wants to recover some files from "Windows XP Professional CD2". But Toshiba did not supply Windows XP CDs. Instead I have a folder named C:WINDOWSI386 which I believe is where Toshiba placed the original Windows files.How do I tell scannow to find the files there? The scannow popup asking for files does not give me the option to direct it to look anywhere other than on a CD? I emailed Windows support online back but they seem to too busy to reply to me and I am stuck.Maybe better still, can I create windows CDs from C:WINDOWSI386 and avoid the problem?Thank you.Jeff

[spike]

Unfortunatly, they assumed you had an XP disc, or the recovery CD's, beacuse they had you run the purgecache command, you will need the disc or disc's to relace those files, as you have purged them, so you can't ( as far as I know ) run the sfc /scannow from the hard drive, ............sorry for that , and shame on microshaft for that bad information. :x Does anyone you know , have an XP Pro , or, a MCE, disc?, if so , you can use their disc.

[PCuser499]

That is terrible news. I am now stuck!!

[spike]

[quote name='spike']Unfortunatly, they assumed you had an XP disc, or the recovery CD's, beacuse they had you run the purgecache command, you will need the disc or disc's to relace those files, as you have purged them, so you can't ( as far as I know ) run the sfc /scannow from the hard drive, ............sorry for that , and shame on microshaft for that bad information. :x> > > > > > {size:18px}Does anyone you know , have an XP Pro , or, a MCE, disc?, if so , you can use their disc[/size].

[spike]

It is possible to run the sfc /scannow, from the hard drive, but you FIRST need to copy a file from the XP CD, onto the Hrad drive, then do a little regedit......then you can run it from the hard drive, since you dont have the disc(s), necessary, and you purged the cache, from the original file on the hard drive, ............I am lost as to what to do next, except, get your mitts on a XP or MCE disc.

[PCuser499]

Maybe there is some hope after all. I have some tape backups of the C: drive and they include the entire original C:WINDOWSI386.Can I work with that? Should I restore that C:WINDOWSI386 folder to the C: drive? Can I create Windows CDs since Toshiba did not provide them? Help!Not that it matters at this point, but if scannow works finally, will I have to re-download all the Windows updates again?" and shame on microshaft for that bad information." Not only that, but now they are not replying to my emails. First they shafted me then they dropped me.Thanks.

[spike]

[quote:eb94c235f7]Maybe there is some hope after all. I have some tape backups of the C: drive and they include the entire original C:WINDOWSI386. Can I work with that? Should I restore that C:WINDOWSI386 folder to the C: drive? Can I create Windows CDs since Toshiba did not provide them?[/quote:eb94c235f7]I am unsure....but my best guess, is yes, but you may be no better off than before this started[quote:eb94c235f7]Not that it matters at this point, but if scannow works finally, will I have to re-download all the Windows updates again? [/quote:eb94c235f7]NO[quote:eb94c235f7]" and shame on microshaft for that bad information." Not only that, but now they are not replying to my emails. First they shafted me then they dropped me.[/quote:eb94c235f7]:rolleyes: sad but true

[PCuser499]

More information:I do have restore disks from Toshiba. Thay had not worked previously when scannow asked for the Windows CDs and I therefore assumed they were not for the system files. But they are. It's just that they are DVDs and scannow was looking for CDs. Picky! These DVDs do contain I386, etc.Does that help? Can I create Windows CDs from these DVDs?

[spike]

[quote name='PCuser499']More information:> > I do have restore disks from Toshiba. Thay had not worked previously when scannow asked for the Windows CDs and I therefore assumed they were not for the system files. But they are. It's just that they are DVDs and scannow was looking for CDs. Picky! These DVDs do contain I386, etc.> > > > Does that help? Can I create Windows CDs from these DVDs?Why change them,....insert the dvd's, and when it ask's for the "cd" ,....point it to the dvd drive instead.

[PCuser499]

[quote name='spike']It is possible to run the sfc /scannow, from the hard drive, but you FIRST need to copy a file from the XP CD, onto the Hrad drive, then do a little regedit......then you can run it from the hard drive, since you dont have the disc(s), necessary, and you purged the cache, from the original file on the hard drive, ............I am lost as to what to do next, except, get your mitts on a XP or MCE disc.OK, I found my own Toshiba recovery disks. They are not CDs but 2 DVDs which is I guess why scannow would not recognize them or find the right files on them. So I have the recovery disks. What exactly do i need to do next to recover from all this? What file to copy and what to change in regedit?Thanks for helping. I do not need to tell you how frustrating this is.....

[PCuser499]

[quote name='spike']> {quote:title=PCuser499 wrote:}{quote}More information:> > > > I do have restore disks from Toshiba. Thay had not worked previously when scannow asked for the Windows CDs and I therefore assumed they were not for the system files. But they are. It's just that they are DVDs and scannow was looking for CDs. Picky! These DVDs do contain I386, etc.> > > > > > > > Does that help? Can I create Windows CDs from these DVDs?> > > > Why change them,....insert the dvd's, and when it ask's for the "cd" ,....point it to the dvd drive instead.Because that is where my problems started. This is a laptop with a combined CD/DVD drive. When scannow asked for "specifically" XP Professional CD2, I inserted first one and then the other DVD and it kept telling me it was wrong CD. I just recently realized that it might be because they were not CDs but DVDs and did not have the label it was looking for. Maybe I was wrong, but that is how all this started.

[spike]

Step 1 You will need to get your XP or Recovery CD and locate the folder called I386 This is a major folder and should be one of the first you see, now copy this onto your hard drive into the system root. For most of you that is going to be C: so you should end up with a folder that looks like: C:I386 Step 2 Now you will need to tell your computer you now have the files on your PC. We do this in the registry (type regedit in the Run box on the start menu) by navigating to: HKEY LOCALMACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoft Windows CurrentVersion Setup You will see various entries here on the right hand side. The one we want is called: SourcePath It probably has an entry pointing to your CD-ROM drive, and that is why it is asking for the XP CD. All we need to do is change it to: c: Simply double click the SourcePatch setting and a new box will pop up allowing you to make the change. Now restart your computer and try;.... sfc / scannow again!

[smax013]

[quote name='spike']Step 1 > > > > You will need to get your XP or Recovery CD and locate the folder called > > > > I386 > > > > This is a major folder and should be one of the first you see, now copy this onto your > > hard drive into the system root. For most of you that is going to be C: so you > > should end up with a folder that looks like: C:I386 > > > > Step 2 > > > > Now you will need to tell your computer you now have the files on your PC. We do > > this is the registry (type regedit in the Run box on the start menu) by navigating to: > > > > HKEY LOCALMACHINESOfTWAREMicrosoft Windows > > CurrentVersion Setup > > > > You will see various entries here on the right hand side. The one we want is called: > > > > SourcePath > > > > It probably has an entry pointing to your CD-ROM drive, and that is why it is asking for the XP CD. All we need to do is change it to: > > > > c: > > > > Simply double click the SourcePatch setting and a new box will pop up allowing you > > to make the change. > > > > Now restart your computer and try scannow sfc again!It might also be worth suggesting that you might want to backup your registry or at least that registry key before messing with it. While it appears to be a rather inoccuous edit of the registry, bad things can happen with messing with the registry using regedit and making a back up is typically a prudent thing. Just my 2 cents...spend them as you will. :)

[PCuser499]

Thanks for the help everyone (not that I am out of the woods yet, but there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel). You guys have been wonderful. Much better than Microsoft but that is not much of a compliment. One more question for Spike: you mention copying the I386 folder from the DVD to C:I386. I already have a folder on my C: drive that is located at C:WINDOWSI386 and it seems identical to the one on the DVD. Does it make sense to have 2 I386 files on my HD? Would it not be simpler to change the sourcepath to C:WINDOWSI386 ?And for registry backups: I'm not sure how to back it up. Long ago I installed something called ERUNT . Is that what I should use?

[smax013]

[quote name='PCuser499']> > > > And for registry backups: I'm not sure how to back it up. Long ago I installed something called ERUNT . Is that what I should use?If you want to backup a particular registry key, then you can use the Export command in regedit.exe. Just navigate to the registry branch you want to backup and select Export from the File menu.If you want to backup the whole registry, you can use Windoze built-in backup program, conviently called Backup. It should be in the Start menu, under Program, under Accessories, under System Tools...at least that is where it is on my XP system. You can also access it by doing the Run command from the Start menu and typing in "ntbackup". From there, you just need to backup the "System Stat" or more specifically the Registry which is located in the System State "branch" when you get the list of stuff to backup.This Microsoft document might help explain things better than I did.

[PCuser499]

It did not work Spike.I copied the I386 folder to my C: drive so that I now have a folder called C:I386. I then modified the registry as directed so that the sourcepath says C: instead of what it said which was C:Windows. scannow still asks for the CD2 !!

[rgreen4]

PCuser499- if your machine is less than 3 years old, and with XP MCE 2005 it would be, there should be a recovery partion on the HD that may be hidden. The method of entering this recovery partion should be covered in the documentation you received with the machine. Failing that, the recovery DVD's can be used to completly restore your PC to the "factory as shipped" condition including all drivers and "free" software sometimes referred to as "bloatware".You may be able to repair your windows installation from either the recovery partition or the recovery DVD's. Boot your system from the recovery DVD 1 and see what options are give. I you have downloaded programs or data at risk, do not do a complete restore without thinking about it. I tried browsing the Toshiba website, but being unfamilitar with it, I could not find much information, plus you never posted your model line and number so I wasn't sure which line to choose.The i386 forlder on my XP Home laptop is for drivers, and I don't believe that will help you.

[smax013]

[quote name='rgreen4']PCuser499- if your machine is less than 3 years old, and with XP MCE 2005 it would be, there should be a recovery partion on the HD that may be hidden. The method of entering this recovery partion should be covered in the documentation you received with the machine. > > > > Failing that, the recovery DVD's can be used to completly restore your PC to the "factory as shipped" condition including all drivers and "free" software sometimes referred to as "bloatware".> > > > You may be able to repair your windows installation from either the recovery partition or the recovery DVD's. Boot your system from the recovery DVD 1 and see what options are give. I you have downloaded programs or data at risk, do not do a complete restore without thinking about it. > > > > I tried browsing the Toshiba website, but being unfamilitar with it, I could not find much information, plus you never posted your model line and number so I wasn't sure which line to choose.> > > > The i386 forlder on my XP Home laptop is for drivers, and I don't believe that will help you.I found this document on hard drive restore utility on the Toshiba site. Since you have not provided the Toshiba laptop model number as rgreen mentioned, I don't know it applies to your latop or not. But, it might help.

[rgreen4]

Thanks Smax013 - that is the procedure I was looking for and couldn't find.PCuser499 - that is the procedure to use. However, be sure to copy off any data that is not backed up. I beleve you can still boot the machine. If so it would be good to either copy to a CD/DVD or flash drive.It doesn't much matter if you use the recovery partition or recovery DVD's. Manufacturers consider the recovery partition as Plan A as it should always be available, and the Recovery DVD's as Plan B to be use in case you can't access the HD for some reason.

[smax013]

[quote name='rgreen4']Thanks Smax013 - that is the procedure I was looking for and couldn't find.> > > > PCuser499 - that is the procedure to use. However, be sure to copy off any data that is not backed up. I beleve you can still boot the machine. If so it would be good to either copy to a CD/DVD or flash drive.> > > > It doesn't much matter if you use the recovery partition or recovery DVD's. Manufacturers consider the recovery partition as Plan A as it should always be available, and the Recovery DVD's as Plan B to be use in case you can't access the HD for some reason.I asked Iris and she told me where to find it. :wink: