boot.ini rebuilt - kinda

At the begining my friends PC would not boot at all (I reckon it's faulty memory, as I have removed one of the cards and it now seems OK) I was getting loads of different error messages all suggesting that there were files needed to boot up that windows could no longer find. Eventually after following the Microsoft article 314477 to rebuild the boot.ini file there are now two operating systems showing at start up. If I select the newly created one windows boots up fine, but how do I restore all the previous users their settings, documents and hardware? Do I have to save all their documents and re-install windows?

 

Any one got an idea what my next step should be? Should I back up all the data and re-install Windows?

 

Hello Edinburgh

Not sure which method you followed on the Kb article, but I'm assuming that the situation noted in the more information section occurred. That is a 'new' windows installation appeared.
If that is so then your boot.ini is not yet correct. Make a copy named boot.txt and post it here so we can read it and advise.

The easiest way to read/ edit it is with notepad.

You may well find that reinstallation is actually quicker than fiddling around to fix things. If you have the drivers and can save the data.

Studio T

 

Thanks for your response. After a bit more poking around it looks like the damaged memory has given problems right the way through Windows and some of the documents and settings. So I have now saved what I could and reformatted the drive.

 

Glad you 've got it sorted.

StudioT