I am missing the wininit.ini file. I get automatic updates from Windows and they do not take. I get "Windows could not update the file %1 from %2". As I understand it, this is because I do not have the wininit.ini file. Where can I get one?

You can try re-installing Window Me ontop of itself to replace this missing file ? Do a nondistuctive windows m.e reinstall with out loseing data goto safe mode and than c:windows\options\cabs\setup.exe double click setup and windows will start reinstalling on top of its self Good Luck Nick

Nick, Thanks for the suggestion. My version of ME on the installation CD is 3 years old. I'm afraid I would be clobbering things that I wouldn't know how to put back. I'll create a restore point first and then try it. Thanks again, Frank Greco

hello to install windows m.e on top of its self with out loseing data or programs goto c:windows/options/cabs/setup.exe than click ctrl,alt,delete. shut off every thing but system tray and explorer.you should allso have your m.e serial handy incase your asked for it. than dubble click setup.exe and the process will begin. ••• Resistance is invigorating! •••

You don't have a wininit.ini unless it is being used for starting a process or performing some other task during the boot process. Don't worry about it. Do you have any files named wininit; such as wininit.bak or wininit.sav? These files are renamed to .ini and used by certain programs or processes if need be.

This is a solution I found here: http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winme/r1069536295 Click on Run, Search, For files or folders. Enter: Wininit .exe You will see several files. Delete the Wininit .exe and the Wininit .ini files. (you don't need to rename these files as doing so only leaves unnecessary file remnants on the C drive and these files are already corrupted, they are not necessary to be able to open Windows and they will be replaced in the extraction process)) 2. If you do restart (and it's not necessary) you may see "Windows cannot find Wininit .exe" and we know why don't we? Just hit enter and windows will open. Right click on "My computer" on the desktop and click "Properties", click on the "Performance" tab, under "Advanced settings" click on File system then click on the "Troubleshooting" tab. Put a check mark on "Disable System Restore" close out and restart. By doing this, you are purging all of the System Restore files which we will reload later. 3. You may need to hit enter again if Windows stops at the "cannot find the Wininit .exe file" notice; it will then open. Please note that following restart your hard drive will be flashing for quite a while, depending on the speed of your computer, as it dumps (purges) out all that old system restore data. Wait until your hard drive is quiet for at least one minute before you do anything. Then go to Start, Run, and type in: "Msconfig" without the quote marks of course (if you don't already have it in your run menu to begin with) 4. In the System Configuration Utility, click on the Extract File box on the General tab. In the "Extract one file from installation disk" dialog box, type "Wininit.exe" (without the quote marks) then click start. (Put your Windows Millennium Edition CD in the drive you wish to use.) 5. In the "Restore from" box type: ":\win9x" for example, D:\win9x if D is your CD Rom. 6. In the "Save file in" box type "C:\Windows\" (without the quote mark, assuming that C is the drive where you have Windows installed. If Windows is not installed on the C drive in your computer, indicate the correct drive) 7. Click on OK and the extraction process will begin. It's fast and you should see a box appear that tells you the extraction was successful. Close out, remove your Windows Installation CD from the drive and restart. 8. You will be thrilled to note that Windows will now find Wininit.exe so you should be able to reboot without that irritating notification and pause. Calm down we're almost done. We are going to reload System Restore so right click on "My Computer" and go back to "Properties", click on the "File System" box, then the "Troubleshooting" tab. Make sure the "Disable System Restore" box is unchecked, close out and restart. 9. Just to make double sure that System restore is not going to have any problems go to: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=290700 and download the 290700usam.exe file and install it. This is a hotfix for System Restore which corrects several previous System Restore issues. After installing, restart. 10. Click on Start, go to Programs, Accessories, System Tools and click on "System Restore". Make sure the dot is in the "Restore my computer to an earlier time" and click next. You should see a new "restore point" that was created by the 290700 download. Click cancel. You have now repaired the System Restore and installed a non-corrupted Wininit.exe file and as a result, should no longer get those irritating "Windows could not upgrade the file %1 from %2" messages every time you download a Windows Update. Microsoft saya that this problem may be generated by Norton auto "live updates" I suspect a few updates of their own can also cause this problem but don't hold your breath for them to admit it. I have elected to run virus updates manually rather than automatically so that you are not running or installing what may be a conflicting program at the same time which may blow up that wininit.exe file. The same is true of Windows auto update. Make sure nothing else is running and shut down everything including Norton Anti-virus before installing downloads and you should avoid this problem in the future.

Leroi, Thanks for that tip. I followed it and everything worked out fine. I downloaded the windows updates and they all took. Thanks again, Frank Greco