I just had Win ME crash on me. I'm getting an error message "Can not load explorer.exe. You must reinstall Windows" I have a boot floppy, so I tried using the command prompt to to a scanreg /fix and a scanreg /restore. Niether allowed me to get back in. I don't have my Win ME cd anymore. Is there anything I can do to recover my data? I only have the Win ME boot floppy and a Windows 98 CD ROM.

Well, you could install 98, or contact your computer manufacturer and explain what happened. I'm sure they'd be happy to send you a replacement Restore CD.

Primitive You could try Response No. 3 at http://www.computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/24706.html . Regards ... RIS

Thanks for the help. I did try the c:\windows\system.ini thing last night, but I didn't see a line that said shell= I scrolled down and I saw drivers and boot info but no shell= If I wanted to install 98 or XP on my machine will I lose any of my data? I used to do some tech support for Dell several years ago, and I do remember that going backward to 98 could cause problems but upgrading from 98 to ME wouldn't cause you to lose data... But that was before XP came out. I just want to make sure that XP doesn't wipe out exsisting info on a hard drive when you upgrade. At this point I don't even care about which OS I have I just need to get some important data off of the hard drive.

Primitive are you sure about your system.ini ? Double check. Goto Start >> Run >> type, system.ini >> ok First 5 lines on this box here say: [boot] oemfonts.fon=vga850.fon shell=Explorer.exe system.drv=system.drv drivers=mmsystem.dll power.drv Nevermind. If it can't load explorer.exe then maybe it's burnt out. Try replacing it from DOS. Get your ME startup disk and boot with it and choose "with CD support". When it all loads up and you get an A:\> prompt type: ext and Enter. Let it do it's routine and when it says "please enter the path to the windows cab files" type: C:\windows\options\install Failing that: C:\windows\options\cabs and failing that: Win_16.cab Now it asks "please enter the name of the file(s) you want to extract" put: explorer.exe Now it says "Please enter the path to extract to ("Enter" for current directory) put: C:\windows Now you get confirmation of task. Source Path: C:\windows\options\install Files to extract: explorer.exe Destination Path: C:\windows Is this Ok (y/n) Click yes and let it extract the file. When it arrives back at the A:\> prompt, having completed, take the disk out and reboot. With luck, you might (just might), be able to boot to windows and retrieve your stuff. If that's the case then after you've retrieved all your work you could try an over the top install of ME by finding and running SETUP.exe in C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\INSTALL PS. If it asks you to overwrite explorer.exe at some point, say yes.

Primitive Can't answer your data loss question. In my system.ini, when I expand the |boot| section, I can find shell=Explorer.exe as the second entry. Possibly this is the one you were looking for. If you don't have it poossibly you could enter it. I've never done this since I haven't had to do so. I can understand how frustrated you are. I get the same way. Regards ... RIS

Viking That was a great description. I've copied it should I ever need it. Regards ... RIS