A friend of mine is unable to boot to her desktop. She gets the message - "windows can not start because its the file \windows\system32\l_intl.nls is missing," and to use the Setup CD-Rom to try to repair it. The only problem is that she doesn't have any of her CD's that came with the computer, and doesn't know what happened to them. Anyone know any way around this? For instance, would I be able to use my Dell CD with her Sony computer? I'm thinking no, but thought I'd ask.

Depending on how savvy you are with computing, you *may* be able to run a repair install using the Dell disc. Usually OEMs like Getaway & Dull will have a 'full' OS disc that is labeled as recovery disc 1,2,3 or 4 with some model of their systems and other with a 'modified' recovery disc that isn't a true OS cd. If you look into your Dell supplied 'XP Home' discs, there should be an i386 folder on one of them, if you can navigate to that directory by booting from the disc or a DOS floppy, you can start /I386/WINNT.EXE - you may be able to accomplish a repair install. Goodluck. You can also try to copy just the missing file from your XP Home disc (Dell) and overwrite or replace the errant copy on the Sony system also from a DOS environment.

Thanks for your suggestions. I think I'm more computer lucky than savvy, but I can usually fix things, eventually. One question about copying the missing file and replacing it on the Sony computer from DOS. If I can't get past the error screen, and believe me, I've tried, how could I load it?

Replace it from a non-Windows environment like DOS. Computer Components

Once again, if I can't get past the error screen, and believe me, I've tried, how could I load it (meaning DOS)?

Hoping someone will tell me how to get into DOS.

You can get into DOS by starting up the system with a 'floppy' boot diskette or a bootable CD.