Originally by: CCP Mindstar

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This article from Microsoft should be of assistance to those having issues with boot.ini and hal.dll errors when starting Windows.

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Originally by: Jago Kain

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If they ever decide to award a Nobel Prize for Emo, Lord MuffloN is a sure fire winner of the first on

Originally by: Jinli mei

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Originally by: Lord MuffloN

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Originally by: CCP Mindstar

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This article from Microsoft should be of assistance to those having issues with boot.ini and hal.dll errors when starting Windows.

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Not possible to fix boot.ini when we're still in Windows? (Haven't rebooted yet, oh and, good ******* going CCP!)

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Well, there's a way to toy with it.

**** THIS MAY NOT WORK AND IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PEOPLE WHO AREN'T FAMILIAR WITH WHERE THE STEPS TAKE YOU ****

Be warned: I am not taking responsibility for further messing up your system. Be careful, be wise! If this seems a little trick to you don't do it.

This will only work for Windows XP Professional as I am using tools only found in XP Professional. In all reality, you should be booting into the repair console for this!

1. Go to start, right click on 'My Computer' and click Manage.
2. Once the management console is open, go to Disk Management. It could take a few seconds to load.

In the disk management you have two parts: A top part indicating all the partitions and driver letters, and a bottom part showing you the partitions and drives ordered by disk number, and then by partition locations.

3. Find what disk number your windows installation is on (for example, mine is on the C: partition, the first partition on disk 0)

Disk 0 Partition 1 should be the typical location where your windows install is. However, I can't possibly guarantee this is it.

5. Open up notepad (start, run, notepad, click ok) and paste in the following:

Quote:

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[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(YOUR DISK #)partition(YOUR PARTITION #)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(YOUR DISK #)rdisk(0)partition(YOUR PARTITION #)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

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There are two things you should notice: disk() and partition(). now set these to what you discovered in step 3, and set them both for the default switch and the operating system entry.

7. Save your boot.ini on the installation drive
8. Click Start, Run, and type in MSCONFIG
9. Select the "BOOT.INI" tab
10. Click "Check all Boot Paths"

If it gives you the OK, you should be in the clear. If it says the boot path is invalid, I recommend taking a few steps back and playing with the boot.ini more.

This is the process I did to get mine back. It will likely differ from yours, so fair warning.

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Originally by: Jago Kain

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If they ever decide to award a Nobel Prize for Emo, Lord MuffloN is a sure fire winner of the first on