msinfo

Can anybody help me with with this problem ?
Every time I try to access system information via
start/programs/accessories/system tools it brings up the
help and support page.
I have also tried msinfo32.exe from the run command, but
still the same result.


XP Pro :)

Under pick a task, choose the last, Use tools...then advanced system info...msinfo32.

Thanks for the advice, I have tried it yuor solution but it just reverts back to the help and support center page where I started from.

Do these two things first:-


1) Go to the prgram again in your system tools and when its highlighted


Right click and cut and past what appears in the "target" box here


2) Go to Find and report back the size of the file msinfo32.exe
here


Ian

1, "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo\msinfo32.exe"

2, 39.0 KB (39,936 bytes)

Well im on W98 here and this msinfo32.exe is 143,360 Bytes so it wis possible

1) it is the wrong file

2) it has been reduced in XP (But I cant see that it has been reduced to such a small size)

Can someone esle running XP NOW please do the same and confirm to correct File size for MSINFO32.EXE I suspect your need to extract the one from your XP CD and reinstall it

Just click Start > Run and type in winmsd .

Sorry same outcome.
Back to the help and support page.

1, "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo\msinfo32.exe"

2, 39.0 KB (39,936 bytes)

The above is the same info for my XP Pro. :cool:
and mine works.

IF yours work send him the file then .

:)

Just a thought

Already tried to copy file msinfo32.exe from another machine.
Still no joy

Sorry for me its like a Deer with no eyes or legs.


Still No idea!

The only other thing that comes to mind is file associations.

Try renaming the file se if that has any bearing.

OTher than that look on the XP CD and copy that off there.

unfortunatley I cannot find it on the cd because I think it is compressed.

This is a bit of a guess, but have a look here:

Start>Run>Regedit and then go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT>Applications>msinfo32.exe and see if there is any entry in "NoOpenWith" - if there is then delete it.

All the usual registry hacking provisos apply, yada, yada, yada - make a backup first of any hive that you edit.

Deleted reg file (noopenwith) but still same result.
(Back to help and support page)

We have a temporary workaround now that gets us to the page.

copy and paste the following in the run box:

msinfo32 /categories +all -loadedmodule

The regular msinfo32 in the run box still takes us to the General Help & Support page.

By going to the C/Windows/system32/dll cache and finding msinfo.exe and right clicking on it, we can create a shortcut. After the creation of the shortcut, we copy and paste the following path in the target window:

"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo\msinfo32.exe" /categories +all -loadedmodules

This shortcut with icon can now be placed on the desktop.

Clicking on the shortcut now gives us access to the correct page.

I guess at this point we need to find out what registry entry is missing or modified for the original command.

I think that is the key for this problem.

I just posted a new topic about this(I should have done a search first on this site), is there anything new about this? It's obviously a bug. I'll post whatever MS tells me when they answer my request for support. It's nice to know I'm not alone, I thought I was nuts. Many, many thanks to bruzzes for his workaround. It works great, many thanks.

Howdy

Just saw this thread...No help but


I have the same problem...msinfo32 gets the help and support page

XP Home

buck

Right click my computer, choose manage, does system give you the info you're looking for? It's the same as msinfo32.

Howdy downtime

Not exactlly...that gets to the same place as control panel>Administrative tools>Computer management...lots of info there but no software environment tab, as there is in msinfo32, which give access to running tasks, startup programs etc... I realize that info can probably be gotten individually from other locations but not under one heading. No big deal in my case, my computer is running fine...just a curiosity thing.

buck

Try Taskinfo200


its free and available :-

http://www.iarsn.com/

bruzzes workaround gave me exactly the info I needed, not only the system info but the tools (Doc Watson and Net diagnostics) also, now it's a matter of why. Why does the shortcut still point to the correct program (msinfo32.exe) but that program opens help and support rather than System information? Why does the workaround work? What happened to cause it? I added the correct target to access the correct program but I'm still left with what happened and why? I received an email from MS and they seem to think it's a recently installed program but as it's been a week or two since I last accessed the msinfo32 program I don't know which one it would be? XP anti-spy is really the only program that could have an effect being the only program I installed that makes changes to xp itself but the first time this happened and I reinstalled I hadn't even heard of xp anti-spy so I really can't see that happening.

Don't know if this will help or not but might want to verify in:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MSInfo.Document\Shell\Open\Command

and also in

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\MSInfo.Document\Shell\Open\Command

Default String Value = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo\MSInfo32.exe /msinfo_file %1


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\MSInfo

String Value Path = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo\MSInfo32.exe


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\msinfo32.exe

Default String Value = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo\MSInfo32.exe
String Value Path = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo

Maybe those will give you a reference point.

I finally figured it out, after running test after test. A index.dat file has been deleted, and that's why when some run msinfo32 they get the help center instead of system information.

I had this problem, and just now got it figured out, I restored a new image and system information was working great, I then ran Spider which cleans temp files, I saved the report rebooted and system information was not working.
I looked at what spider deleted and I found it deleted a index.dat here E:\\WINDOWS\\PCHEALTH\\HELPCTR\\OfflineCache\\index.dat

I opened and image and restored just this dat, and now my system information is working, so this dat file is the cause for the problem.

I have the exact same problem with sys info. Is there a way to recover this index.dat file from the installation cd?

I found a work around (similar to the above) where the target for the system info shortcut is changed from:

"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSINFO\msinfo32.exe"

to

"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSINFO\msinfo32.exe" "%1"

This only works for this shortcut however, i.e., trying to access the system info through other means -- help and support center, the MSINFO folder, etc. -- yields the prior results.

Quite frankly, I have no idea why adding "%1" works in this case. I would like to find a permanent fix. Any thoughts?

Jeff

Well, if you have XP Pro, I can send you copy of mine, it will fix the problem, I don't know about home, though but all Pro I have seen the file size is 79KB.

If anyone has XP home can you check the size of the dat file?

If you want the file e-mail me a [email protected] it's a dat file so you can open it in notepad, so you will know nothing is in it, that shouldn't be.