Scanreg /fix

[T J Johansen]

Hi,

I run a Siemens T-bird PC with 128 RAM, WinME, ADSL connection. I have Norton installed but it told me yesterday that my one year subsciption had expired. Shortly after everything went to **** in a handbasket. I wanted to uninstall Norton 2001 and install 2005 which is part of my new subscription. When I opened Norton I got an error window with lots of weird symbols. I then opened controlpanel and chose Add/delete programmes (please note my windows is in Norwegian so I have to try and translate every option for you.) but there was nothing there. Just a blank window! When I tried to restart the PC I was told to start in MS-DOS mode and run scanfix /reg. But how do I start in DOS mode? I seem to remember you had that option on my Win98 when you chose start, and clicked on the shut off button. This is not available on my ME. Any suggestions as to handle this thing?

Best regards,

T J (The rookie when PCs are concerned)

[SpywareDr]

Try this:

1. Boot up in Safe mode.
   
   
   
   • Restart the computer. (Power off, wait a few seconds, power it back on).
   • As the computer restarts, press and hold down the [F8] function key until the Windows Me Startup menu appears.
   • Select Safe Mode (using the up and down arror keys) and press Enter. (Note that it can take several minutes to boot up in Safe mode).
   
   
   
2. Click Start | Run, type in the word command and press [Enter].
   
   
3. At the DOS prompt, type the following four commands, pressing [Enter] after each:
   c:
   cd\windows\command
   scanreg /fix
   exit
4. Reboot in normal mode. (Click Start | Shutdown ...)

If that doesn't work and the PC has a floppy drive:

1. Boot the PC from a Windows ME System (Boot) diskette.
   Note: If you don't have one, you can download a program that will recreate one for you from http://bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm (The "Windows Me OEM").
2. At the "A:\>" DOS prompt, type the following three commands, pressing [Enter] after each:
   c:
   cd\windows\command
   scanreg /fix
3. Remove the Windows ME System (Boot) diskette from drive A: and (try to) reboot normally.

Description of the Windows Registry Checker Tool (Scanreg.exe)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/183887/EN-US

Command-Line Switches for the Registry Checker Tool
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/184023/EN-US

[Nix]

You don't have to get to safe mode or DOS.

Just go Start > Run and type scanreg /fix and press enter.

A dialog box will appear telling you the machine needs to restart (or to that effect) so say ok and it will and it will run the scanreg /fix command.

Magic.

[SpywareDr]

You don't have to get to safe mode or DOS.

Just go Start > Run and type scanreg /fix and press enter.

?

When I tried to restart the PC I was told to start in MS-DOS mode and run scanfix /reg.

[Welshjim]

As best as I can remember, Win98 requires booting into MS-DOS to run Scanreg. WinME does not. You can run it from Start|Run. (Win ME has a file called scanregw.exe to permit this as well as the scanreg.exe file that came with Win98.)
Here is a more complicated procedure in case I am wrong
http://www.putergeek.com/scanreg/

[SpywareDr]

Hmmm... well, whatever he's running told him "start in MS-DOS mode and run scanfix /reg." (sic)

[Nix]

Hmmm... well, whatever he's running told him "start in MS-DOS mode and run scanfix /reg." (sic)

Good point upon re-reading I see he can't get into windows and thus can't go Start > Run > scanregw /fix as I suggested.

Although, ig he can get into safe mode he can do it there with out the need to open the command window.

[T J Johansen]

Hello everyone.

Thanks for the quick replies to my question. I had to download the ME OEM file, saved it onto a disk, and ran it. Now everything works like it is supposed to again. But this leaves me wondering, did this happen due to me doing something wrong, or was it a freak occurence, or did something attack my computer? I guess what I'm asking is there something I should/shouldn't do to prevent this from happening again? (Although I now have the disk safely tucked away!)

Thanks again,

T J

[SpywareDr]

I agree, if he can get into Safe mode the "Start | Run then c:\windows\scanregw.exe /fix" approach should work. You'll get a popup requesting a reboot:

(presumably so it can run the DOS command "scanreg /fix" and repair the registry while Windows is not running).