Possible to reinstall without losing??? 2

[tener]

My 98 system would boot right up to the "It is now safe to shut down you computer" screen. I searched microsofts knowledge base and found there solution. They said that my vmm32.vxd file is corrupt. I extracted a new one and replaced it, however, now I have to reinstall windows. Is there anyway that I can do this without killing the information that I have on there? Any suggestions? Thank you.

 

[Voyager1]

Install the new version of Windows as an upgrade. It should being back all you applications, settings and data. - Bill

"You can get anything you want out of life, if you'll just help enough other people get what they want" - Zig Ziglar

 

[hwmueller]

You can reinstall Windows over the existing version without losing any info. Simply insert the cd and allow it to begin its autorun and follow on screen instructions. Otherwise you can also install via the control panel and 'add/remove software'

Hans

 

[RachelD]

If vmm32.vxd is corrupt, reinstalling Windows over the existing version may not do you any good. Don't be surprised if you have to reformat. One thing you could try is to install windows into a new directory (not over top of c:\windows) - you might be able to "reconstruct" a new vmm32.vxd that way, and still maintain your data. You'll still have to reinstall programs.

 

[Sshaker]

It sounds like you may have a damaged hard disk causing Windows to stall. Reloading Windows is OK over the top without risk of losing data. Reload will only replace missing or corrupted files. From a command prompt, run Scandisk with the following;-
<drive>:\scandisk /all
If your hard disk is damaged, no amaount of reinstalling Windows will help.
Cheers.......

 

[keypounder]

IMPORTANT
to reinstall win
first rename your Win.com (in c root)to what ever please you
then go for it and then you may delete the previously renamed win.com
you need to be sure that the CD will be the same as original install
you might run through some prob if IE you actually run is diff from the CD version
say if you performed any IE upgrades
If so: I will rename win .com and get rid of IE before doing the reinstall

 

[swayda]

Hi. I dealt with this problem for a user this past week. I'm not sure what you mean by &quot;killing theinformation.&quot;. Reinstalling windows fixed the problem. Boot into safe mode or command prompt and delete vmm32.vxd, run setup from your cd. If you get any prompts about a file being older than one you have on your system, choose to overwrite it. You won't loose any user created data and you'll retain all the system and user settings in your registry unless the problem is more severe than it sound like. Don Swayser
swayser@optonline.net

 

[tener]

Thanks swayda!!
That did the trick, I appreciate your response!

 

[AidanEnos]

Sorry, but I believe that the virtual memory mapper is a generated file... have you tried:

Make sure you have a bootable floppy
Change the name from vmm32.vxd to vmm32.vxd.old
Reboot

I think that Windows has this file in the c:\windows\system folder as a backup and it modifies it and copies it to the c:\windows\system\vmm32 directory for use. If it can't find it it generates a new working copy.

AidanEnos

 

[Voyager1]

The .vxd file is a Virtual Device Driver, not a generated file. It does create the virtual memory file - not the VXD itself. - Bill

&quot;You can get anything you want out of life, if you'll just help enough other people get what they want&quot; - Zig Ziglar

 

[mviltan]

if your going to re-install you won't loose anything just go to C:\windows\options\cabs\setup.exe

 

[spacekowboy]

ive done this with win98se and chose reinstall and it fixed windows and didnt lose a thing.

i know hundreds of people dont have the same experience tho,
im glad you were fixed thru the forum.