desktop not coming up in safe mode or in normal mode.

purply

so far, he has managed to get to the command prompt which says C:\>

at this prompt he has entered cd\%systemroot%\

but it says "the file name, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect"

BIG SIGH.

purply

what is he doing wrong?

Thing is he's on the other end of a phone (in another town)and doesn't have access to the internet so im the middle and i just hope im telling him the things you guys are telling me in the best way that i can, but this is not much fun on new years eve!!

albertross_2

try cd \windows

or do cd \

then

dir

which will hopefully list a windows directory e.g. windows win2k

if it is win2k do

cd \win2k

etc..

make sure he is doing a \ not a /

purply

thanks albertross.
he's just tried that and it says system cannot find the path specified

purply

at the prompt c:> he's put dir

and a directory of c drive has come up and loads of writing-list of files, dates and times
3 files and 11 directories


now what?

albertross_2

can he do a cd \

or cd ..

does

dir

list anything?

if not, he may have a corrupt file system, in which case you will need to use the linux live-cd boot disk, or ntfschk from sysinternals/winternals.com to fix it

albertross_2

you are looking for your windows directory, is there one called windows, or something beginning with win, if so, type cd windows,

or

cd WHATEVERITISCALLED

or do

dir shdocvw.* /s

which will show the directories where the file is located..

meep_2

hi purply,
I haven't read through the thread so sorry if I'm repeating stuff.
if you are at the c prompt could you please type in this and see what happens:

chkdsk /f /r

if it can't do it add in /x and try again. This should scan the disk for errors.

i assume typing dir/w doesn't work?

edit: you both type quicker than me :P

purply

it lists 3 files and 11 directories...

some of the list:

program files
start menu
winnt
audio
windows update setup files

albertross_2

meeps reply is a good idea (doesn't it need the c: though ?)

chkdsk /f c:

try cd \winnt

are there any other directories with win in the name?