CharlotteTheHarlot

It appears that you are absolutely correct.

Seeing that this thread has been revived, now is a good time to throw some information on the table ... Some of the most important utilities for Win9x sadly went toe-up several months ago when the author began compiling with Visual Studio 2008. Those utilities of course are the excellent System Internals applications: Process Explorer, AutoRuns and no doubt everything that Mark Russinovich (System Internals / Microsoft) gets around to updating. Folks can look back to May 28, 2008 to follow events as they happened on this System Internals thread: Process Explorer v11.12 on Windows 9x/Me. The discussion includes links which eventually get you to the next pertinent System Internals thread: EXEs created by VisualStudio2008 vs Win4.0. There, member steelbytes has reported some success in patching already compiled apps and also recompiling differently. He directs us to www.SteelBytes.com with specific code examples here. The very latest development appears to be this LegacyExtender announced by the same member takeos that appears two posts above me here. While he/she sounds very confident in their approach, they seemed to have left out describing what if anything this will cost, and to whom? I would like to second the motion by BenoitRen as to what is getting replaced? It seems to me that *either* individual developers using VS2008 would be their 'customers' and manually tweak their installations (like we did back in the day with Curses, etc) or Microsoft itself would be their sole customer and incorporate this idea into VS2008 distributions, effectively restoring backwards compatibility defeating their obvious planned obsolescence. @takeos, can you shine some light on this? Please correct my mis-understandings. No flames intended, just asking! If we consider the KernelEx developments (someone please ping them), we have three distinct avenues to keeping this Operating System alive and healthy at least for a while. Things do appear bleaker now, as I do not see folks like Mark Russinovich throwing out VS2008 for VS6 or later, and its doubtful he'd do us a favor by LegacyExtending his installation. But I pray I am wrong!

I re-read this several times and am still unsure what you are trying to accomplish. Do you plan to restore the backup from the external USB 1.1 drive to this computer? Other useful informaton would be whether the computer itself is limited to USB 1.1. Are you going to try to save this current Win9x installation or are you willing to re-install. Is there a anti-virus program running? I think the current install is likely FUBAR (considering the buggy USB and the fact that your friend partitioned/installed the system). The msgsrv32 *usually* hangs from stray 3rd party apps and/or drivers. It really could be anything: spyware or viruses or anti-viruses or printer/scanner drivers or some un-necessary 'driver' intended for the external hard-drive. If you must preserve this installation use Startup Control Panel from HERE (get the EXE standalone version. Then get System Internals AutoRuns (but you'll need to Google for the last Win9x version). Use them to disable everything except your Soundcard CPL (if present) and maybe SystemTray. But ... If this was in my shop I would take the system drive (or grab another HDD) and CLEAN install after FDISK/Format to be sure. Don't forget the INF and Video drivers. Then install the wonderful NUSB drivers (and read the thread here at MSFN). Then test the installation with a flashdrive. Then worry about the external HDD. An even bigger But ... This is a USB 1.1 drive you say? That really means the enclosure contains electronics for 1.1. This is most likely a 3.5" PATA drive that itself has no idea what cabling is connected. I would yank the drive from the enclosure, check the jumpers (Google the model) and slave it to the primary (or master or slave on the secondary) and grab the data from within windows. USB is not needed. This is the quickest route and I have done this countless times. You could even drop the drive into a USB 2.0 enclosure later if that computer supports it. Using another computer is also a possibility. If you had said that the system is year 2004 or newer (approx USB 2.0) and it was mission critical (important data), the steps would be different. Debugging the USB registry entries against a parallel fresh install would be my guess. P.S. definitely don't attach USB devices in Win9x for startup/restart/shutdown. I feel that is also good advice in WinXP. Eliminate variables, do not create them. But Win9x has often shown power management difficulties here with hangs as the obvious symptom. One thing for sure, with the amount of folks using an external USB HDD as their one and only backup these days, people like us will never run out of work!

@JoeMSFN, figured you had that sorted out by now. If you have a computer still affected by this Microsoft problem you might try their official fix http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953979. Take note of my 2nd post (#5 I think). Since locked registry keys are the problem you have to do any fixes in an environment under your own control. That means as ADMIN. Safe Mode will work but it just might be faster and easier after a reboot from MSCONFIG *after* checking the 2nd radio button - Diagnostic. Now, after applying the MSKB patch, reboot from MSCONFIG after clicking 'normal' and see if they in fact fixed their problem. If they fail you again there are still other things to try. Not having actually been confronted by this bugaboo myself I can only offer this advice, 3 quick ideas: {A} - Run that ACL reset batch file which uses subinacl and/or secedit. Definitely run it as above after selecting MSCONFIG Diagnostic Mode. Then try the MSKB fix again as above. See if it worked. Note: if you are in here that means that some 3rd party software has figured out a way to imitate a basic service, or your ACL's are just FUBAR. {B} - If that failed I would probably uninstall the likely registry locking culprit McAfee or Symantec or 'other' full-blown security suite. If Symantec, make sure you run the Symantec specific removers right from their website. Now do {A} again! See if it worked. {C} - Next idea would be to export the entire registry and edit it to make a custom cleanup script that manually deletes all values (and maybe some keys) containing $%&. Needless to say, this registry script would need to be run in Diagnostic mode also. This is what I would do. Nuke it from orbit, its the only to be sure to kill those aliens!

Ok, found the thread, I think. Which thread one are you using? Already responded back at the other one: http://www.msfn.org/board/Can-I-transfer-a...we-t118193.html MODS: please delete this post if necessary!

(see another thread about this matter) Somehow missed that thread. Link? Thought this was where you were working that out. Would it be feasible to install true DOS onto XP??? Afraid not. However there are ways to make DOS and Windows 16-bit apps work just fine. Here is my checklist order of precedence ... (1) WinXP CMD :: aka Command Prompt aka DOS Prompt. This is where you wind up when you open a Command Prompt. CMD.EXE is the actual program in use here whereas Win9x used COMMAND.COM. It is enhanced and configureable. Apps run here using the default DOS environment found in the registry (in two keys I believe). If you double-click a DOS app without a shortcut it effectively runs here. (2) WinXP Shortcut :: for DOS apps creates a PIF file like in Win9x. If you change nothing in the properties the app runs using the default environment located in CONFIG.NT and AUTOEXEC.NT in the SYSTEM32 folder. NOTE: many of the other Win9x DOS PIF properties are still present here in WinXP. However, if you use Properties|Program|Advanced, instead of creating an MS-DOS Mode *reboot* environment like in Win9x, you get to pick custom-made AUTOEXEC.NT and CONFIG.NT which the app will see as its environment when run from that shortcut (there is no reboot). For a Windows app the LNK file offers some extra options in Properties|Compatibility such as 'Run ths program in Compatibility Mode for Windows 95' etc. (3) 3rd party DOS Command Boxes :: best known has to be DOSBox which has a large community to draw support from including a front-end called Turbo Dos Box. Another one is eConsole. Expect this to become a growth industry since the trend in Windows has been to get away from the command line. Did I mention these are free? One problem has carried over of course, and that is DOS/WIN16 games that expect specific IRQ and DMA channels for sound output and are too stubborn to let you change them within the program or in some INI file. I try to edit the 'DOS' environment variables for that specific app and hope it looks there for guidance. If not, I don't use that game on WinXP. However there are many Creative and other sound card command line emulation utilities that alter resources visible to a DOS program. They get installed with the drivers (but ask an expert for more details). 'True' DOS apps really are being killed by a thousand cuts independent of WinXP. The technology itself regardless of Windows version has incrementally excluded entire categories of DOS apps (those expecting direct disk access, direct video access, memory, DMA, IRQs ... ). Things started to get really risky with LFN in Win95. If you hope to fire up true DOS heavyweights like SoftICE it ain't gonna happen because you can't really load something underneath Windows anymore. Heck the older .386 dirvers for 'legitimate' programs like scanners won't load either. Anything that is OpenGL or Direct-X based of course runs and that seems to be enough to satisfy 99% of the planet. But in reality most old DOS apps by thoughtful authors who allowed for hardware changes can be managed in their native form on WinXP: Wolf3D, Doom etc. More importantly, many people are busy porting old classics into Win32 apps: Doom95 (an early example by MS), Shadow Warrior, Duke/Blood/Redneck (Build Engine) Rise Of The Triad ( I just recently heard about ROTT and will definitely be grabbing that! For a while I thought I was the only one that bought that game). Also there is a slew of emulators and ports of those really ancient ROM cartridge games from Commodore, Atari, Amiga. ...pressing me to install WinXP in place of Win98SE There is something to be said for WinXP as an end-user operating system. If you think life is too darn short to be micro-managing OS details you should be on WinXP. If your head is always under the hood of your car you're probably suited to stay on Win9x. If you'd rather just drive the car, definitely get WinXP. Is there some reason you cannot keep two computers, Win9x and WinXP? It's simple enough to shuffle files between them on a flashdrive. I find redundancy to be a good thing especially when there is a problem on one system. If the WinXP system got a virus you'd be wishing the Win9x was there as a backup! I'd suggest buying his computer and keeping the Win9x system also. If the Win9x system collects dust in the corner then WinXP was the right choice. If you find yourself constantly firing up the old beast, ah well it's ok. Just make sure the XP system is set up right, with 1 GB RAM and some of the basic tweaks (Disk Indexing off) you can find all over this forum. Let us know how it turns out!

Please pardon the ANSI art in the previous post! I've just been laughing my butt off since I saw that image. Anyway I'll be serious. I can add something constructive to this discussion. After doing WinXP SP2 -> SP3 on 33 (and counting) client standalone computers I became really worried about this and madly rounded up registry before/after snapshots from every one. I can state absolutely that the string $%& has not appeared even once. Every single one of them have McAfee or Symantec or worse security suites installed. Here is the important info: (1) Each update was done right after rebooting from MSCONFIG selective startup with basic services (whatever that 2nd radio button says). I am pretty sure that in this mode there aren't any open files or registry keys by 3rd party services. In fact I am pretty much positive after this fiasco. (2) Don't use a CD/DVD or USB HDD/Flashdrive. I use the Network install from the ISO Image copied to the C: HDD. These other devices might work ok, but why introduce a needless variable unless you're beta testing? (3) The EXE was executed through START|RUN, so no apps except the Explorer shell were ever open. I really don't think safe mode is necessary. At least not until these AntiVirus companies figure out a way to masquerade as a core service. I try to reserve that for serious problems. It's way too slow in safe mode to run a gigantic service pack anyway. Important Note: if you are doing that RESET.CMD that uses subinacl and secedit to untangle the ACL mess, you should also do that from (1) above. It is clearly possible for active 3rd party services to interfere (I mean that's the whole point of this). You will probably never even know they failed because that occurs in a fast scrolling CMD window and both programs are too stupid to beep or pause or prompt when it happens. One thing for sure, this SP3 update in its current form should not be delivered and executed through Automatic Updates. My prediction is that there will be a patch from MS very soon. If you read that Technet thread, it *has* to be Microsoft's problem as machines that have never saw Symantec also are affected. This is not to say Symantec and McAfee are angels. I am no fan of the 'Innoculation' method of tying up resources (especially registry keys) to prevent some *potential* threat from doing the exact same thing. When it's hard to distinguish between a Virus and an AntiVirus you know you're screwed.

Curiously, I just did a quick search here for $%& and turned up no hits ("Unfortunately your search didn't return any results."), even this very thread. From Google, lots of hits but they are false positives. Is there some special way to delimit these three characters for these stupid search engines? Jeez, if I was into conspiracy theories I'd suggest this string was purposely selected to avoid massive publicity from Google searches ... I am just kidding. At first glance the $%& sure looks a 'safe' flag (one assumes it is not pre-existing in a file you open). With no evidence to back this up I'd theorize that the author of fixccs.exe was flagging 3rd party antivirus/firewall keys, possibly the ones that are 'open', to be counted and weighted for some security decision, perhaps whether to enable the Windows Firewall. You might mark certain keys while elevated to SYSTEM and then lower to ADMIN, mark again, lower, mark etc, gather statistics. Then it is possible that a twisted mess of ACL's for these registry keys allowed RegCreateKeyEx yet blocked RegDeleteKey or RegGetKeySecurity or RegCloseKey. Or they simply forgot to re-elevate to cleanup. Or the A/V itself allowed some and blocked others. Nothing would surprise me. Imagine two Rams headbutting over registry access. Microsoft vs. Symantec/McAfee/Whoever. But oh the sweet irony! They create gazillions of patches to save us from theoretical exploits from unchecked buffer overflows. Roll them up into a Service Pack that includes an unchecked runaway FOR loop. Bwahaha!!! How it got past a couple of iterations is what I'd like to know. There must be a Computer Science professor out there praying it wasn't his student. If you stop and think about it, delivering this kind of security fix (or entire Service Packs for that matter) live over an internet connection is practically doomed to failure in the long run since by definition these computers will have realtime protection running, locking certain registry keys and many files. Anyway, the net result of this error really reminds me of some of the 'animated' ANSI art experiments we did with FOR loops in DOS. For anyone who hasn't yet seen the Microsoft SP3 Registry Artwork, see this image on this page. Hysterical! It looks something like this: LEGACY_SSDPSRV $%&'( $%&'() $%&'()* $%&'()*+ $%&'()*+, $%&'()*+,- $%&'()*+,-. $%&'()*+,-./ $%&'()*+,-./0 $%&'()*+,-./01 $%&'()*+,-./012 $%&'()*+,-./0123 $%&'()*+,-./0123$ $%&'()*+,-./0123$% $%&'()*+,-./0123$%& $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&' $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'( $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'() $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()* $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+ $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+, $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,- $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-. $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./ $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./01 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./012 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$ $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$% $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%& $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&' $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'( $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'() $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()* $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+ $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+, $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,- $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-. $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./ $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./01 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./012 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$ $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$% $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%& $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&' $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'( $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'() $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()* $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+ $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+, $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,- $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-. $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./ $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./01 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./012 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$ $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$% $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%& $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&' $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'( $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'() $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()* $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+ $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+, $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,- $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-. $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./ $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./01 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./012 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$ $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$% $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%& $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&' $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'( $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'() $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()* $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+ $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+, $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,- $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-. $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./ $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./01 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./012 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123 $%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$%&'()*+,-./0123$ NOTE TO MODS: there is no ROTFL image, and we really could use one now!

Well if the systems are way different in Motherboard/Chipset/BIOS then it really matters what's in that all.reg. Also, make sure there are Win9x Chipset INF and Video drivers for that new motherboard. But to avoid a complete install of the OS and then all other software there are very few options. I've had success with this: If you have an extra HDD lying around, even a tiny 2 GB will do, pop it in the new machine (by itself) and install Win98se. In this fresh install don't bother adjusting any settings at all, but do Install the INF and Video, Reboot a few times to be sure and resolve any flagged conflicts in Device Manager. I'd also setup any printers and then export the registry and offload it for future reference. This is a working registry prototype for that new motherboard and the core devices. Now, everyone seems to have a different strategy here but most would likely agree that the minimal core keys to grab from that prototype are as follows. These branches *and* all sub-branches below them: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Hardware] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Asd] We'll call this 3-key subset the 'punch-in' (***). On the current working Win98se system [OLD Reg] be sure you have ample backups of the SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT and complete registry export (better to do HKLM and HKU separate). Assumption: he is going to insert the old working Win98se HDD in the new motherboard, F8 to DOS and prep the existing OLD Reg with those new keys through REGEDIT, the script would contain the 'punch-in' (***) from that prototype but must be preceded with deleters.: [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum] [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Hardware] [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Asd] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum] ;;; everything here and below [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Hardware] ;;; everything here and below [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Asd] ;;; everything here and below Watch the DOSmode REGEDIT screen output for errors. If it fails to insert the new keys (REG is too complex, limited RAM) don't bother going fiurther. The OLD Reg will have to be prep'ed by other means (two more methods come to mind). If successful, reboot, cross fingers and if luck prevails this will work well enough to get to Explorer. Printers might be fubar and possibly the entire USB/WDM mess that lives one branch up from ASD. First option is to again reinstall the INF drivers and then maybe the Video. Comparing those keys to the prototyped ones should produce enough insight to design REG fixers. Needless to say, those DAT backups can easily be restored to get you back where you started: on the old motherboard. No harm done. IMHO. this is a best case scenario. Expect to be editing that prototype registry export often to grab keys to punch into the current one. This can become a career. (***) EDIT to make clear that only the 'punch-in' gets added to the old working Win98se registry.

To reinforce what Charlotte has quite rightly said, don't even think about doing this! If you want to copy settings for a particular piece of software from one OS to the other just export and import the section for that application. Copying the whole lot across will be a recipe for disaster as there will surely be a huge number of incompatible paths at very least. Remember that this will include all your Windows OS settings! Running an auditor would be good for a laugh! Or a cry. Win2k==WinXP but not Win9x. The 2k/XP files are exactly the same format, Unicode by default with regard to REGEDIT. Most likely Norton NREGEDIT has defaulted to ANSI on its exports. It is likely duplicating the 2k/XP REGEDIT.EXE drop-down selection of NT4/Win9x (with its quirks). Data can be lost enroute to Win9x. For something mission critical you just snapshot Win9x before/after the Win2k export data is added. Then Windiff the snapshots and isolate what came in. Take that and Windiff it back to the Win2k export. If the exported data included expanded strings you can manually harcode them with fixed paths in normal strings. A little off-topic but this gets me wondering (uh oh!): just how comparable are the REGEDIT.EXE in 2k and XP with respect to exporting the live registry hives to ASCII? Porting apps between 2k/XP is where this might matter. Problem is, I cannot think of a good way to compare their outputs. How would each export the *same* Registry, would they be identical? I would want exports from 2k's and XP's REGEDIT.EXE of the exact same source data: an identical registry existing on both platforms, which is impossible. A brave person might patch the version strings in REGEDIT.EXE from 2k or XP and run it on the opposing system just long enough to get an export. Risky, a mistake means somehow restoring 2k/XP to a fallback registry. I think Microsoft suggests System Restore ... NOT! It used to be real simple. We used to do something similar on Win95, using patched REGEDIT from OSR and later 98 to allow some systems to continue working as the registries got bigger and more complex (if re-installing well-working software on an updated OS was out of the question). Even using one system for generating DATs from REGs for other systems that could no longer complete REGEDIT /C from complex BLOATED .reg files. With an appropriate boot disk anything was do-able. Now here is some real useful info which I never saw before: an awesome roundup of the available Registry information is sitting right on the website of this board's own MDGx on this page: COMPREHENSIVE WINDOWS REGISTRY GUIDE. All I can say is holy crap, nice job!

In addition to that, there is another web-based tool called KeepVid. Paste in the address of the page with the embedded video and it returns a discombobulated link suitable for direct downloading or cueing up in GetRight among other things. To play these FLV and other media files offline there is a great free media player called GOM on this webpage. Not sure if it plays RA or RM or RV or whatever extension Real uses nowadays.

Sorry 'bout that. Guess I hijacked your thread and turned it into a Cloning how-to! "Lieutenant, verbosity is my middle name". Glad it worked though. This exact issue comes up often here and in other forums and I just wanted to offer the K.I.S.S. method. I actually do use Ghost often and it is perfect for managing multiple images but I think it is overkill for simple System disk replacement. Gonna have to grab the full version of Acronis True Image now just to see what bells and whistles were left out of the neutered Seagate version (if any). Congrats. l8r

It certainly can be imported. No doubt about that. But do you really want to? Anyway, a little more explanation would help. My guess is you want to port some software back to Win9x? Porting apps from WinXp to Win9x is do-able, but time consuming. Porting entire Users or HKLM\Software will fail without serious auditing. Make sure you have the skill to restore your saved DAT files from within DOS.. If you don't just ask. In my previous post see item #6 concerning data size. That fact has led to some extremely poor programming practices by big-name companies. Since there appears to be no limit to the size of data stuffed into any given value, programmers are busy exploring this fully by inserting meaningless reams of data into the SYSTEM REGISTRY, data that would be better off in an external private file. Sound companies keep audio presets in there, Microsoft kick-started it with MSI installations (never 'install' a pSdk on Win9x). Nowadays, there is no restraint. To be clear, if an app requires megabytes of data within a single value, that app cannot be used in Win9x period. Why, because when you import the REG it will look ok, but Win9x will most likely not survive a reboot. Cause of death: OUT OF MEMORY. Without knowing what is installed in that machine there is no way to tell the size of those branches. Export them separately and tell us the size at least (in ASCII). Know this, those branches are each the largest within those respective hives. There would be some overlap with identical keys in Win9x but probably not much. So for example you might have HKLM\Software as 13 MB ASCII of which only 2 MB overlaps with a net gain of 11 MB to Win9x. Not good. Remember this, Win9x Achille's heel is the registry. Many other problems have been overcome by the wizards in this very forum. The registry cannot as the RAM limit appears to be hard. In my experience when the Win9x DATs hit 15-16 MB combined (or 20+ MB exports) you are living on a razor's edge. Let me add to my previous post regarding registry differences (as they pertain directly to you). 7) WinXP uses System32 instead of System as the core Windows System directory. So editing is necessary to swap the System32 references to System. But that is not enough, the files would need to be made to exist in Win9x's System directory. Alternatively, you might just copy the System32 directory (tricky) to Win9x and then iron out the creases with a Registry Mechanic type of auditor. This opens another can of worms because more modern WinXp apps coded to operate under SideBySide often self-register nearby files (e.g., MFC42.DLL or MSVCRT.DLL will often be re-registered in a ported apps own directory which is ok on WinXP since the OS corrects these but it leaves Win9x with broken programs). 8) Most %SomethingDir% style aliases which are everywhere in a WinXP registry never seem to work in Win9x regardless of how I insert them into the environment. On WinXP they are not typical environment variables defined in plain sight. They appear to be built-in to some core file. Converting them to hard strings is also problematic because they are often buried in REG_EXPAND_SZ types. 3rd party tools like RegWorks and RegistryWorkshop can sometimes help, but it is tedious work. One other thing to remember: before embarking on a registry porting project you should make sure that the app can even operate within Win9x by probing its dependencies. See what the folks in the KernelEx forum are using. (I use MS Depends and Karri LinkCheck/Function Check). Note to lazy programmers: just because WinXP apparently can use any size registry (it boots up ok and does not crash), there is still a price to be paid. Often used GUI functions which all rely heavily on settings in the registry slow down as ithey recurse over and around all the seldom used crap that is also stored in there. The StartMenu and submenu flyouts are the first to feel the pain, also right-click Context menus get long delays. What a mess! Even at DDRx speed, a 50-100MB registry held entirely in RAM still is saved to disk, often. It has to be. If you had a clue you would place seldom needed data in private files. As an added benefit, your app would have a much better chance of survivng a rollback.

After I re-read my previous post I felt it needed some detail. Just to clarify, when Cloning there is no backup/restore, no setup/install of Windows, no repair or console maintenance and no Fdisk/Format. It makes no difference if a brand spanking new unformatted drive or a well used full to the brim old one will be the destination disk. The only thing I do prior to cloning is make sure that the Windows is operating soundly. Even this is is optional, a common scenario is when you have a sick/broken/infected Windows and want to operate on/with a backup. With the DiscWizard CD in hand the steps are: 1) Restart, enter the BIOS. Now is a good time to insert the CD (no AutoRun now) it will be used on the next reboot. Here in the BIOS enable CD/DVD bootup and also make it 1st in sequence. SAVE changes and Exit. Some BIOS have a shutdown choice, if so use it! Otherwise be fast and ... 2) Power OFF during the BIOS RAM count (or anytime before XP starts to load). If you are too slow you will have to wait for WinXP to finish starting up and then also cancel any AutoPlay for the disc and then select SHUTDOWN. 3) Computer is now off, open her up, leave the system (SOURCE) drive right where it is, add the DESTINATION drive somewhere (mind your jumpers and cable position for PATA). Doublecheck! 4) Hit the Power button and wait for the CD to load. I believe there is a prompt for MINIMAL or FULL drivers. Accept the default minimal (ATA) as the extra stuff is for USB or Networks. 5) The first choice on the menu should say CLONING. Do it. 6) The big decision comes next: MANUAL or AUTOMATIC. Being the manual type myself, I can shed some light on this. MANUAL means you will have to click over and over again on DESTINATION partition sizes. AUTOMATIC means a proportional transfer. If there is only one partition that might be fine, but I still select MANUAL anyway to eat up any extra space (add it back to the partition). Everything you need to know is in that PDF file (linked in my previous post) in Chapter 10: Transferring the system to a new disc. Experience is useful here, especially when wiping out Dell Utility/Restore partitions (or even preserving them). Just remember that if your 20 GB had three partitions: 5/5/10; the new 100 GB drive without manual intervention will have 25/25/50. Often times we would change that to 5/5/90 for example (preservation). As mentioned previously, this is much like Gparted. You can do anything in here with some effort (and a lot of clicking). Oh yeah, in the partition manipulation GUI there is a choice called Proceed relayout. Tick that thing so that the program goes to the partition resizing page. When you see this option you will already be knee-deep in partitioning and will no doubt understand it. To anyone else they will roll their eyes as it no doubt makes no sense! Anyway, eyeball your work before you commit. You will be greeted with a few more buttons to click, one dialog shows the scripted operations that will occur. Click away. There is usually a reboot here (***) then the cloning occurs, then you wind up back in the program ... 7) When you click on Exit the program will shutdown the computer. That is very helpful as it is necessary to Power Off now. Open her up. Pull the System HDD (now you have a nice fallback drive for catastrophic events). Replace it with the DESTINATION. As above, mind your jumpers and cable position for PATA. Doublecheck! 8) Button her up and Power On. Enter the BIOS ... Needless to say if one was PATA and one was SATA you should verify the BIOS now, the good ones are very automatic on sensing these interfaces. Sometimes you can even skip the previous step and leave them both hooked up and select which one to boot from and disable the other. BIOS dual/triple/quad booting ... Otherwise we're really in the BIOS now to disable the CD bootup (well that's what the smart ones do ) AND restore the HDD as first in sequence. Now is a good time to eject the CD. SAVE and EXIT. 9) Marvel at your work as you watch the Windows XP bootscreen (actually thank Acronis True Image). You should land in Windows on a bigger drive but all else is the same. NB: I wonder when WinXP actually alters the registry entry for the HDD because if you pop into Device Manager it has already changed. I suspect that there is a lot going on behind that bootscreen or sometime before the Welcome Screen. (***) for future reference. As I just wrote this I realized that script persists through a reboot!?! Hmmm. Perhaps some Acronis gurus can enlighten me on how they achieved it. My guess: PowerQuest/Vcomm style MBR code or some other unused disk area outside the proper file system. Hope This Helps!

Not really understanding you, so a reasonable assumption: you are planning to import a REG file into Win9x that was exported from 2K/XP. Well, beware. First, the differences: (1) The 1st line is different (and for good reason). In WinXP, using the default native export selection flags its exports with Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 and Win9x uses REGEDIT4. Thankfully, Win9x will refuse a WinXP REG file however, the reverse is *not* true. One must wonder what the idiots at Microsoft were thinking allowing the REGEDIT4 files to happily import into their secure XP environment. (2) As Drugwash mentioned, the default native XP exports are in Unicode, which really just means they take up twice as much space in ASCII text format on disk. Any good editor can rip out the extra bytes. Interestingly, on WinXP, the REGEDIT there does not care if it imports unicode or ASCII (regardless of the header). And, as just mentioned it also doesn't care if the first line says REGEDIT4. (In this sense Win9x REGEDIT.EXE is more secure). (3) Now it gets dangerous. Win9x exports are full of .default keys plus the rare additional user accounts. WinXP exports enumerate all the users specifically and also exports the machines' .default user (which should not be tampered with). In short, the .default user in Win9x is 99% of the time the main/only user and gets tons of customization, while on XP it is almost a constant. They are practically opposite in concept. The Lesson: the SYSTEM hives are somewhat comparable, the USERs are not. Only deal with the HKEY_CURRENT_USER alias and avoid HKEY_USERS\xxx for safety. (4) But, there are technical differences many have noticed (as the Registry is still undocumented). There are new value types in 'REGEDIT5' that do not exist in REGEDIT4 and cannot be created (REGEDIT4 appears to strip them off during import). So this fact will affect what you are trying to do: data will most likely be lost during WinXP_to_Win9x. Secondly, if you Windiff exports of both types REGEDIT4 and REGEDIT5 from XP (remove Unicode first) you will see actual data differences as well. This means that the method that was selected to make the 'REGEDIT5' script may not have given you what you wanted to bring to Win9x in the first place. (5) Writing data values to the 'root' of the keys: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE or HKEY_USERS while quite common in Win9x is not possible in WinXP from a REG script although it can be done directly. WinXP REGEDIT imports will abort immediately when it encounters one, and consequently any valid stuff beyond that does not get imported. (6) This is the dealbreaker: there appears to be no limit to the size of data values in WinXP. I think Win95 used 64kb or something. Win98 must also have some limit. But some of the values in WinXP are in MEGABYTES (ActiveX cache?). This is a poison pill for Win9x. There's many more, (cosmetic line breaks, very long line lengths, etc) but to keep this short, onto the warnings: * The smallest WinXP export I have seen (REGEDIT select Win9x/NT ASCII) is over 14 MB. That is after a fresh install, single user. That size alone is enough to crash most Win9x systems on the next bootup if it were merged. Don't do that. * Even if you had two identical motherboards/drives/everything running identical Win98se, the REG exports would not be 100% compatible for a complete merge as PnP settings will differ (but yeah, it can be made to work). Win95/98/ME differences further enlarge the error scope. The consequences of taking from WinXP into Win9x via registry scripts can be severe. It's a risky business, however, I do it often . Advice: you must eyeball the entire REG script looking out for all of these problems. Of course the real beauty of Win9x is that you just need to copy SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT (add CLASSES.DAT for WinME) for emergencies (and know how to replace them from DOS), then you can try many dangerous experiments. We cannot say the same for WinXP and its direct relatives. Microsoft has bolted the back door shut (e.g., copying the actual 'DAT' hives) but left the front door wide open (WinXP REGEDIT.EXE says: "Dude, you want to import this old non-unicode REGEDIT4 script right over top of me? Sure no problem!"). Your friendly neighborhood RegSlinger.

Yeah, doing a backup/restore is just one step above dragging files/folders in Explorer. Never gonna work. If you are replacing a 20 GB WinXP system drive with a 100 (which will then be the system drive) ... and ... either of the two disks is a Seagate or Maxtor, there is a free and foolproof solution which I have used many times. On this page at Seagate you can download their DiscWizard. The current URL is showing as: http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?loca...000f5ee0a0aRCRD (English, but others are there). apprx 109 MB Windows setup. What you do is install the program in Windows and then burn the bootable CD (for some strange reason they do not just have the ISO sitting there on the website). You can then uninstall the Windows program (see later). The bootable CD supplies its own OS as this cloning chore is done far outside of Windows. In the BIOS, enable CD/DVD booting and make it 1st in the sequence. NOTE: if you have bought a Seagate retail in the past year or so (not OEM), you already have the bootable CD. It is actually an Acronis Imaging program. The main choice is Cloning, which can be of any flavor (smaller disk to larger, vice versa, same to same). You can manually configure any destination partition sizes (very similar to the method in Gparted's 'gui'). Acronis does all the dirty work of flagging the drive as active/bootable/etc (whatever the source drive was) and preserves any naughty tricks that Microsoft has built into NTFS which WinXP may look at to decide if all is kosher. I have personally done just about every permutation of disk size to disk size, enlarging-reducing-removing partitions as well. This includes varieties of disk types SATA/PATA/USB and brands Seagate/IBM/Maxtor/Samsung/WD. But one drive needs to be Seagate/Maxtor. If there are no Seagate/Maxtors in your system, see if Western Digital has software that works the same way. But if you're like me, you have stacks of disk drives around and it is easy to stick a Seagate in the middle of two steps. Hint: Samsung_to_Seagate then Seagate_to_IBM (or whatever). So, theoretically this software is all you'll ever need. I doubt this is what they intended, but it sure is worth buying a spare Seagate to keep handy so no matter what drives a client has, cloning is at most a 2-step operation. Honestly, for Seagate to contract Acronis and get this awesome program was smart of them and just great for us. I had one of the PC-AT Seagates that although it worked for me, failures screwed them for years and years (someone actually collected these drives and dumped them in the ocean ). Wouldn't touch them on purpose for years until the early 90's. Later, the software that Seagate and Maxtor and WD used from OnTrack was dangerous (with potential Disk Manager overlays). Now all is good. Oh yeah, two other things: (1) It sucks that you need to install the Windows program to burn the CD. In my mind, Cloning means NOT altering a single bit on the HDD, just duplicating it exactly. That Windows app (mostly BartPE and other stuff) is only needed to burn the disc. But you can do that on any computer (and therefore not have to 'mark up' your system disk). Once you have the CD, future cloning is for lack of a better word, 'clean'. (2) In the Win application that you install, there is one item that gives the appearance that cloning can be done right there in Windows. It practically duplicates the GUI of the bootup CD. I tried this once, you wind up rebooting and the operations get carried out in a pseudo-DOSmode. This implies an MBR overlay and code injection (e.g. System Commander style) at least for the duration of the cloning operation. Me no like. So just burn the CD on some other machine and uninstall it. There is a useful DiscWizard PDF right here. Have Fun.

Hello again arrowhead, Those two posts of yours got me doubting what I thought I knew for a fact. Yeah, I wouldn't go to download.com for any file that could be downloaded directly from the source itself. The source in this case would be http://www.opera.com/download/. This is their official download page and is the first webstop on every computer I build, from 9x to Vista. Most likely download.com's webslinger is merely copy/paste'ing the OS requirements from one app to another and I would take their advice with a grain of salt or something. Upon reading the Changelog for Opera 9.50 Beta 1 for Windows I was relieved to see these 'fixes' towards the bottom: Windows-specific * Fixed problem importing bookmarks in sub-folders from Internet Explorer * Fixed problem running under Windows 98 * Fixed problem with Quicktime plug-in on Windows Vista * Alt+Shift no longer changes input direction * Fixed crash caused by searching for Japanese text on web pages Emphasis mine. So, not only are they looking forward (fixes for Vista), they are looking backward as well at our trusty old OS. While I was poking around there I found a better page that Opera/Win9x users should bookmark ... ftp://ftp.opera.com/pub/opera/win/ It currently contains folders for versions 9.10 through 9.50b2. That means that in the event someday that Win9x won't run Opera, we can easily slide to any previous version that is still cool. Note that within those folders are both the 'Normal' and 'Classic' installers. the former (I believe) is MSI based, and the latter is Installshield. Classic is usually preferable (well to me it is) because it has a tiny registry footprint (a single Uninstall entry) and as I understand it can be decompiled to bare files easier. I mention this because some of the threads over there point to installer problems as a common source of conflict. (That may be what download.com was alluding to?). As an act of self-preservation Win9x folks should master the art of installing programs by hand (when possible), distributing the files where they need be and registering stuff as well. Admittedly this isn't always possible, but I do it most of the time these days. Personally I admire those authors that supply both something.exe (an installer for dummies ) and something.zip (sans installer for 'experts'). Anyway, for Opera users this is presently and thankfully a moot point. 9.27 classic setup worked fine here. And it appears certain that we will at least make it to 9.5x with respect to Win9x. What do they say down under, no worries mate.

arrowhead, Many of us are watching this particular subject very closely! Can you please point to any references about Opera scrapping the Win9x platform? The last official mention I saw was last fall, and was contrary to what you say. It is in this thread: http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic...mp;t=1210044305 Opera 9.2x runs awesome on Win98se, and although I have not tried a 9.5 beta here, I've not read anything that worries me in the least. (keeping my fingers crossed that you are wrong).

Thanks for the added information RetroOS. You wouldn't happen to know what versions of Windiff are in those two packages? According to the first post in this thread Windiff has been recently updated to v6.0.6000.16384. Implicit in that post is the fact that this file is Win9x compatible. I see no fewer than twelve Windiff builds in my personal archives and I believe each works in Win9x provided you plant the appropriate GUTILS.DLL nearby. The latest version that I have is v5.2.3790.0 (srv03_rtm.030324-2048). There may be later ones that I am not aware of. Everyone, please feel free to add your knowledge to this. Perhaps MDGx will consider archiving the *latest* Windiff on his most excellent site.

Hi all ... Concerning the Windiff utility v6.x mentioned in the first post. I was wondering if anyone had already downloaded the Vista Platform SDK and might favor us by yanking out the Windiff files (and probably also the GUTILS.DLL) and making it available here possibly in a file called Windiff_Latest.zip or something? For any masochist with time on their hands, the huge Microsoft SDK file is referenced at MDGx as such: Windows Vista SDK DVD Image (ISO) for Windows XP/2003/Vista [1.1 GB]. I'll do it myself if no-one else already has! But this would certainly be the mother of all world records for stupid bandwidth wasting. Download 1.1 GB to extract ~250 KB. Talk about an order of magnitude. Microsoft, you are idiots. Those SDK cabinets should be expanded somewhere for the Techs to use. Thanks in advance!

Supplemental information to add to my above post. It seems that core Intel Indeo files *are* distributed in Win98se. By aiming the trusty old START|FIND at *.cab on the 4.10.2222 distribution CDROM you will find the following: IAC25_32.AX .... Win98_22.cab IR32_32.DLL .... Win98_31.cab IR41_32.AX ..... Win98_22.cab IR50_32.DLL .... Win98_31.cab IVFSRC.AX ...... Win98_22.cab IYVU9_32.DLL ... (not found) Whether they are installed during SETUP or later by ADD/REMOVE Media Player I simply cannot remember. Regardless, after running the above REG file or a modded INF, you really should verify that these files (or more recent versions) are in Windows/System. It would also make sense to drop each one onto a regsvr32 shortcut (i.e., self-register them). Although I am pretty sure that when MP/WMP/MPC executes it will in fact self-register any codecs used during the session, but why not just do them all.

"I still wanna know; Aren't Indeo Codecs installed by default with 98SE? Is there some reason they wouldn't be?" Not on any I've seen, I believe they come with MP, WMP and DX (and standalone Intel Codec distros). "Second, is this a valid REG file for Win9x? (please forgive the "wrapping" of text.)" "If someone could look at my post above and tell me if that's would make REG file for Win98, I'd appreciate it!" Oops, not even close! Try the following instead. FYI, I use a macro for INF -> REG conversion. It changes some alphabetic case to title/lower (cosmetic) and sorts keys/values alphanumerically. Please take note of several commented corrections from the edited INF you pasted in a previous post ... REGEDIT4 ;;; NOTE CORRECTION: this does not exist: HKLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Drivers32 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32] "msacm.iac2"="iac25_32.ax" "vidc.iv31"="ir32_32.dll" "vidc.iv32"="ir32_32.dll" "vidc.iv40"="ir41_32.ax" "vidc.iv41"="ir41_32.ax" "vidc.iv50"="ir50_32.dll" "vidc.yvu9"="iyvu9_32.dll" ;;; NOTE CORRECTION: this does not exist: HKLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\drivers.desc [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers.desc] "iac25_32.ax"="Indeo® Audio Software" "ir32_32.dll"="Indeo® Video R3.2 by Ligos" "ir50_32.dll"="Indeo® Video 5.20" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{083863f1-70de-11d0-bd40-00a0c911ce86}\Instance\{1f73e9b1-8c3a-11d0-a3be-00a0c9244436}] "CLSID"="{1f73e9b1-8c3a-11d0-a3be-00a0c9244436}" "FilterData"=hex:02,00,00,00,00,00,20,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,30,70,69,33,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,30,74,79,33,00,\ 00,00,00,60,00,00,00,70,00,00,00,31,70,69,33,08,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,30,74,79,33,00,00,00,00,60,00,00,00,80,00,00,\ 00,76,69,64,73,00,00,10,00,80,00,00,aa,00,38,9b,71,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,b1,e9,73,1f,3a,8c,d0,11,a3,be,00,a0,c9,24,44,36 "FriendlyName"="Indeo® Video 5.20 Compression Filter" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{083863f1-70de-11d0-bd40-00a0c911ce86}\Instance\{30355649-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}] "CLSID"="{30355649-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}" "FilterData"=hex:02,00,00,00,00,00,64,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,30,70,69,33,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,30,74,79,33,00,\ 00,00,00,60,00,00,00,70,00,00,00,31,70,69,33,08,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,30,74,79,33,00,00,00,00,60,00,00,00,80,00,00,\ 00,76,69,64,73,00,00,10,00,80,00,00,aa,00,38,9b,71,49,56,35,30,00,00,10,00,\ 80,00,00,aa,00,38,9b,71,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 "FriendlyName"="Indeo® Video 5.20 Decompression Filter" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{083863f1-70de-11d0-bd40-00a0c911ce86}\Instance\{b4ca2970-dd2b-11d0-9dfa-00aa00af3494}] "CLSID"="{b4ca2970-dd2b-11d0-9dfa-00aa00af3494}" "FilterData"=hex:02,00,00,00,00,00,50,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,30,70,69,33,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,04,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,30,74,79,33,00,\ 00,00,00,c0,00,00,00,d0,00,00,00,31,74,79,33,00,00,00,00,c0,00,00,00,e0,00,\ 00,00,32,74,79,33,00,00,00,00,c0,00,00,00,f0,00,00,00,33,74,79,33,00,00,00,\ 00,c0,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,31,70,69,33,08,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,04,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,30,74,79,33,00,00,00,00,c0,00,00,00,d0,00,00,00,31,\ 74,79,33,00,00,00,00,c0,00,00,00,e0,00,00,00,32,74,79,33,00,00,00,00,c0,00,\ 00,00,f0,00,00,00,33,74,79,33,00,00,00,00,c0,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,61,75,64,\ 73,00,00,10,00,80,00,00,aa,00,38,9b,71,01,00,00,00,00,00,10,00,80,00,00,aa,\ 00,38,9b,71,8a,eb,36,e4,4f,52,ce,11,9f,53,00,20,af,0b,a7,70,02,04,00,00,00,\ 00,10,00,80,00,00,aa,00,38,9b,71,d0,f9,1f,f9,94,c8,d0,11,9d,e9,00,aa,00,af,\ 34,94 "FriendlyName"="Indeo® Audio Software" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{083863f1-70de-11d0-bd40-00a0c911ce86}\Instance\{c69e8f40-d5c8-11d0-a520-145405c10000}] "CLSID"="{c69e8f40-d5c8-11d0-a520-145405c10000}" "FilterData"=hex:02,00,00,00,00,00,60,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,30,70,69,33,\ 0c,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,30,74,79,33,00,\ 00,00,00,48,00,00,00,58,00,00,00,31,74,79,33,00,00,00,00,68,00,00,00,58,00,\ 00,00,61,75,64,73,00,00,10,00,80,00,00,aa,00,38,9b,71,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,76,69,64,73,00,00,10,00,80,00,00,aa,00,38,9b,71 "FriendlyName"="IVF Source Filter" ;;; NOTE CORRECTION: the full path to system was missing. Verify your files are there! [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{1f73e9b1-8c3a-11d0-a3be-00a0c9244436}] @="Indeo® Video 5.20 Compression Filter" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{1f73e9b1-8c3a-11d0-a3be-00a0c9244436}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir50_32.dll" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{2de89781-dbf6-11d0-a30e-444553540000}] @="Indeo® Video 5.20 Encode Parameters Property Page" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{2de89781-dbf6-11d0-a30e-444553540000}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir50_32.dll" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{30355649-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}] @="Indeo® Video 5.20 Decompression Filter" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{30355649-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir50_32.dll" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{31345649-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}] @="Indeo® Video 4.4 Decompression Filter" "Merit"=dword:00640000 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{31345649-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir41_32.ax" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{31345649-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}\Pins] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{31345649-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}\Pins\Input] "AllowedMany"=dword:00000000 "AllowedZero"=dword:00000000 "ConnectsToPin"="Output" "Direction"=dword:00000000 "IsRendered"=dword:00000000 ;;; NOTE CORRECTION: you were missing next 3 subkeys ... [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{31345649-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}\Pins\Input\Types] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{31345649-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}\Pins\Input\Types\{73646976-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{31345649-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}\Pins\Input\Types\{73646976-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}\{31345649-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{31345649-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}\Pins\Output] "AllowedMany"=dword:00000000 "AllowedZero"=dword:00000000 "ConnectsToPin"="Input" "Direction"=dword:00000001 "IsRendered"=dword:00000000 ;;; NOTE CORRECTION: you were missing next 3 subkeys ... [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{31345649-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}\Pins\Output\Types] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{31345649-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}\Pins\Output\Types\{73646976-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{31345649-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}\Pins\Output\Types\{73646976-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}\{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{33d9a760-90c8-11d0-bd43-00a0c911ce86}\Instance\Indeo® Video 5.20 Compression Filter] "CLSID"="{1f73e9b1-8c3a-11d0-a3be-00a0c9244436}" "EncoderType"=dword:00000001 "FilterData"=hex:02,00,00,00,00,00,10,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,30,70,69,33,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,30,74,79,33,00,\ 00,00,00,60,00,00,00,70,00,00,00,31,70,69,33,08,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,30,74,79,33,00,00,00,00,60,00,00,00,80,00,00,\ 00,76,69,64,73,00,00,10,00,80,00,00,aa,00,38,9b,71,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,b1,e9,73,1f,3a,8c,d0,11,a3,be,00,a0,c9,24,44,36 "FriendlyName"="Indeo® Video 5.20 Compression Filter" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{665a4443-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}] @="Indeo® Video 5.20 Decode Sequence Property Page" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{665a4443-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir50_32.dll" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{665a4444-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}] @="Indeo® Video 5.20 Decode Frame Property Page" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{665a4444-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir50_32.dll" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{665a4445-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}] @="Indeo® Video 5.20 Encode Sequence Property Page" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{665a4445-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir50_32.dll" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{665a4448-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}] @="Indeo® Video 5.20 Decode OA" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{665a4448-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir50_32.dll" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{665a444a-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}] @="Indeo® Video 5.20 Encode OA" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{665a444a-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir50_32.dll" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{84725ea1-2fbc-11d1-bc86-00a0c969fc67}] @="Indeo® Video 5.20 About RTE Property Page" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{84725ea1-2fbc-11d1-bc86-00a0c969fc67}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir50_32.dll" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{87ca6f02-49e4-11cf-a3fe-00aa003735be}] @="IVI Decode OA" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{87ca6f02-49e4-11cf-a3fe-00aa003735be}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir41_32.ax" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{87ca6f04-49e4-11cf-a3fe-00aa003735be}] @="IVI Encode OA" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{87ca6f04-49e4-11cf-a3fe-00aa003735be}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir41_32.ax" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{a2551f60-705f-11cf-a424-00aa003735be}] @="Indeo® Video 4.4 Compression Filter" "Merit"=dword:00200000 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{a2551f60-705f-11cf-a424-00aa003735be}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir41_32.ax" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{a2551f60-705f-11cf-a424-00aa003735be}\Pins] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{a2551f60-705f-11cf-a424-00aa003735be}\Pins\Input] "AllowedMany"=dword:00000000 "AllowedZero"=dword:00000000 "ConnectsToPin"="Output" "Direction"=dword:00000000 "IsRendered"=dword:00000000 ;;; NOTE CORRECTION: you were missing next 3 subkeys ... [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{a2551f60-705f-11cf-a424-00aa003735be}\Pins\Input\Types] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{a2551f60-705f-11cf-a424-00aa003735be}\Pins\Input\Types\{73646976-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{a2551f60-705f-11cf-a424-00aa003735be}\Pins\Input\Types\{73646976-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}\{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{a2551f60-705f-11cf-a424-00aa003735be}\Pins\Output] "AllowedMany"=dword:00000000 "AllowedZero"=dword:00000000 "ConnectsToPin"="Input" "Direction"=dword:00000001 "IsRendered"=dword:00000000 ;;; NOTE CORRECTION: you were missing next 3 subkeys ... [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{a2551f60-705f-11cf-a424-00aa003735be}\Pins\Output\Types] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{a2551f60-705f-11cf-a424-00aa003735be}\Pins\Output\Types\{73646976-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{a2551f60-705f-11cf-a424-00aa003735be}\Pins\Output\Types\{73646976-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}\{31345649-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{b4ca2970-dd2b-11d0-9dfa-00aa00af3494}] @="Indeo® Audio Software" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{b4ca2970-dd2b-11d0-9dfa-00aa00af3494}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Iac25_32.ax" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{b4ca2971-dd2b-11d0-9dfa-00aa00af3494}] @="Indeo® Audio Software Property Page" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{b4ca2971-dd2b-11d0-9dfa-00aa00af3494}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Iac25_32.ax" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{bd323430-ce94-11ce-82dd-0800095a5b55}] @="IVI Decode Sequence Property Page" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{bd323430-ce94-11ce-82dd-0800095a5b55}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir41_32.ax" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{bd323431-ce94-11ce-82dd-0800095a5b55}] @="IVI Decode Frame Property Page" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{bd323431-ce94-11ce-82dd-0800095a5b55}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir41_32.ax" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{bd323432-ce94-11ce-82dd-0800095a5b55}] @="IVI Encode Sequence Property Page" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{bd323432-ce94-11ce-82dd-0800095a5b55}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir41_32.ax" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{bd323433-ce94-11ce-82dd-0800095a5b55}] @="IVI Encode Parameters Property Page" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{bd323433-ce94-11ce-82dd-0800095a5b55}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir41_32.ax" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{c1c0fe00-f3c2-11d0-91d4-444553540000}] @="Indeo® Video 5.20 About Encoder Property Page" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{c1c0fe00-f3c2-11d0-91d4-444553540000}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir50_32.dll" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{c69e8f40-d5c8-11d0-a520-145405c10000}] @="Indeo Video ® 5.2 Progressive Download Source" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{c69e8f40-d5c8-11d0-a520-145405c10000}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ivfsrc.ax" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{c69e8f41-d5c8-11d0-a520-145405c10000}] @="Indeo Video ® 5.2 Progressive Download Source About" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{c69e8f41-d5c8-11d0-a520-145405c10000}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ivfsrc.ax" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{c69e8f42-d5c8-11d0-a520-145405c10000}] @="Indeo Video ® 5.2 Progressive Download Source Static Info" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{c69e8f42-d5c8-11d0-a520-145405c10000}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ivfsrc.ax" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{c69e8f43-d5c8-11d0-a520-145405c10000}] @="Indeo Video ® 5.2 Progressive Download Source Dynamic Info" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{c69e8f43-d5c8-11d0-a520-145405c10000}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ivfsrc.ax" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{c83b5610-e0df-11d0-9e00-00aa00af3494}] @="About Indeo® Audio Software" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{c83b5610-e0df-11d0-9e00-00aa00af3494}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Iac25_32.ax" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{e369a160-f3c2-11d0-91d4-444553540000}] @="Indeo® Video 5.20 About Decoder Property Page" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{e369a160-f3c2-11d0-91d4-444553540000}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\Windows\\System\\Ir50_32.dll" "ThreadingModel"="Both" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Filter\{31345649-0000-0010-8000-00aa00389b71}] @="Indeo® Video 4.4 Decompression Filter" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Filter\{a2551f60-705f-11cf-a424-00aa003735be}] @="Indeo® Video 4.4 Compression Filter" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Interface\{665a4447-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}] @="iIndeoDecodeOA" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Interface\{665a4447-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}\ProxyStubCLSID] @="{00020424-0000-0000-c000-000000000046}" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Interface\{665a4447-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}\ProxyStubCLSID32] @="{00020424-0000-0000-c000-000000000046}" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Interface\{665a4447-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}\TypeLib] @="{665a4446-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}" "Version"="1.0" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Interface\{665a4449-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}] @="iIndeoEncodeOA" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Interface\{665a4449-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}\ProxyStubCLSID] @="{00020424-0000-0000-c000-000000000046}" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Interface\{665a4449-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}\ProxyStubCLSID32] @="{00020424-0000-0000-c000-000000000046}" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Interface\{665a4449-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}\TypeLib] @="{665a4446-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}" "Version"="1.0" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Media Type\{e436eb83-524f-11ce-9f53-0020af0ba770}\{6b6d0800-9ada-11d0-a520-00a0d10129c0}] "0"="0,14,,50ef8119b3bdd011a3e500a0c924" "Source Filter"="{c69e8f40-d5c8-11d0-a520-145405c10000}" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\TypeLib\{665a4446-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}\1.0] @="Indeo® Video Custom Control Type Library" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\TypeLib\{665a4446-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}\1.0\0] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\TypeLib\{665a4446-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}\1.0\0\Win32] @="Ir50_32.dll" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\TypeLib\{665a4446-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}\1.0\Flags] @="0" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\TypeLib\{665a4446-d905-11d0-a30e-444553540000}\1.0\HelpDir] @="C:\\Windows\\System" Alternatively you could just whip up a dummy INF file and paste in pre-existing code from other INFs. You then right-click on this custom INF and "INSTALL" (provided you're set up for context actions with RUNDLL). Something like this should work as a template: ;;; -=[TEMP]=- Dummy INF File [Version] Signature="$CHICAGO$" Provider="-=[TEMP]=-" [DefaultInstall] AddReg=Registry_Add DelReg=Registry_Del [Registry_Add] ;;; add stuff here to punch in [Registry_Del] ;;; add stuff here to pull out [Strings] ;;; place string definitions here Hope this helps!