Ninho

@Dave-H : I don't quite like the threat of « After the Windows Update Troubleshooter is complete, your previous Windows Update history may be deleted ». I understand the WU history in question is stored locally on my computer. Would its deletion prevent subsequent removal of olderupdates that might be necessary in the future, however implausible ?

Here is a minor though annoying behaviour of the desktop, courtesy our friends at MS : when the "show superhidden" folder in Explorer option is chosen, two annoying icons for "Desktop.ini" are displayed on the windows 7 desktop. ISTM this is an oversight, our above mentioned friends should have grasped that while we may wish to see system files in explorer views, we have no cause or desire for Desktop.ini (x2!) cluttering our desktops ! Is there a known manner of putting an end to this hmmm... feature ? Manually putting the unwanted out of the view port (by switching to a higher screen resolution and back) did not work as I tried : Windows dutifully replaces the icons in full view ! I assume that programmatically positioning the icons out of view (by altering values in the registry) would have the same (absence of meaningful) effect ? Is there a trick to get rid of the bug, like, either some "super-super" hiding flag for the desktop.ini_s, or does it take hacking Windows dll_s ? It would surprise me if nobody else saw this as an aggravation (which didn't happen in Win XP, I am sure.) [Edited : typo in subject title]

I understand this is how it /should/ be - unfortunately, here, the notification icon does appear on the taskbar (when applicable) but still no joy trying to go to the update web sites :-( I use FAT32 and have system file protection shut down, so switching system DLLs is real easy - unfortunately it makes zero difference whether I use either version of muweb.dll (duly regsvr32'ed) ! Any attempt at accessing the update site in Internet Explorer redirects to the error page. Oh well ! I'll leave it alone rather than break things again, since the onboard update applet it is now offering essential downloads for this system ! ... Who knows, it might even happen that the web version repairs itself as a side effect of some future update :=) Thank you, and also Submix8c !

Hi Submix8c, and thanks for chiming in ! Yes, I had read - but probably dot digested - the whole thread ,=) I have /both/ DLL files sitting in the system32 folder, muweb and wuweb, both reporting version 7.6.7600.257. Internet explorer add-on management, Toolbars and extensions, Show All... is showing MUWebControlClass, status : enabled. It is /not/ displayed among "currently loaded" extensions however. Does it make sense ? Please kindly suggest what I should try next ! Could it be the wuweb.dll is in need of a quick registerDLL32 ?

I'm experiencing a curious defect with my XP pro SP3 (with the "POSready hack applied) : automatic update notification & OS driven updates work, but Internet Explorer has become unable to browse to the online sites, Windows Update (resp. Microsoft Update). More details : until nov, 2014, I used to have automatic updates /de/selected, and visited the online update site periodically (using IE6) to pick and install my updates. For some reason then I tired and neglected to check for updates ...until recently. When I got to try again, /something/ had changed (at Microsoft, or here, or both) that it had become /impossible/ to access the online update sites using the browser : keeps redirecting to an error page (kb2497281) which does not help solving the particular instance ! The KB advised installing IE8, which I did without changing anything to the issue : the Windows update links (from IE or Start Menu) untiringly redirect the browser to that same KB error page ! The good news is, after much hair pulling, I installed /automatic/ updates (well, semi-automatic : notify but let me select what to download) and, to my surprise, this WORKS ! I get a nice yellow shiel and am able to review, select and install my updates. :=) Yet, I'd like to sort out the problem with it being impossible to visit (browse) Windows update ! I can confim I have the lastest components of the updater. Sorry I /can't/ remember whether I was opted in to "Microsoft update" versus "Windows update" before the problem started. Actually, could it be part of the problem ? /maybe/ I opted for Windows update the last time I used the web updating site (november 2014). Any ideas ?

KBFR is an alternate DOS driver for French keyboards. Salient features : - only 480 bytes resident memory used - autoloads "high" if upper memory is available (can be overridden) - *all DOS* make and version supported (please report if you find an incompatible case) - should run on all "AT" class, 80286+ machines (i.e. anything except early PC and PC-XT & compatibles) - driver can be enabled, disabled, removed without rebooting. - compatible with MS-Windows and DOS multi-taskers. - especially recommended for boot floppies (if anybody still cares) as it occupies only ~2 kilobytes on disk (no extra data file needed) - only French keyboard supported ATM sorry. I have a German version half finished, will finalise IF voluntary testers apply (please message me) - license : free for use, open source. Download : attached archive 4,578 bytes More download links (including KBFR source code) July 27, 2011 - edit Downloadable files were refreshed (minor bugfix). The above links have been updated accordingly. Users who downloaded earlier should update. KBFR.ZIP

Problem (or PEBKAC?) resolved :=) I was mistaken : Windows 2000 with SP4 (and no media specific update or add-on) can indeed access data files stored on DVD-Video media. How was I mistaken ? Double-clicking on the drive's icon in "My Computer" I intended to "open" the file system, instead popped up a message telling : - No Windows 2000 compatible DVD decoder is installed on this system. Either a hardware or a software DVD decoder is required to be able to read movies (etc.) This message was misleading me : since I have had zero problems in "reading movies" (using the VLC media player), I interpreted the message as telling Windows cannot show the data files, and did not "dig" further. Whereas I am gathering now, this message was informing me that Windows 2000 does not natively reads DVD videos (is this interpretation right ?) In any case, the data files stored on the DVD video alongside the video itself are accessed easily after, not double clicking, but right clicking the DVD drive icon in My Computer and choosing explore or open. The mistake ultimately came from the default action being read, which it can't !!!! rather than one of open or explore. Go figure, MS ! Problem solved hence, and sorry for bothering you (but hope it may help others after me...)

I guess you have installed some 3rd party software including drivers with that hardware. Is it not DVD-RAM you have there ? I'm speaking DVD-ROM reader (no burner here!). I haven't researched elsewhere, since I thought MSFN would be where I would get the immediate and best possible answer to my question :=) ... but I think what's missing from Win 2k is the file system driver. (Not sure if this is what they call the *UDF* ?). How would I go adding the required file system (and/or further type of) needed drivers so Windows can see files on DVD ROMs ? (No problems for files on CD-ROM of course, it's only with the DVD-ROM that Windows 2k cannot see files, only plays recorded media). Help, please, gents !

Hullo dear MSFN forum members ! This will look like a noob's question, which it is indeed - I have little to no experience with (relatively) new media formats such as the DVD-ROM. OS is Windows 2000 Pro SP4. ////Update: Problem SOLVED :=) Please read down thread for full info. //// Have a (commercial, legally owned, pressed) DVD-ROM featuring a Wajda movie ; I am able to watch the movie alright in VLC player, though we prefer to watch it comfortably on the TV set ! But this DVD media contains a data file (a filmography) as an extra, which neither Windows 2000 (Explorer) nor the media player (VLC) see! The separate DVD player in the living room can't show it, either :-( I understand, and in fact I checked positively, that Windows XP natively *does* add the data file to the file system, and shows it under the DVD's "letter". Is there an addon for Win 2k to acquire the same or similar ability ? I guess Microsoft did not add full DVD support to Windows 2000 in order to further the sales of (then new) Windows XP. Whatever... I could take some help!

Re. "wininit", it's not something you have to run yourself : though it would be possible indeed it's not needed, the way it works is Windows will run wininit.exe during its boot-up procedure and execute any operations defined in "wininit.ini". Not familiar with RLoew's patch, I'll leave to him to answer your final question. Cheers, -- Ninho

On their site they don't mention Windows 98 (nor Win ME) as a compatible OS. Are you running an older version perhaps, or are you confirming the current version runs fine on 98 SE - that would be great !

Who Vektor is - obviously a good programmer/hacker... But it doesn't matter who he is : for the patch in question is explained on the Kamelite site (links in the OP), and it is nice and simple enough you and I can 1. understand the theory and 2. verify the practical implementation does what it said it would (binary differencing the "before" and "after" shell32). I feel safer running this Vektor's patch in Win 2k than running the MS "fix" under Win XP in fact !!! Not that I suspect MS would voluntarily borg things (albeit...), but Vektor's method solves the problem at the root and in a documented way, plus it's simple and elegant, whereas what MS's patch does is undocumented, and history teaches us their patches often are unnecessarily obscure and complicated, treating the symptoms (i.e., reported exploits) rather than the root cause : thus leaving the door open to the next exploit, next patch etc... UNTIL "end of support" & you are advised to go shopping for the next Windows version : this is about all their is to the "Windows Update" scam ;=) But this is just me... Oh, and I'm running with shell32 patched per Vektor since day 1 - it just works ;=)

Hi! That's all very good and well, so... did you get reports of your patch ? Own tests ? Does it nuke the vulnerabilty altogether? Does it eliminate the need for Vektor's (the original subject) ? And which method is superior, if any ?

Not by Vektor. Before looking for a patch however... is Windows 9x known to be affected ? .lnk / .pif on NT have extended options unavailable on DOS-based Windowzes, and I think the exploit relies on the new capabilities. Not 100% sure, did you (you all) check this point ?

Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere on site : "Vektor" has a great patch for the .lnk vulnerability. In addition to Windows 2000 (SP1 and SP4 at the moment), his simple and effective patch applies to Windows XP all versions. http://nemesis.te-home.net/News/20100723_Patch_for_0day__LNK_file_handling_vulnerability_up.html Clean and recommended. Vektor also patched win32k.sys for the CreateDIBPalette vuln, applicable to Win 2k and XP (all service packs). Just browse nemesis.te-home.net for the latter, and lots more goodies!

There used to be a very interesting Yahoo! group dedicated to RPM. It is no longer active, but you could still subscribe to browse the group archives, and look at the group's files which include extensive documentation. 3 and 4 together are your Acronis backup partition : 3 is an /extended/ partition, a container, while 4 is the data patition (the backup itself). Number 5 is unused slack space at the end of the disk. Note : you should set Ranish to show you sector numbers rather than fictitious and confusing cyl/head/sectors. To do that, you press IIRC [F4] .

Merci beaucoup, Eveline! Seems doable if tedious, I'll try my best - sadly with the wife being terminally ill, not sure I'll find the required amount of patience and free time. Oh agreed, I recall visiting his good site in the past.

Thanks for the pointers to lists, SpoiledB ! My problem however, I have a non-English language Win 2k installation media to start with (slipstreamed with SP4). If I were to reinstall in the future, I'd have to start with a fresh French SP4 (incl. IE5, I think)... How can I establish a list of needed updates, similar to those in cited refs, and then collect them from MS while they're available for local archival ? I guess the first thing is getting a French IE6 SP1, right ? I assume I need this one before installing other updates, though I wouldn't use IE anymore. Could you or somebody else enlighten me while it's time still ! THX -- Ninho

You're probably right - I was thinking of (very) old AT disks, chipsets and BIOSes - that did not use DMA for access to HD.

Hmm, I suppose the low level BIOS routines would be accessing the HD controller in the old AT-compatible way, i.e. request a number of /sectors/ not /bytes/. But I haven't got 1024 byte per sector disks yet, so I could've held my mouth shut :~{ --- May I assume your reply was backed on actual trials you made ? W/ best regards, -- Ninho

This is plainly false. A standard AT BIOS will read one (1) sector from disk to a fixed place in memory, then jump to execute code from the start of that buffer provided the required signature, hex AA 55 is present at offset 510 (1fe hex). It doesn't matter if the sector length isn't 512, provided it is /larger/ (if it were smaller than 512, /then/ you'd have a problem because the boot sector signature wouldn't be found after reading the sector and so, BIOS would think there was a read error and the boot process wouldn't go on.

*Confirmed* For all purposes, it seems the Ntkern and VMM (from MS kb Q288430) have fixed the odd problems I was having :=) Maybe good to note !

I haven't seen the problem again since I swapped ntkern versions ! Too early to say if that was "it", but encouraging nonetheless. I meant a possible race condition, not between OSes of course, but between Windows 98 initialising various hard/software components... WAG indeed. As to the NVRAM, was thinking of extra non volatile storage used by ACPI. The ill condition which prevents normal booting of win 98 (and only it), when it exists, is persistent across rebooting and even powering off, which suggests non volatile RAM is involved. Of course Registry could be involved, but the fact that the problem seems to switch itself on after running other OSes suggests that is not it. That ill condition, once it exists, is deterministically cured by the following steps : - boot Windows 98 SE in "step by step" mode, refuse the loading of all and any optional VxD. - reboot (or even "shift"-reboot) Windows normally, including all VxDs, now works. Oh, well, don't lose sleep over that. In a previous life, many moons past, I would have "soft-ice'd" this system... I don't have a working winice any more, and couldn't install it on this MoBo most probably.

I'm searching for any official/non-official updates to ntkern.vxd, were there any ? Using the original[°] from Win 98SE - embedded in vmm32.vxd. Often it gives me the infamous windows protection error while initializing driver ntkern... for which the only thing MS kb has to say is blame defective memory, which I'm sure is not the cause here. Rather it has to be sort of a race condition with hardware or other driver initialisation. It happens most often when I boot 98 again after booting Linux or Win 2k (neither of which suffer from "memory" problems), and when it happens it is rather sticky - to cure the condition I have to boot to the desktop while disallowing all vxd's (shift-[F8] diag booting, /not/ FailSafe, which doesn't repair the whatever problem; maybe something inscribed in the NVRAM after running the other OSes????) Anyway, if there are more recent versions of the ntkern, I'll be sure to try them as a way to better diagnose the problem. WinME's ntkern does not load at all under 98Se, however. TIA ! [°] Now trying Ntkern.vxd file version 4.10.2224, internal version 4.10.2225, size 195,262 from MS kb Q288430. Too early to say if it will fix the problem at hand (fingers crossed). Any known later versions ?

You're welcome ! BTW, people who are interested in the technical details - of the bug and my fix - can watch a number of threads on the "DOS ain't dead" forums at www.bttr-software.de/ - where I attempted an open development, sort of. Look for the threads with FIXWRAP or HACKWRAP - older fix attempt - in their titles, for instance : http://www.bttr-software.de/forum/forum_entry.php?id=7272 No need to read all that stuff for just using FixWrap, of course ;=)