no system32 folder?!?!

[hakeem5454]

this is very simple, i have NO system 32 directory in C:\WINDOWS. whats going on?

[member11]

this folder is hidden.

go to view-option and choose "show hidden file or folder" or something like that

[hakeem5454]

i tried that nothing shows up

[Zxian]

Have you done the usual spyware/virus scans? both with your AV program and online scanners?

[boooggy]

is your windows running?

[gamehead200]

this is very simple, i have NO system 32 directory in C:\WINDOWS. whats going on?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What version of Windows are you running?

[Scubar]

it sounds to me like u have a known type of worm. It changes ur system32 folder properties. if u uncheck hide protected operating files you should find it appears again.

You should run a virus scan at http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ and also use a few antispyware programs. the best one to use is spysweeper which you can get a free trial of from http://www.webroot.com

Edited August 5, 2005 by ScubaSteve

[hakeem5454]

i have windows xp professional with sp2 and its running fine. I dont see any problems or anything, but iill try running virus and spyware/adware scans and tell u guys how it goes

[chilifrei64]

yeah it is probably the virus... the easiest way to tell if your system32 folder is missing is to reboot... if windows comes back up then it is still there.. if it doesnt.. then it isnt there

[ligottage]

Hi, new to this forum, but found the info very helpful. With a bit of trial and error I found the following action fixed the regedit problem (as well as others).

First, when viewing folders, go to Tools, then Folder Options. Next click on the View tab and check the copy "Show hidden files and folders" button just below the "Hidden files and folders" folder icon on the list shown in Advanced settings:, n.b. a warning will appear that you are making system files available and thus will be able to delete them. Be VERY careful from this point on.

In the 'windows\system32\' folder, list the files in DETAIL view, find any instance of REGEDIT.COM (just sort by 'Name' and find it), click on the file (ONLY ONE TIME) to highlight it and then sort the list of files by 'Date Modified'. The list should show all the files with a 'Size' of 0 KB and 'File Type' of MS-DOS Application. Simply delete the 'regedit' file, and you should be fine. Other files that appeared on my computer were, TRACERT, TASKLIST, TASKKILL, PING, NETSTAT and CMD (this one was especially annoying until I found out where it was, couldn't get to the DOS prompt from the RUN... command).

After fixing my problem, I searched some more and found additional information at Win32.Alcan.A virus info. Not everything that's listed actually happened to my computer, perhaps I caught it in time.

[Scubar]

the Winupdates spyware also hides ur system32 folder and adds a couple of .com files

[LLXX]

This is why I always set it to show all the files, hidden and system. It's most confusing otherwise.

(Windows won't even boot without the system32 folder, so if your Windows runs fine it must be there...)