Big problem

[huskyfur]

I was openning a program on my PC last night, when my computer froze! I didn't think much of it, so I just hit 'restart.' My computer takes forever to start up, a problem that remains a mystery, so instead of waiting I instead went to bed. When I woke up this morning, I tried to log into my pc, and again it froze! Again, I restarted. This time... the computer didn't get far at all before it brought up DOS, and told me that I was missing this file:

VMM32.VXD

.. and that windows couldn't be started without it! The screen also promted to me that if this file wasn't in my PATH then I might have to reinstall Windows98SE (wich I no longer have any disks for).

WHAT IN THE NAME OF JESUS DO I DO?!?!?!

[Andromeda43]

Well, you're obviously working with a computer that DOES boot up ok.

You can probably find that file at a download site somewhere or someone could eMail it to you.

Or, you could snag it off of a Windows 98/SE PC that is still working.

I don't currently have a 98/se machine that I can power up to look at, but I just checked a Windows ME PC and found that file in the C:\windows\system folder. It's 1,020kb in size so would fit on a floppy disk if you can find it on another computer somewhere.

The problem comes in where you replace that one file and then the computer tells you that you need some other file as well. It will stop at the first file it finds missing, although there may be many files missing.

I've been there, done that and it's very frustrating.

Borrowing someone's Windows 98SE CD would probably be your best bet.

Just do an install right over your current OS for a quick fix.

Good Luck,

Andromeda43 B)

PS: There's a bunch of stuff on the internet about that file.

Google for "Vmm32.vxd download"

Also, take a look at this web site. I just picked it at random, more or less.

http://freepctech.com/articles/articles.php?ArticleId=49

[eidenk]

First hit on google and it is a good one :

http://www.easydesksoftware.com/news/news10.htm

Also there is this on MS :

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...b;EN-US;q191874

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...b;EN-US;q191874

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...b;EN-US;q194679

You'll find genuine copies of 98SE at a decent price on eBay if you need to reinstall, as using a vmm32.vxd from a download or an other computer will probably not do the trick for the reasons explained in the above links.

[huskyfur]

The compute DOES have difficulty starting up. I know this because it takes upwards of 15-20 minutes for windows to boot up, fully.

now back to the problem.

I tried to get a list of files from my PC to find out if I could do a repair. I entered " RegEdit /e Vmmlist.txt HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINES\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\VMM32Files"

I recieved this error message: " Cannot export Vmmlist.txt: The specific Key name does not exist."

Does this mean that a repair is impossible? I need to know if the trouble of manually trying to solve this is worth it, or if I need to just order another windows98SE disk, to install it over my existing OS, as suggested by Andromeda43.

[MDGx]

I tried to get a list of files from my PC to find out if I could do a repair. I entered " RegEdit /e Vmmlist.txt HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINES\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\VMM32Files"

I recieved this error message: " Cannot export Vmmlist.txt: The specific Key name does not exist."

Does this mean that a repair is impossible? I need to know if the trouble of manually trying to solve this is worth it, or if I need to just order another windows98SE disk, to install it over my existing OS, as suggested by Andromeda43.

Try this command line [single line]:

RegEdit /e Vmmlist.txt

Please notice that regedit export function from the command line doesn't allow to export fragments from the registry, only the entire registry.

You can export registry fragments [as REG files which can be saved with any file extension] only from within regedit's Windows interface (UI).

But you can open vmmlist.txt in a text editor/viewer better than Notepad [all free(ware), take your pick]:

http://www.mdgx.com/toy.htm#TXT

that can open ASCII text files larger than 64 KB.

This way you can locate the reg key you wish.

VMM32 guide + tools [download VMMTOOLS.ZIP] to restore working vmm32.vxd [if corrupted]:

http://www.mdgx.com/98-3.htm#VXDBUG

HTH

Edited August 25, 2006 by MDGx

[LLXX]

Hard disk is probably dying.

A corrupted VMM32.VXD is a first sign of this problem.

Edited August 25, 2006 by LLXX