How do I check the Boot.ini file?

[vanvock]

I've tried the my comp>prop>advanced path but it says boot.ini can't be opened or changed, if I click edit it says it can't be found. Is there another way to see it? Explorer is set to show all & not to hide system files. I've searched all drives & all I've found is a 1kb backup.

 

[Markbnj]

Are you logged in as an administrator?

 

[vanvock]

Yes, I'm the only user.

 

[Navid]

Try:
Start
Run
msconfig
BOOT

 

[vanvock]

That's the first place I looked but it's not listed. Could it be because it does a selective startup due to some stuff I disabled?

 

[vanvock]

Well, that wasn't it. Any other ideas on where to look or paths to take? If I try via system properties & click edit it asks if I want to create a new file because it can't find it but it has to be there since the system boots, right?

 

[Smilin]

No it doesn't have to be there.

If the arc path to your OS is 0,0,0,1 windows will default to it if boot.ini is missing or misformatted. You should see a brief message about this during boot though.

brute force method to open it is Start | Run "notepad c:\boot.ini"

 

[vanvock]

That takes me to the same spot where it says it can't find it & asks if I want to create one, I guess it's missing then. What would cause that to happen? IIRC there was a time in msconfig that it was listed. Should I write a new one? What brought this on was wanting to check for the usepmtimer entry from dual core patch installs. I had a prob after AMD driver install & there may have been a boot.ini message then, I'll bet that's the cause. I managed to re-install drivers from a backup & got it to boot & I think the AMD drivers were installed as part of a subsequent platform driver update. I've since installed the MS hotfix & AMD optimizer. I've noticed that on a cold boot the cpu is listed as dual core etc. as expected but on a re-start (warm boot) it it shows cpu0 & some other different, incomplete info.

I found this backup copy

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=alwaysOff /fastdetect

The noexecute was added to fix a prob with UT04. Could I just add the usepmtimer switch & create a new file or do I have to let windows do it through the recovery console?

Solved- Thanks for the input