How do I repair my current install of WinXP Pro if the boot.ini file was deleted?

[bearmeat]

My current install of Win XP was working just fine, but one day my friend was removing files that he was keeping temporaily on my HD and I think he deleted the boot.ini file along with it by accident. I tried just re-installing, but setup wants me to erase my current installation. How do I use the repair magagement console to restore my installation?

My computer still works normally, its just that everytime I boot up, it says:

"missing or unacceptable boot.ini
starting in C:\Windows"

booting up takes a little longer and its getting annoying

 

[bozo1]

Just restore your boot.ini from your backup.

 

[bjc112]

<< Just restore your boot.ini from your backup. >>



hope you have a backup!:Q

 

[bozo1]

<< hope you have a backup! >>



I was kinda rudely making a point with that comment.

Boot.ini is just a text file. Mine is below. Just make a text file out of it, put it in the root and flag it as system and hidden. My .ini assumes that XP is installed on your first partition in a directory called windows:

[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 Professional" /fastdetect

 

[bearmeat]

ok thats easy enough. how do I flag it as a system file? I only see "hidden" and "read only" as options.