Windows 95 Err Msg: Registry File Was Not Found
Article ID: 116250
Article Last Modified on 11/15/2006
APPLIES TO
This article was previously published under Q116250
SYMPTOMS
When you try to load Windows 95, you may receive the following error
message:
Registry File was not found. Registry services may be inoperative for
this session.
After the error message appears, you may be returned to an MS-DOS command
prompt.
CAUSE
This behavior can occur if the registry file (SYSTEM.DAT) is missing from
the Windows 95 directory or if it is corrupted. The error can also occur if
the [Paths] section is missing from the MSDOS.SYS file.
RESOLUTION
- Add the [Paths] section to the MSDOS.SYS file. For additional
information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge
Base:
118579 Contents of the Msdos.sys File
- Check your system for an existing SYSTEM.DAT file using the following
steps:
- In the Windows 95 directory, type the following command to see if
SYSTEM.DAT is present:
- If the SYSTEM.DAT file exists, proceed with steps 3 and 4; otherwise,
skip to step 5.
- Use the MS-DOS ATTRIB command to remove the Read-Only, System, and
Hidden attributes of the SYSTEM.DAT file:
attrib system.dat -r -s -h
- Rename the SYSTEM.DAT file to SYSTEM.BAD with the following command:
rename system.dat system.bad
- Reboot your computer. During the boot process, if Windows 95 cannot
find the Registry file, it uses SYSTEM.DA0. If this file works well,
it is renamed to SYSTEM.DAT.
-or-
- If the above steps fail, rerun Windows 95 Setup to recreate the
SYSTEM.DAT file from the original disks.
Additional query words: err msg register
Keywords: kberrmsg KB116250