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win98 error loading user.exe

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8 replies

by jerryrbp 1 view

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I have a workstation that displays "error loading user.exe. You must re install windows." then shuts down. It will open in safe mode. I've tried extracting ddeml.dll ( per q243372), wininit.exe, user.exe, and vmm32.vxd. Also tried renaming files and preforming win98 upgrade. When viewing the bootlog.txt it shows the failure as user.exe but only after it has made many references to this same file. any help would be appreciated.

8 replies

by dmiles

This is ana application system file taht is corrupt and needs to be reinstalled,First try Start>programs>windows explorer,locate in C:windows/applications folder,open the folder and double click the user.exe file to reinstall.If this does not work,use the system boot disk to reinstall all files from disk and reboot the system.

by mmccaskill69

Run the win98' setup with the /nd switch (setup /nd).
This should take care of the issue without causing any harm to the programs installed on the system.

by arwjnplanotx

To isolate which application may be causing the problem perform the following steps:
1) Move all the shortcuts in the StartUp (C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp) folder to another folder.
2) Put a semi colon at the beginning of the LOAD= and/or RUN= lines in the win.ini file (not required if nothing after = sign).
3) Backup the registry, export (save) the RUN key (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run) then delete all the programs listed under the Run key. Youmay also want to do this with the RunServices key.
If the problem goes away, add items back either one by one or in groups to isolate which app is causing the error.

Hope this helps,

Al

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