Need to reinstall a windows file through linux....

After partitioning and installing linux I tried to boot into XP and was given the following message:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:

<Windows root>\SYSTEM32/hal.dll

Please reinstall a copy of the above file.

When I mount the drive and look in system32 I can see that it is there, so that must mean it is corrupt. How can I go about this in linux to fix this without reinstalling. I already tried recovery and that did not work. Is there another way? I can boot into Kanotix successfully and can still boot into live cds.

Hi:

I think the problem is related to some changes you have done in your hard disk. If the file is where it may be, I think the only way to restore your windows is doing it from your Win XP Cd. Put it into your cd-rom and reboot. Then choose install. You will recieve a message telling you that windows is installed in your system. So you have to restore it, reinstalling, not a clean copy. There is no problem in reinstalling, it just copies all the files from CD to Hd but your programs, configuration... will be there, you don't lose anything.

How did you repartition? Most probably, your windows partition has changed number, eg hda1 became hda2 or somesuch, which would invalidate the boot.ini file. I believe the easiest fix would be to use the windows recovery console (google for it and the fixmbr/fixboot commands).

Beware, though, that fixmbr overwrites lilo in the MBR - which you might have to re-install in order to dual-boot, or edit boot.ini to add a linux entry from the windows boot loader. If you created another primary partition for linux, another option would be to install lilo there, make that partition active/bootable and leave the windows boot loader alone in its partition...

Correcting errors manually in boot.ini should be enough.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Markus

Correcting errors manually in boot.ini should be enough.

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yes, perhaps native can help if the unit is formatted as NTFS - that's why I suggested the recovery console as the easiest fix.

I didn't mean he shouldn't use the recovely console. Just that an editor on boot.ini would be enough, although I suppose fixboot wouldn't hurt either.

After much messing around and trying to get the file back to the system, it worked. I downloaded from another win machine and copied to a floppy, then got to the A: prompt on my hal.dll machine and copied to to windows\system32. First I had to remove the old hal.dll then replace it with the new one. I also reinstalled a copy of my boot.ini which I already had backed up on floppy, through the same method. Thanks for the help. I back to dual booting.

What I did was check some force button during a mandrake install then that is when it happened.