Win ME reinstallation woes

[Sleepless in New Jersey]

Win ME wasn't working right. I tried everything I

could. I decided to reinstall ME. (Which probably was a

mistake.) The old PC we use at work has only a 2GB hard

drive, so I knew I could have problems, just not the

ones I got. I started the reinstall and logged in the

OS copy. Soon I was told there wasn't enough hard drive

space, so I removed some files and started over. Again,

there wasn't enough space. I removed files with a

vengeance. I had started with about 220 MB available.

Now I had about 750MB. I started over again. The

reinstall went on for abour 45 minutes. Eventually, I

was told there still wasn't enough space. I had to kill

the reinstall. I've terminated installations before.

In those instances it was as though I had done nothing.

This time I was horrified to find I had only 134MB of

free space.

I have looked all over Windows Explorer trying to find

the missing megabytes, with no luck. The files I

removed are truly gone. I was going to reinstall most

of them, but I can't - there isn't enough space. I did

reinstall one large game. Now there is 66MB of free

space.

I really need to get the space back. Is there any thing

I can do? I'm at my wits end.

I copies this text from a Note pad file. I hope all of the message was
copied over - otherwise this post won't make sense.

[Jerry]

If you really think things are beyond repair then boot from a real-mode DOS
floppy, the ME safety boot floppy will do, reformat the hard drive, and
reinstall ME from the CD.

"Sleepless in New Jersey" >
wrote in message ...
> Win ME wasn't working right. I tried everything I
>
> could. I decided to reinstall ME. (Which probably was a
>
> mistake.) The old PC we use at work has only a 2GB hard
>
> drive, so I knew I could have problems, just not the
>
> ones I got. I started the reinstall and logged in the
>
> OS copy. Soon I was told there wasn't enough hard drive
>
> space, so I removed some files and started over. Again,
>
> there wasn't enough space. I removed files with a
>
> vengeance. I had started with about 220 MB available.
>
> Now I had about 750MB. I started over again. The
>
> reinstall went on for abour 45 minutes. Eventually, I
>
> was told there still wasn't enough space. I had to kill
>
> the reinstall. I've terminated installations before.
>
> In those instances it was as though I had done nothing.
>
> This time I was horrified to find I had only 134MB of
>
> free space.
>
> I have looked all over Windows Explorer trying to find
>
> the missing megabytes, with no luck. The files I
>
> removed are truly gone. I was going to reinstall most
>
> of them, but I can't - there isn't enough space. I did
>
> reinstall one large game. Now there is 66MB of free
>
> space.
>
> I really need to get the space back. Is there any thing
>
> I can do? I'm at my wits end.
>
> I copies this text from a Note pad file. I hope all of the message was
> copied over - otherwise this post won't make sense.

[Noel Paton]

All may not be lost - try this.....
First - clear the System Restore archive completely (you'll lose all SR
points, obviously, but they should have been cleared by the reinstall
anyhow)
Boot to DOS, using your Startup Disk (if you don't have one and can't make
one from Start | Add/Remove Programs, then download a diskmaker from
www.bootdisk.com, and create the floppy by running the file)

At the A:\> prompt, type the following commands (followed by [return])

ATTRIB -S -R -H C:\_RESTORE

REN C:\_RESTORE OLDREST

When the A:\> prompt returns, remove the floppy, and reboot the PC. The
Control Files will be rebuilt, and a Restore point should be created.

Then delete the C:\OLDREST folder, and reboot again.

Then check the available disk space.

From your saying that this is a work machine, I'd guess that it probably
has MS Office installed? If you have the install disks and Product keys
available, uninstall it before the above operation,


then reinstall ME over itself - following the advice here
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/reinME.htm

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"Sleepless in New Jersey" >
wrote in message ...
> Win ME wasn't working right. I tried everything I
>
> could. I decided to reinstall ME. (Which probably was a
>
> mistake.) The old PC we use at work has only a 2GB hard
>
> drive, so I knew I could have problems, just not the
>
> ones I got. I started the reinstall and logged in the
>
> OS copy. Soon I was told there wasn't enough hard drive
>
> space, so I removed some files and started over. Again,
>
> there wasn't enough space. I removed files with a
>
> vengeance. I had started with about 220 MB available.
>
> Now I had about 750MB. I started over again. The
>
> reinstall went on for abour 45 minutes. Eventually, I
>
> was told there still wasn't enough space. I had to kill
>
> the reinstall. I've terminated installations before.
>
> In those instances it was as though I had done nothing.
>
> This time I was horrified to find I had only 134MB of
>
> free space.
>
> I have looked all over Windows Explorer trying to find
>
> the missing megabytes, with no luck. The files I
>
> removed are truly gone. I was going to reinstall most
>
> of them, but I can't - there isn't enough space. I did
>
> reinstall one large game. Now there is 66MB of free
>
> space.
>
> I really need to get the space back. Is there any thing
>
> I can do? I'm at my wits end.
>
> I copies this text from a Note pad file. I hope all of the message was
> copied over - otherwise this post won't make sense.