Uninstalled Explorer

I know right away what you're thinking, but it really wasn't me that did it. I'm asking for a friend of mine running windows 95 on his computer. He wanted to upgrade to a better version of explorer, so he uninstalled his old version first. Now he can't launch any programs in windows at all. Not a single one. He can access dos, and copy and paste files and such in there, but he can't run any programs in there either. He tried reinstalling Windows 95, but that didn't work either. I know the situation is bleak, I don't have much hope, so...what do you guys suggest.

I know the final option is a format, but we would like to save the data if possible, any ideas on how to get the data off the computer before reformating, if we can't find a solution?

 

<img src="http://forums.techguy.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=705614">

Hello!

Exactly what explorer did he want to update and which one did he delete?

There is Internet Explorer, file name iexplore.exe, with which you browse the internet. Then there is Windows explorer, filename explorer.exe, which basically speaking, manages the operation of the Windows GUI.

From what you described, it sounds like he deleted Windows explorer. If he has the Windows installation disc, try installing Windows over the top of itself, That is, don't format first!

 

Yeah, I think he did uninstall windows explorer, I don't know what he was thinking. Anyway, he tried reinstalling windows 95, and that didn't help. He still can't run any programs.

 

Oops! didn't see that part about reinstallation of Windows. It would be very unusual for an installation not to replace the missing file.

If he can get into DOS then have him try entering: scanreg /restore. This works for Win98; I'm not sure about 95.

 

Alright, I have a bit more information.

He tried that scanreg/restore, and it doesn't work in windows 95.

It is not Explorer that he uninstalled, it was IExplore.exe. It was internet explorer that he removed.

Now, he did come across an interesting statement when attempting to launch windows from DOS:

VFAT device initialization failed. A device or resource required by VFAT is not present or is unavailable, VFAT cannot continue loading. System Halted.

Folders and such work, but double clicking on anything does not launch the program. Launching programs from the start menu doesn't work either. This could very well be something that was unintentionally deleted or disconnected while trying to uninstall IE.

So, any ideas on what could have happened?

 

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=139063

I suggest you print out that page and then try all the suggestions therein.

____________________________________________

As for Internet Explorer . . .

which version was uninstalled?
The default with Win95 is IE3
As far as I know, this cannot be uninstalled.

If it was IE4.1 sp1 (with the Windows Desktop Update)
then uninstalling this would probably cause problems.

You now need to find a copy of Internet Explorer 5 (either 5.01, or 5.5) because you cannot install the latest version of IE6 on Win95.

Get it here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/


ps. In future, there's no need to uninstall IE
Upgrades install straight over the top of previous version.

 

Well, problem solved. We couldn't reinstall explorer from the website, because he couldn't launch any programs, so obviously we couldn't get on the internet to download it. Fortunately QuickTax comes with IE 5, which we installed, now the computer is back to normal.

Thanks for everything.