I Broke Win 95 (himem.sys)

[supereater14]

i was working with this win 95 system and i accidentally erased the himem.sys file. now the system won't boot. what do i do? some info on my situation: the system's only disk drive is a floppy drive. i have a win 95 install disk, but it's a cd.

p.s. giving me a copy of the file would be illegal, so don't do it.

Edited June 25, 2010 by supereater14

[Netshroud]

Try: On another computer, extract himem.sys from the CD, and copy it onto a floppy.

[digip]

Um, I dont think microsoft is going to come after you for copying himem.sys from someone. Its not like the OS is still supported. Google for it, I'm sure there is a copy floating around out there. Also, look on the CD from another PC with a CDROM. It might not end in the same file extension though, might be .sy_ or even within a .cab file, so might have to do some digging, but its on there somewhere. The other option is to load the HDD in a machine with a working CDROM and repair from there.

Alternative, install it in a VM on another workstation, copy to floppy, boot win95 box from boot floppy, swap out disk, copy over good file. I think even the floppy boot disk has the himem file on it, so check that as well. You can create a startup floppy disk from within the windows 95 vm.

You could also try, but not 100% sure it would work, using the one that comes with FreeDOS (if it contains one).

edit: just thought of somehtign else, not sure if it will work, but if you can edit config.sys, I think you can comment out the himem reference and still boot in safe mode but wont be able to run much of anything.

Edited June 25, 2010 by digip

[Sparda]

Install 7

[ascorbic]

Looks like you can download it here

http://www.techadvice.com/specs/files_dl.asp?fnid=242

Did anyone else read the subject and see "I broke" to the left then over on the right "hymen"?

[Infiltrator]

Honestly I don't know why you are still using windows 95, its so old and no longer supported by Microsoft. I would strongly recommend you to switch to a new and more stable windows version, plus I am not very certain whether you will still be able to find that missing file, you might but you chances could be very slim.

[manuel]

http://www.techadvice.com/w95/s/start-up_disk_w95.htm

http://www.computerhope.com/ac.htm

But... all you have to do is boot into DOS (press F8 key immediately after BIOS checks for the keyboard)

Then...

Edit your config.sys file

with teh follwing ocmmand:

Edit config.sys

it should read something like this:

DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS

FILES=30

BUFFERS=20

CHANGE IT TO:

FILES=30

BUFFERS=20

Because files like himem are system files, just a tad bit of searching online (VERY MINIMAL EFFORT) will point you to places like bootdisk.com or even Microsoft.com and is not considered pirating, more so because the company (microsoft) has previously issued the files for public use for instances like this.

[supereater14]

Um, I dont think microsoft is going to come after you for copying himem.sys from someone. Its not like the OS is still supported. Google for it, I'm sure there is a copy floating around out there. Also, look on the CD from another PC with a CDROM. It might not end in the same file extension though, might be .sy_ or even within a .cab file, so might have to do some digging, but its on there somewhere. The other option is to load the HDD in a machine with a working CDROM and repair from there.

Alternative, install it in a VM on another workstation, copy to floppy, boot win95 box from boot floppy, swap out disk, copy over good file. I think even the floppy boot disk has the himem file on it, so check that as well. You can create a startup floppy disk from within the windows 95 vm.

You could also try, but not 100% sure it would work, using the one that comes with FreeDOS (if it contains one).

edit: just thought of somehtign else, not sure if it will work, but if you can edit config.sys, I think you can comment out the himem reference and still boot in safe mode but wont be able to run much of anything.

i looked on the cd, and i think it's in one of the .cab files, however, i don't have software that can deal with .cab files (i'm running ubuntu)

[supereater14]

Um, I dont think microsoft is going to come after you for copying himem.sys from someone. Its not like the OS is still supported. Google for it, I'm sure there is a copy floating around out there. Also, look on the CD from another PC with a CDROM. It might not end in the same file extension though, might be .sy_ or even within a .cab file, so might have to do some digging, but its on there somewhere. The other option is to load the HDD in a machine with a working CDROM and repair from there.

Alternative, install it in a VM on another workstation, copy to floppy, boot win95 box from boot floppy, swap out disk, copy over good file. I think even the floppy boot disk has the himem file on it, so check that as well. You can create a startup floppy disk from within the windows 95 vm.

You could also try, but not 100% sure it would work, using the one that comes with FreeDOS (if it contains one).

edit: just thought of somehtign else, not sure if it will work, but if you can edit config.sys, I think you can comment out the himem reference and still boot in safe mode but wont be able to run much of anything.

the windows 95 cd is not bootable

[Charles]

That would by why you put the CD in another computer and grab the file from it, or get it somewhere online.

Put it on a floppy and transfer it over.

Hell you can even download this here: http://1gighost.com/ed/jamiephiladelphia/boot95b.exe

Run it to image a floppy then boot off said floppy and replace the himem.sys file.

Man, I am glad that I don't deal with Win95 or Win98 anymore.

Edited June 25, 2010 by Charles

[Mr-Protocol]

Ah.. the good ole days were you have to boot from a floppy first in order to access CD Rom... Don't you remember? :P

I'd say upgrade to a better system. The components in the Win95 probably are almost dead why still use it? I could not imagine working on a Win95 machine again

if you edit and erase your himem.sys line you wont have higher memory access which may cause issues.

Bottom line, I'd say invest in a new PC.

Speaking of which.. how did you accidentally delete a necessary system file? Sort of confused by this. Are you sure you should be working on a system if you deleted himem.sys lol. Another option could be recover the file manually with hex editor and like magic works again.

Edited June 25, 2010 by Mr-Protocol

[manuel]

probably is was given the computer to play on... and learn on... but much good that did, if he isn't able to search freely using google or bing... instead goes to a forum and asks how to revive it... that said, I am trying to not be a dick about it, but at least be willing to read a little.

[eliminatebotnets]

Wow. Didn't Win95 originally come with no USB support? I'm sure they made an update for it near the end of it's lifecycle. I remember USB support being a fairly new thing in Win98.

Also since it hasnt been supported for several years, the malware exploits have to be scary if you use it on internet at all. Even with all the existing patches, your pc could get compromised in minutes.

Himem.sys is an old standard DOS file. Should be able to find that anywhere. Like say... Google. But in all seriousness this was a funny post. Wether you were intentionally trying to be or not.

Edited June 26, 2010 by eliminatebotnets

[Charles]

Yah, Win95 didn't ship with USB support. I think they added it in version B, with a patch, but meh, the support was shitty. Win98 USB support wasn't really that much better either.

[Infiltrator]

Restoring Himem.sys file

Boot from a known good bootable floppy diskette. If you are able to successfully boot from a bootable diskette,

Once at the A:\> prompt type the bellow commands.

If you are running Windows 95, Windows 98, type:

copy himem.sys c:\windows <press enter>

If, when typing any of the above commands, you receive a prompt that the file already exists, ensure to overwrite it. Note: While this file generally is only located in the Windows directory, it is possible for it also to be located in the root or DOS directory.

Reboot the computer; if the issue continues to occur, verify that the config.sys is properly setup. The line himem.sys should read:

DEVICE=C:\Windows\HIMEM.SYS

or

DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS

Good luck and let me know how you go.

Edited June 26, 2010 by Infiltrator

[wh1t3 and n3rdy]

Ok I'll bite, what are you using windows 95 for? I imagine it's for some specialist reason.

Edited June 28, 2010 by wh1t3 and n3rdy