Note: This tutorial assumes you backed up your system files as explained in HowTo Backup System Files.

Why?

You may need to restore system files if your computer was attacked by a virus or if someone actually tried to clean up their hard drive by removing all those "junk files" from C:\ (they *aren't* junk files)! I've actually seen this happen, so be careful what you delete! We're assuming you can't boot properly here, so you'll want to do this from DOS. You won't want to try this procedure unless all else has failed as it can cause problems.

How?

1. To restore your system files, you will need a boot disk like the one created from the Windows CD in HowTo Format.  Boot to that boot disk and at the A: prompt, type in path=a:\;c:\windows\command and enter so that you will have easy access to commands on the floppy disk and in your Windows\command directory.

2. First, go to your c:\backup directory that was created in HowTo Backup System Files.  Do this by typing in cd c:\backup.  Type in dir, dir /ah, dir /ar, and dir /as to make sure you see all files that you may want to restore (another option would be to type attrib * which will show you all the attributes of all the files all at once).  In DOS, you can't easily copy hidden files, so you will need to change the files' attributes. For each file you want to copy (restore), type in:

attrib filename     (will show you file's attributes i.e. H, R)
attrib -H -R filename     (would remove H, R attributes)
copy filename c:\   (restores the filename to c:\)

Repeat the above for every file you wish to install. That's all there is to it! With any luck, you may have recovered your failed system!