For Beta testers: SDCentral Issue Update

from Stardock Forums
On Sunday/Monday, Stardock released a new stand alone build of Stardock Central. The installer of this build had a defect that, on some systems, could erase files from the c:\ directory.

If you have installed version 0.99 of Stardock Central, check your c:\ to ensure that there are files still there. If files have been erased, follow the instructions below to recover.
Print this out before continuing.

Windows XP:
1.
copy c:\windows\servicepackfiles\i386\ntldr c:\
copy c:\windows\servicepackfiles\i386\ntdetect.com c:\
copy a:\boot.ini c:\

2. Insert your Windows XP CD into the CD-Rom drive and reboot. When the installer comes up, you may need to press F6 and insert a driver disk if your OS is installed on a fast-ata drive.

3. Once the installer is running, choose to repair using the recovery
console.
4. Choose your installation (1 for a single-boot machine)
5. When the recovery console appears, place the floppy with the
extracted files in the drive and type "copy a:\*.* c:\.


Windows 98/ME

http://www.stardock.com/temp/win_98_org_root.zip Windows 98 Original
http://www.stardock.com/temp/win_98_se_root.zip Windows 98 SE
http://www.stardock.com/temp/win_me_root.zip Windows ME

1. Unzip the appropriate files to your c:\ drive.

2. We've tested the above solution here, but there's a chance we've missed something. If that is the case, you can download a full boot disk for the appropriate platform from
http://www.bootdisk.com/original.htm. Boot off that, exit to a command prompt (should be in the root of the a: drive), and then type "sys c:" to update the system back on the drive.

Windows 2000:
1. Extract the contents of http://www.stardock.com/temp/win2000_root.zip
to a blank floppy. You can also try unzipping these to your c:\ drive.

If the system cannot boot up, go to the next step. Step 1 should work though in most cases.

2. Insert your Windows 2000 CD into the CD-Rom drive and reboot. When the installer comes up, you may need to press F6 and insert a driver disk if your OS is installed on a fast-ata drive.

3. Once the installer is running, choose the R option to repair. If you have an emergency repair disk handy, follow the path to use that. If not, select the recovery console option.

4. With the recovery console option, place the floppy with the extracted files in the drive and type "copy a:\*.* c:\".
1,547 views 29 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
If you need any specific help beyond this, please respond here. We will do our best to help. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
If you have not already rebooted, you should just be able to do the extract steps. No need for any of the boot floppies or CD's.
Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Problem...

copy c:\windows\servicepackfiles\i386\ntldr c:\
copy c:\windows\servicepackfiles\i386\ntdetect.com c:\
copy a:\boot.ini c:\

I dont have a c:\windows\servicepackfiles\i386\ntldr

Or for that matter a \servicepackfiles\
I do not have a boot disk other than the XP CD...
My system is running sp1
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Stike that last post I do have the directory just could not get to it from a command prompt.

Still not sure where to grab a boot.ini
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
If need be you can create a boot.ini yourself in notepad.

It should look like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect


~SDC~
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
If you are not running XP SP1, NTLDR and NDETECT.COM files are on your XP CD, in the I386 directory. Might save having to do a repair - but if in doubt, do one.

Also, if you can't find a copy of boot.ini, a sample one that I think should get you up and running follows (however, use one of your own if you can find it)

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=C:\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
C:\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional (Alternate)" /fastdetect
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Ok latest weirdness this is confirmed on both a XP and a NT box (the XP is mine) the NT was another chap on IRC

The files ARE THERE but they can not be seen even though show hidden files is on.
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
You must have "Hide protected operating system files" unchecked in folder options to see those files.
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
I hate copying system files etc..

What files maybe missing and what happens when they are gone ?

I am at work an can not check my desktop or notebook.

Last I checked they seemed to be running fine.

Does this mean they should be okay ?

As an alternative could we use the Windows XP recover console to role back our systems to a date March 22 or earlier ?

How can these files be erased I thought system files are write protected ?
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
Is there a "fixed" version of SDC .99 out yet?

Toothy
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
Toothy: Not yet, we have temporarily reverted back to the previous version of SDC.
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
I unzipped the content of the w2k file (top), 3 files in it; boot.ini, ntdetect.com and ntldr.
Normally my boot drive is G:, but from the w2k cd installer, my boot drive letter appeard to be C:. So I copied them to C:, D: and E:.

~SDC~
Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top
NTLR MISSING >:(

I start my pc in the morning and its says the above, i cant boot at all so i reinstall XP lose most of my files and then find out it was stadock'S FAULT, im not happy. >:(
Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top
I have WinXP - I think I have this problem (don't see any files in C:\). The above solution looks somewhat confusing (for one, it tells us to copy something from the A:\ without ever telling us what disk should be put in there in the first place!)

Will WinXP's System Restore solve this problem? If so, I think I'd rather do that (seems like it would have a better chance of putting my machine exactly like it was before the mass deletions).
Reply #18 from Stardock Forums Top
If have the missing files on either or both of my machines I also rather look for a restore point.

I am hoping that everything is fine but I updated SDcentral but did not do a clean install.
Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top
I am win98 (old oem version) and finished downloading GalCiv. Thought everything was fine, but I hadn't rebooted yet. For some reason the game crashed after the intro movie (it had worked in the previous beta build I had - the one before gamma) so I figured I'd reboot, assuming that since I had the 99b version of Stardock I would be safe and sound. Not so.

1) Non system disk error. Dead in the water.

2) I'd made a boot floppy from www.bootdisk.com, as advised so booted up with that.

3) I went ahead and did the "sys c:" command, which allowed me to reboot to the DOS prompt with without the floppy.

4) How do I get back in to Win98?! I type "windows" or "start" and all I get is "bad command or filename". I thought the bootdisk was supposed to get me back in to Win98, having replaced the files delted by SDC....

5) I also tried the download listed above for my OS, copied those files on to c:.

6) It would be easier to get assistance from you guys if I were on Stardock Central mirc chat, but I'm completely paranoid about installing it on this Win95 back-up machine I'm using. Are you also on efnet mirc chat or...?

Am I missing a file that should be in the c: but wasn't included on the bootdisk? I'm at wits end. I have too many important files on the HD to reformat and reinstall Win98. *sigh*
Reply #20 from Stardock Forums Top
Has this problem been solved? I was planning to purchase Galactic Civilizations at midnight, but I am not going to until I can be sure that my hard drive will not be deleted.
Reply #21 from Stardock Forums Top
Yes, the situation has been resolved, it was only the inital SDC 0.99 that caused the problem. The latest is at http://storage.stardock.com/files/stardockcentral099b.exe .

Stardock's chat is an IRC chat. You can access it at irc.stardock.com, port 6667, via all popular IRC clients.
Reply #22 from Stardock Forums Top
I'm finding chat about as unhelpful and unresponsive as this board has been for the last few hours. I want to make sure that my system is not permanently damaged as a result of this.

Are these 3 files (listed under the XP solution) the ONLY files deleted? OR are they just the bare minimum one needs to boot properly, leaving your system missing important files that might be needed in the future?

And I'd still like to know if System Restore will fix the problem, as it seems it might provide a more complete solution than what is listed above.
Reply #24 from Stardock Forums Top
Sunac,

If your system isnt set to show invisibile files, you wont see anything. Go here for more details, both on how to view these files and fixes for XP

http://www.galciv.com/forum.asp?BID=GF&id=23588
Reply #25 from Stardock Forums Top
Just to follow up. The guys in the mirc chatroom mentioned above helped me narrow down the problem with what had happened to me and a few others. In my case, it was some lines in the config.sys that hadn't been replaced correctly by the bootdisk. The perils of downloading as a beta user as soon as possible. :)

I've used the new SDC version now, rebooted twice, zero problems. They've fixed the deletion problem, by all accounts. :)