If I copy and paste "Windows" from my mums computer onto a blank disc, will it act as a boot disc on my faulty

Question

....Laptop? My laptop displays the following error message: "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\system32\hal.dll "

I know I need to install the Windows XP disc again, but can it be done the above way?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Absolutely not. Installations are much more technical than mere copying and pasting. You can't even do that with most programs.
However, you could copy that one file that it's referring to from your mom's computer and paste it onto your laptop in the same directory. It should be in the same folder on both your computers.

Answer 2

Go to your mum's PC, press 'start' then 'search'. Use the search function to search the hard drive (C drive), by inputting the name of the missing file into the search box (just type in 'hal.dll'. Easier than that is just open up My Computer, open the Windows/system32 directory, and look for the file.

When you find that file, drag and drop it to a blank floppy. It won't move it, it will only copy it.Take the floppy to your laptop, open My Computer on the laptop, and open the Windows directory. Drag and drop the 'hal.dll' file into the Windows/system32 directory, and hopefully that should work.

Answer 3

There is a way to do this.

The motherboards need to be the same and you will need an extra blank and formated hard drive set as slave on one of your CD leads

Using a current copy of Norton's Ghost, just make a copy or ghost of the drive that you are not using.

The reason that you will need an extra blank and formated hard drive is that no software program can copy a complete live system from a drive that is in use.

Remember also that the mother board will be recognized as the one it was installed on and run like a greased goose

Answer 4

You can download the set up files for windows xp on 6 floppy disks. This will be the same as having the xp cd that you don't have. It will get you to the repair console so you can reinstall the missing or corrupted file. Here is the website with all the directions. good luck http://www.directron.com/bootdisk.html

Answer 5

Since you have the Windows XP disc for your laptop( i.e. you are using licenced software arent you ! ) , put this in your laptop .. a geninue disc will boot .... and if youre really lucky it will let you fix the corrupted file.

A better solution though would be use your mums pc to search internet and download a linux iso image , rip this to dvd/cd depending on what you have in the pc and laptop and reimage the pc Linux

Answer 6

No. You'll have to run a reinstall. But before you do that go into safe mode on bootup. On some computers you hit F8 or F5. You'll see a menu. Choose "safe mode". If that works w/out errors then restart, do the same thing except choose "safe mode with networking".

At this point run anti-virus software and spyware software. If this fails to solve the problem you may have to reinstall your software. However, if you got into safe mode you can how backup your data onto a CD.

If you can't get into your laptop via safe mode then you're hosed. Reinstall.

Answer 7

Whichever DVD copying software you are using will give you the option to select the drive you will copying from and the drive you will be copying to. If you select the same drive for both choices (such as D:/), the program will know to allow the original movie to copied to a temporary folder and then burned to the blank. But you must have plenty of free space or else the system will not complete the process.

Answer 8

No, that won't work

Because a boot disk must be formatted a certain way.

Your Windows subdir won't fit onto a floppy any way. Mine won't even fit on a DVD! (A DL DVD, sure, but not a regular DVD!)

Answer 9

Not at all and as you obviously haven't got the Windows CD it would be illegal anyway.

Answer 10

Doing it the way you're describing? No.