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XP error message

When trying to run certain programs or installers I get the following message:
C:\WINDOWS\AUTOEXEC.NT. The system file is not suitable for running MS_DOS and Microsoft Windows applications.

It started happening after I messed with the envirnment variables trying to get java to run from the command prompt. Any ideas?

un-mess them.. hopefully you have system restore on.. or reinstall.. unless you or someone know alot about environment variables..

I've already tried sys restore it always fails saying it cannot restore to the selected point.

did you try a different point? or is there only one

Yes I get the same error message with every point.

AUTOEXEC.NT isn't all that important, and shouldn't be in the Windows directory, as far as I know, I've always seen it in the System32 folder in all my installations. It's just a batch file though, so you can edit it in Notepad. Here's what it should look like:

Code:

@echo off



REM AUTOEXEC.BAT is not used to initialize the MS-DOS environment.

REM AUTOEXEC.NT is used to initialize the MS-DOS environment unless a

REM different startup file is specified in an application's PIF.



REM Install CD ROM extensions

lh %SystemRoot%\system32\mscdexnt.exe



REM Install network redirector (load before dosx.exe)

lh %SystemRoot%\system32\redir



REM Install DPMI support

lh %SystemRoot%\system32\dosx



REM The following line enables Sound Blaster 2.0 support on NTVDM.

REM The command for setting the BLASTER environment is as follows:

REM    SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 P330

REM    where:

REM        A    specifies the sound blaster's base I/O port

REM        I    specifies the interrupt request line

REM        D    specifies the 8-bit DMA channel

REM        P    specifies the MPU-401 base I/O port

REM        T    specifies the type of sound blaster card

REM                 1 - Sound Blaster 1.5

REM                 2 - Sound Blaster Pro I

REM                 3 - Sound Blaster 2.0

REM                 4 - Sound Blaster Pro II

REM                 6 - SOund Blaster 16/AWE 32/32/64

REM

REM    The default value is A220 I5 D1 T3 and P330.  If any of the switches is

REM    left unspecified, the default value will be used. (NOTE, since all the

REM    ports are virtualized, the information provided here does not have to

REM    match the real hardware setting.)  NTVDM supports Sound Blaster 2.0 only.

REM    The T switch must be set to 3, if specified.

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 P330 T3



REM To disable the sound blaster 2.0 support on NTVDM, specify an invalid

REM SB base I/O port address.  For example:

REM    SET BLASTER=A0

the autoexec is diff for diff people... he may not have a sound blaster card for example...

The only lines that really matter are these:
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\mscdexnt.exe
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\redir
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\dosx

All the rest are remarks... They don't make a difference and I don't have a soundblaster myself. That is just a standard AUTOEXEC.NT...

I fixed it, the autoexec.nt file was in windows/repair so I moved it to system32 and now everything works fine

Thanks for the great info! Dell couldn't figure that out for me.
One question though. What causes that particular error message and how do I prevent it?

Preacher

I've been trying to figure that out for months until I googled the error msg and this was the first result! I also moved the autoexec.nt to the systme 32 folder and everything works fine. . . wonder how it was moved?

Yes thats what I'm wondering about but then again you did say that you fiddled with some stuff? Dunno, I always hit the restore button as fast as I can :)

assuming he has system restore enabled...

True true. I always tend to assume that anyone has that enabled. I love it when you get a call from someone with a comp problem and you tell them about it and they go absolutely mad. Too many ppl dont know about the option

They don't really ever tell the average joe about it.