io.sys and msdos.sys - does XP need these? where should they be?

One of the problems having my xp installed on a drive letter other than C is that once in a while I come accross something on "C" that does not seem to belong there. Unsually some installer places files there assuming it is the system drive...Anyways, todays files are:

io.sys and msdos.sys

They sound like something for win9x, not winXP!
They are "hidden"

 

Hi
if you right click on the floopy and select format you see "create an MS-DOS startup" option. these file are there for such purpose.

 

i have these files as well but i leave them alone since theyre "protected operating system files" and i dont want to mess with it.

 

On my multiboot Win 2000 system, both files are present.

msdos.sys is actually incorrect as it refers to a path C:\MSDOS7, which I long ago deleted.

I doubt that MSDOS.SYS is needed, but I'm not willing to take the time to experiment and find out.

Not sure about IO.sys.

 

Annoyances. Where should they be? I believe somewhere on the active or boot partition.

GF

 

Yes, the files are needed to boot to DOS, but Win 2000, and likely ZP, seems to ignore msdos.sys.

 

Well it seems like they may be needed so i probably should copy them to the active partition.

- HandsOff

 

BTW-

I have a problem with my Task Scheduler. Its set to autostart, but it doesn't start. Someone told me that Global Force knows the reason and explained it in another thread, but I didn't see it. GF if you happen to see this and could point me in the right direction it would be nice. Otherwise I'm just not going to be scheduling any tasks for a while.

-HandsOff

 

Hand's,

Two thing's:

• In the registry, edit the value for limitblankpassworduse under key ....
  
  hklm\system\currentcontrolset\control\lsa to *0* (disabled/1 is enabled).
  
  
• Then inside it's properties tab in services, make sure startup is set to Auto and Log On is Local System Account, interact with desktop. Now attempt starting the service (you may additionally need to disable the HID service).

GF

 

That was quick!

I will give it a try in morning. I think I can safely say I never would have thought of that!


- HandsOff

 

That edit's in case your NOT using a password for logon (tsk, tsk ).
FYI, XP Home's setting is enforced by default not to run without a password. Here, get there quick!

GF

 

(* sheepishly admits *)

GF - Still haven't delved into it yet. I figure, it won't kill me to do without the task scheduler for a day or two. The only thing I can think of that I use it for is to do with prefetch and layout.ini

I'm sure I deserve many tsk, tsk's for all kinds of computer blunders, but I will attempt to justify the password thing. It's my understanding that XP home addition has a feature that remote logging on to the computer is not permitted if the computer does not have a valid password set. So, by my way of thinking, my computer may actually be more secure without a password. After all, I'm the only one using my computer and I do have two Pitbulls in the yard who are determined to insure that no unauthorized user logs on from the console. I try to keep things simple.

BTW, considering that the scheduler did work, and now it does not...how do you account for the change? Is it a sign that malware may have taken root somewhere in my system? I'm probably a little slow, but the relationship between my logon and the status of the task scheduler is not at all clear to me! Just hoping for a bit more background on what I am up against. Who knows, it could even be operator error!


- HandsOff

 

Okay, here is the latest...

I did as you suggested changed the DWord to 0, disabled the HID service, restarted windows...

Your advice seems to have been good, and my DWord was set to 1 befor I changed it (HID was on manual, but not running)

Still the Task Scheduler will not run.

I am a little late in doing this, but I am going to link to the thread where this convoluted story begins. I am going to post a shot of the actuall error message. I think it would be expected to be error 80, but is in fact error 87. There is more...but I think I'll just post the link to the orignating thread and if you have anymore suggestions please drop by!


for a good time click here: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=636376#post636376

- HandsOff