Looking for help to back up everything EXCEPT Windows Vista OS

Is the Windows System File Checker available in Vista?

http://ask-leo.com/what_is_the_system_file_checker_and_how_do_i_run_it.html

Xpilot

 

My Vista PC responds to sfc /? entered into an administrative command prompt window by listing the command arguments and a description of what the command does. So, apparently YES.

 

Hi Cindy,
Let me take one last stab at this.
Try going into Control Panel and
click on Printers.
There should be only one item there for
your printer. Recently I had a problem with
my HP all-in-one printer when I found two
items listed there. I deleted the 2nd one
and the problems disappeared.
It would be interesting to go to the Puter that
the printer works with and see what's in Control
Panel/Printer and compare with the one that
is causing the problem

 

Sorry posted twice. Couldn't find my post

 

If this (from #6) is true, then the problem is with the OS, not with the printer drivers or software.

If this were my problem I wouldn't go to all the faff of a Vista reinstall just for this. I'd connect the printer to the XP computer, install its drivers and software there, and set it up as a network printer in Vista.

 

I don't want to steal Xpilot's thunder, but he had the right idea in his post # 26. Run the Windows System File Checker to see if it can sort out / replace any damaged Windows system files. This may fix the problem.

To do this, start an administrative command prompt (click on the Vista orb, type "cmd" and then right-click on "Command Prompt" and choose "Run as administrator"). At the command prompt, type the following: sfc /scannow and allow the program to check Vista's system files. You will need a Vista DVD in case it finds any damaged files and needs to replace them.

This may be worth a try before giving up and reinstalling Windows.

 

There is only one for my Samsung there.

The printer is physically connected to the XP computer and the Vista computer prints across the network to it. Worked fine from day one until the problem developed. Even tried connecting the printer physically to the Vista computer but the same problem is still there.

Cindy

 

Problem has to be with the OS since it happens in print preview, in word pad, notepad, and word, and with XPS printer too.

As mentioned before...I've already tried to connect it physically to the Vista and physically install it there too but the same problem persists.

Cindy

 

Here are the results of the scan, it made no mention of how I can fix them. This is the same scan that the MS tech ran but he could not find the corrupt files in the log to even try to repair them. I dont' think he wanted to try and find them because he made the comment that the log was so big it would take him HOURS to even look through it.:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6000]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>sfc /scannow

Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 99% complete.Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but wa
s unable to fix some of them.
Details are included in the CBS.Log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example
C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log

C:\Windows\system32>


I tried to attach the log but am getting the IE cannot display the page after I hit upload. Any ideas why?

Cindy

 

The log is 33.3 MB...that is why I cannot attach it as the limit is 1 MB. How can I get this log to person that can read it?

Thank you,
Cindy

 

You can upload it to a filesharing site then send the person the link. The one I like is sendspace.com. You don't have to join or sign up. After you upload the file you will get a link for sending to the person. You can also enter the person's email address so the link goes to him/her automatically. You will also get a link for deleting the file after the person has retrieved it.

 

Cindy:

Try this. Navigate to the file at C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. Note that you cannot open the file directly since it is in use by the system. Instead, copy the file and paste a copy on your desktop. Open it in Notepad - you will need to be patient while the whole 33 MB file loads. Scroll to the end of the log and find the date and time when you ran sfc /scannow. Delete everything else before this to reduce the size of the file. Save the file with the name CBS.txt, which can then be directly posted on the forum.

I can't promise that any of us will be able to interpret the logged messages, but it's worth a try.

 

Thanks Mark for stepping in. Your idea of submitting an edited version of a copy of the log would not even have crossed my mind!
The Microsoft tech should of course be sent a copy and he should wrap it round his head and stick with it or escalate it to someone who can fix the problem.

I have had another thought that may be worth following up. I presume that the Vista DVD did not include SP1 if so there are two further non-destructive things to try.

Uninstall Vista SP1 and see if the problem has gone away. Then follow this with a re-install of SP1.
An alternative would be to download a copy of SP1 and make a slipstreamed Vista DVD to include SP1. Then run SFC again with the slipstreamed DVD in its drive.

Xpilot

 

I will work on editing the log and submit here since I do not know anyone else to submit it to. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE GUYS!!!

He was the highest level tech (or that is what he told me!)

I installed SP1 to see if it would fix the problem ... it did not (big mistake as that wiped out all previous restore points...which like a totally dummy I should have tried first but didn't!!)

I also uninstalled it...still the same problem.

I also reinstalled and then again uninstalled it with both times not changing anything. I have repeated "fixes" each time hoping that the "fix" might work "this time"...no luck.

I have no idea how to do a slip stream DVD

Thank you,
Cindy

 

I'll say it again, sometimes the hard way is the easy way.

 

I've tried 3 times to post to the forum with the edited txt. It is still too big and it crashed IE. I then tried twice to paste it here and it crashes IE too. I can use the sendspace link mentioned above but who do I send it to as I need to insert an email?

Thanks,
Cindy

 

I totally overlooked the "link" option as the "email" option was so promenent. But I've uploaded the file to the sendspace site. I couldn't find the code to see exactly where the last scan started so I just copied all of the 10/7 scan for the edited log. Here is the link to sendspace
http://www.sendspace.com/file/id6s0t

Thank you,
Cindy

 

Cindy:

I'm not able to make sense out of the log. I even tried filtering out only the lines containing the text "Error" and there were hundreds of lines left, none of which jumped out as being an intelligible clue.

Try creating another user account on this machine and then log into the new account. See if the problem is carried over to the new user account. If so, bite the bullet and reinstall Windows.

 

This suggestion may be an absolute waste of your time......

Do a file search for normal.dot which is used by MSWord. Find the file and rename it. Retart MS Word and the file will be recreated. Try printing and see it it make a change. A will shot in the dardk! If the normal template has anything special in it, you can always undo the rename back to the original.

 

UPDATE ON PROBLEM

I turned on the Guest account and opened the document I have been messing with. Print preview was normal BUT the guest account did NOT have access to the Samsung printer on the other computer. I added the printer and the problem returned.

I went back to the Main account and looked at the Word document and the problem was still there.

I assigned it to the XPS writer and it printed fine (whereas before the upgrade it did not).

I set the document back to the Samsung and the print problem came right back..the landscape document prints in portrait with a couple of inches of the left hand side of the characters missing from the left hand side of the paper...the error message was that the margins were outside of the print area so that explains the text falling off the left hand side of the portrait paper even though it was set to landscape.

Wordpad (in Main acct) prints in Portrait even though I set it to Landscape. I tried leaving the Samsung printer in default of portrait (which I used to do all the time and it printed in landscape without any changes from me) and changing the printer to landscape (even though I never had to do that before). But both settings had the document print in Portrait BUT all the characters were present...unlike the Word document above.

Notepad printed on the Samsung in Portrait when I left the default of portrait in the printer (like I used to do) but when I changed the printer setting to landscape, Notepad printed the document in landscape just fine.

A mix of new and old symptoms now since the upgrade. I never use Wordpad and Notepad so I really hate using them to solve this problem since the one I really need to focus on is Word.

In both the Guest and Main account the document still refuses to print a landscape setting when printing a Word document to the the Samsung printer.

But when printing the Word document to XPS first and then printing to the Samsung it prints fine in landscape with the Samsung set to portrait like I used to print.

The communication between the documents and the Samsung is corrupt (even in Print Preview mode when the Samsung has been assigned to the document) but the communication between XPS and the Samsung seems to have been fixed.

Now if only we can fix the communication between Word and the Samsung without sending it through XPS first.

Do any of these new descriptions help focus on anything new? It doesn't make sense I cannot print directly to the Samsung printer like I used to. But printing to XPS writer first somehow "fixes the text so it cannot change" the document and allows it to print in landscape to the Samsung just like it used to.

Thank you again,
Cindy

 

So are they? Could your Word page setup have been changed somehow?

Now it transpires XPS does not have the problem after all, it exonerates the OS in my opinion. This was the one thing that took the problem outside the area of the printer itself or Word.

Notepad is merely the format in which your document is held, it doesn't print anything itself.

But this is also telling us that the printer itself is OK, further pointing to faulty settings in Word as the cause of this problem.

 

I deleted the printer again, but this time instead of adding it through the printer management area I just tried to click on "Find Printer" from the document and got that dreaded "Active Directory Domain Services is currently unavailable". Went back to the printer management area and clicked on Add Printer and it could find the Samsung on the networked computer, re added it, but the problem still persists.

I still think this has something to do with the Active Directory Domain Services currently unavailable message. That is the very first clue I got when I lost the entire ability to print.

Word acts fine if I assign XPS printer to the document...it previews fine and prints fine to XPS. So I don't think the problem is with Word either. I really think it is with the Active Directory Domain error message. How do we make it available again?

Thank you,
Cindy

 

I am working on about 3 hours sleep here but I have to share with you what I’ve found. I’ve fixed the original problem with a fix that someone came up with in 2007 that appears to be a known issue with Vista and printer sharing.

FOUND A FIX THAT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I found it under http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1192680&SiteID=17 "Windows cannot connect to the printer. Access is denied"
Not exactly my problem of not printing landscape or having the Active Directory Domain Services currently unavailable but hey it worked. I read many posts with the Active Directory Domain error message and many theorize that it had something to do with an update from MS that messed up the network settings. Which would make sense as the error seemed to appear out of no where.

Here is the fix…notice that the answer was in a February 12, 2007 post…this type of problem has been going on for ages!

12 Feb 2007, 12:04 AM UTC
Melonhead



Posts 16 Answer Re: "Windows cannot connect to the printer. Access is denied" -please help.
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I had the same problem. I found a solution. Logically it makes no sense to me, but it worked so...

Go to Control Panel. Choose printer. Then choose Add Printer.

ChooseAdd a local printer. Click on Create a new port. The default in the drop down box is Local Port. Do not change that. Click Next.

A dialogue box will appear asking for you to enter a port name. Type in the \\computer name\printer name ie. My computer's name is basement and the printer name is EpsonSty so I typed in \\basement\epsonsty

Yahoo! It worked. Go figure! I guess Microsoft thinks printers on a intranet are local.
Hope this helps someone else so they don't spend the hours I did on it!





BUT AM STILL HAVING NETWORK PROBLEMS BETWEEN THE TWO COMPUTERS NOW THAT I UPGRADED. CAN YOU HELP WITH THAT? I still think it has something to do with Active Directory Domain Services is currently unavailable. After the upgrade, I originally could “see” the XP computer from the Vista computer; but, the XP computer could no longer “see” the Vista computer (which is why I cannot save documents to it). Both computers saw each other fine and could share documents back and forth before this mess started.

After spending most of the morning searching posts, I read that Vista defaults the workgroup to “workgroup” from my original setting of “mshome”…this probably happened because of the upgrade. I changed the Vista back to “mshome” and now both computer can “see” each other.

But now the Vista computer “sees double” of both itself and the XP computer in the Network popup box.

The XP only “sees” itself and the Vista one time each but I still cannot save files from the XP to the Vista even though it sees my shared folders again. I get the message “You do not have access to the folder ‘\\Acer\My Documents on D’. See your administrator for access to this folder.” when I try to save a file across the network from XP to Vista.

Obviously the upgrade wiped out some settings for permission between the two computers. Can you guide me as to what settings need to be changed to give me FULL ACCESS since I am the administrator on both computers. I am assuming I only need to look at the Vista since nothing would have been changed on the XP computer. I’ve have not been able to restore my computers to full file sharing that I had before all this and I've checked the things I did before.

thank you!!
Cindy

 

Well done Cindy. Most would have thrown in the towel I think.

Your latest problem sounds like a straightforward permissions issue and if so it is easily fixed. But first, how come the Vista folder on the Acer that you can't access is called My Documents? Vista does not use My at all, for any of the special folders.

Is this because the folder is on a shared data partition which both XP and Vista use? Or is the Vista dual booting with (another) XP system?

The answer affects the solution.