Windows ME: SHLWAPI.DLL not found - Error loading Explorer..

Dee Brennan · External Since: Mar 19, 2006 Posts: 3

Because I'm an idiot, I ran a Windows update on my ME machine. After the
reboot, I got the above error.

I tried using a fix found on the Microsoft support site (it involved editing
in DOS the system.ini command line regarding the Explorer.exe shell). This
didn't work and now my computer either boots immediately to a black screen in
normal mode, or boots to an "It is now safe to turn off your computer" in
safe mode.

I tried reinstalling ME over itself, however the install errors out at 35%.
When I purchased the computer, a master CD was not included, and it was not
possibly to create an emergency boot disk. (I've been using an onld Win 95
start up disk to access the command prompt function at start up.)

If there's any suggestions anybody has for me at this point, it will have to
be command prompt based as I am completely unable to access any functions
outside of the prompt.

Barring that, is there any way for me to reinstall the operating system if
the soft reinstall is having issues copying files or finding pathways for the
files? I don't even know what caused all this aside from the security
updates.

Thanks for any help/suggestions any of you may have,

DB.

Mike M1 · External Since: Jun 26, 2004 Posts: 4241

Which update? Knowing this could have helped those trying to help you.

> I tried reinstalling ME over itself, however the install errors out
> at 35%.

How since you say you have no CD? Was this by running the setup file in
either c:\windows\options\install or c:\windows\options\cabs?
Reinstalling Win Me over itself is the VERY last thing you should try and
is guaranteed to cause problems unless one takes the necessary precautions
first such as uninstalling IE6 (if installed) and renaming a wmploc.dll to
wmploc.old (if WMP9 installed). If you have either IE6 or WMP9 installed
and not done this then reinstalling Win Me is most likely to trash the
system.

What exactly was the error that you saw at 35%? Again knowing this would
help those who might be able to help to give their best advice.

Boot floppy. Not having a Win Me boot floppy isn't important if all you
are doing is booting to DOS but you shouldn't use this floppy to SYS the
hard drive or perform any specific Win Me actions.

> I don't even know what caused all
> this aside from the security updates.

Installing Win Me patches from the Windows Update site shouldn't have
caused these problems. I suspect that something else was the cause,
perhaps running an AV application that blocked scripting whilst installing
the updates.
--
Mike Maltby
mike.maltby.DeleteThis@gmail.com

Dee Brennan <DeeBrennan.DeleteThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Because I'm an idiot, I ran a Windows update on my ME machine. After
> the reboot, I got the above error.
>
> I tried using a fix found on the Microsoft support site (it involved
> editing in DOS the system.ini command line regarding the Explorer.exe
> shell). This didn't work and now my computer either boots
> immediately to a black screen in normal mode, or boots to an "It is
> now safe to turn off your computer" in safe mode.
>
> I tried reinstalling ME over itself, however the install errors out
> at 35%. When I purchased the computer, a master CD was not included,
> and it was not possibly to create an emergency boot disk. (I've been
> using an onld Win 95 start up disk to access the command prompt
> function at start up.)
>
> If there's any suggestions anybody has for me at this point, it will
> have to be command prompt based as I am completely unable to access
> any functions outside of the prompt.
>
> Barring that, is there any way for me to reinstall the operating
> system if the soft reinstall is having issues copying files or
> finding pathways for the files? I don't even know what caused all
> this aside from the security updates.
>
> Thanks for any help/suggestions any of you may have,
>
> DB.

Dee Brennan · External Since: Mar 19, 2006 Posts: 3

> Which update? Knowing this could have helped those trying to help you.

There were about 7 patches and updates - I know that there was an IE
update/patch in there, a couple of security updates and a divx update.
Unfortunately I don't know any other specifics on them.

> How since you say you have no CD? Was this by running the setup file in
> either c:\windows\options\install or c:\windows\options\cabs?
> Reinstalling Win Me over itself is the VERY last thing you should try and
> is guaranteed to cause problems unless one takes the necessary precautions
> first such as uninstalling IE6 (if installed) and renaming a wmploc.dll to
> wmploc.old (if WMP9 installed). If you have either IE6 or WMP9 installed
> and not done this then reinstalling Win Me is most likely to trash the
> system.
>
> What exactly was the error that you saw at 35%? Again knowing this would
> help those who might be able to help to give their best advice.

c:\windows\options\cabs.

The first notification I get is:

File Copying Problem
Setup could not find a file on the specified path. If the path appears
below, make sure it is correct. Click OK to try copying again.

Error Details
The following error occurred: 'The file was not found' (error #2).
Setup could not finish opening a file on your destination disk.
Source file: 'C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS\BGAMX.JPG'
Destination file:'C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\OOBE\IMAGES\BGAMEX.JPG=BGAMEX.JPG'

An error later follows that says:

Setup (.CAB) File Error

Setup has encountered an error while extracting the Windows files to our
computer. To resolve this issue, you may need to book off the Emergency Book
Disk and run Setup again.

If you continure to receive these errors, see the CAB errors section of the
Setup.txt file for additional information.

It looks like I do have IE6 installed, no idea about WMP.

> Boot floppy. Not having a Win Me boot floppy isn't important if all you
> are doing is booting to DOS but you shouldn't use this floppy to SYS the
> hard drive or perform any specific Win Me actions.

Just using it to boot to DOS.

> > I don't even know what caused all
> > this aside from the security updates.
>
> Installing Win Me patches from the Windows Update site shouldn't have
> caused these problems. I suspect that something else was the cause,
> perhaps running an AV application that blocked scripting whilst installing
> the updates.
> --
> Mike Maltby
> mike.maltby.RemoveThis@gmail.com

Mike M1 · External Since: Jun 26, 2004 Posts: 4241

Where were you getting these updates since the Windows Update site would
not have had an updated for divx? Is it possible you used another site
and chose a patch for IE that was not intended for use with Win Me?

Bgamx.jpg - I think you meant to type bgamex.jpg. This file is contained
in WIN_18.CAB and like much of the content of the oobe folder is of little
or no importance to the operating system so its absence should cause few
problems. Skip the file and continue, it's not important..

Returning to your original post and its subject "shlwapi.dll not found",
shlwapi will have been updated as part of a number of IE updates. This
file should be located in the windows\system folder but am unclear as to
how it might be missing as it is one of many Win Me system files that is
protected from deletion or being replaced by an incorrect version by Win
Me's system file protection (SFP) mechanism. You should be able to check
by booting to DOS if it is really missing and if it is you should be able
to (temporarily) replace it by extracting a copy from WIN_14.CAB. However
before doing this check whether you have other copies of this file as some
third party apps install different/incorrect versions of this file in
their own program folders and these can cause problems although usually in
such cases the error message is somewhat different from that you were
seeing. However if you do find other copies rename them to shlwapi.old
and see if this allows you to boot the system.

I take it the fix you mention trying was the one to allow you to launch
system restore without loading explorer. Other than "not working" what
error message did you see, these tend to be a bit more informative than
"didn't work" and may provide some of the information needed to fix your
problem.
--
Mike Maltby
mike.maltby RemoveThis @gmail.com

Dee Brennan <DeeBrennan RemoveThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>> Which update? Knowing this could have helped those trying to help
>> you.
>
> There were about 7 patches and updates - I know that there was an IE
> update/patch in there, a couple of security updates and a divx update.
> Unfortunately I don't know any other specifics on them.
>
>
>> How since you say you have no CD? Was this by running the setup
>> file in either c:\windows\options\install or c:\windows\options\cabs?
>> Reinstalling Win Me over itself is the VERY last thing you should
>> try and is guaranteed to cause problems unless one takes the
>> necessary precautions first such as uninstalling IE6 (if installed)
>> and renaming a wmploc.dll to wmploc.old (if WMP9 installed). If you
>> have either IE6 or WMP9 installed and not done this then
>> reinstalling Win Me is most likely to trash the system.
>>
>> What exactly was the error that you saw at 35%? Again knowing this
>> would help those who might be able to help to give their best advice.
>
> c:\windows\options\cabs.
>
> The first notification I get is:
>
> File Copying Problem
> Setup could not find a file on the specified path. If the path
> appears below, make sure it is correct. Click OK to try copying
> again.
>
> Error Details
> The following error occurred: 'The file was not found' (error #2).
> Setup could not finish opening a file on your destination disk.
> Source file: 'C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS\BGAMX.JPG'
> Destination file:'C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\OOBE\IMAGES\BGAMEX.JPG=BGAMEX.JPG'
>
> An error later follows that says:
>
> Setup (.CAB) File Error
>
> Setup has encountered an error while extracting the Windows files to
> our computer. To resolve this issue, you may need to book off the
> Emergency Book Disk and run Setup again.
>
> If you continure to receive these errors, see the CAB errors section
> of the Setup.txt file for additional information.
>
> It looks like I do have IE6 installed, no idea about WMP.
>
>
>> Boot floppy. Not having a Win Me boot floppy isn't important if all
>> you are doing is booting to DOS but you shouldn't use this floppy to
>> SYS the hard drive or perform any specific Win Me actions.
>
> Just using it to boot to DOS.