I am attempting to restore files backed up using the Windows 3.1x backup
utility. I'm running XP Pro now. I've found an old version of the "backup"
utility, that loads, but then says it is configured incorrectly, that there
must be a certain line in the system.ini file "Windows System"
directory--then the computer must reboot for the change to take effect.

There is such a directory, but there was no system.ini file in it when I
went there. I put the file in the directory, with the device drivers
"fvintd.386" named, with the proper path, etc. Problem is, seems rebooting
does no good, since XP Pro doesn't even look for this file when it boots. I
suspect it's a registry problem, but sorting that out is beyond anything I
can manage.

Anyone have any suggestions?

"abbagabbitz" <abbagabbitz@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4881633A-20B9-4CA6-81DC-85D1BE55B273@microsoft.com...
>I am attempting to restore files backed up using the Windows 3.1x backup
> utility. I'm running XP Pro now. I've found an old version of the
> "backup"
> utility, that loads, but then says it is configured incorrectly, that
> there
> must be a certain line in the system.ini file "Windows System"
> directory--then the computer must reboot for the change to take effect.
>
> There is such a directory, but there was no system.ini file in it when I
> went there. I put the file in the directory, with the device drivers
> "fvintd.386" named, with the proper path, etc. Problem is, seems
> rebooting
> does no good, since XP Pro doesn't even look for this file when it boots.
> I
> suspect it's a registry problem, but sorting that out is beyond anything I
> can manage.
>
> Anyone have any suggestions?

Not all win 3.x apps are XP or NT compatible.

Set up a system that temporarily runs the required OS, and restore the
files. This will likely be the fastest and most reliable approach.

You don't need much of a system to do this, and in the worst case, you can
get a small hard disk and pop it into your XP system as the primary drive -
remove the XP drive. This should cost you under $50, and should work as
long as your system doesn't have SATA drives; Win 3.x won't have the ability
to load the drivers you might need. You may be able to shift the SATA
controller to a "legacy" mode in the BIOS and get past this.

You *might* be able to do this in a virtual machine - I've never tried this.

HTH
-pk