I ran into the dreaded hal.dll missing or corrupt error during my Windows ME
migration. I got past it but now need ideas on how to recover my data.

Drive C: 800 MB (System Disk) - No Operating system but is bootable.
Drive D: 80 GB (Seagate Drive) - Original Windows ME system installed
Drive E: 8 GB (blank drive)

I ran setup and attempted to do an upgrade of the system on the D drive.
After scanning the system, converting files and making alterations it loaded
the base setup data and initiated a reboot. At this time I got the hal.dll
missing or corrupt error. After trying some of the less destructive options
mentioned on the forums, I tried to do a new install by booting from the XP
CD to my E drive which I let XP partition and format. This was successful
and I have a mini XP system on my E drive.

My problem is that the data and programs on the D drive are in a partial
state between ME and XP. I have an undo folder with a backup.cab file, a
$WIN_NT$.~BT file with some other data and a user???.tmp file. Ultimately I
want the D drive to contain the XP image and retain the migrated ME files.
Because of the partial installation, there is no ME image to return to. Can
I manually do anything with UNDO that will not mess the working Drive E mini
system? Can I somehow trick the system by copying the known good hal.dll
from Drive E over to the D drive and complete the installation?

I would like to do this without having to reformat and repartition the D
drive. It would be very inconvenient for me to have to try and back it up
reformat and restore. Any suggestions from the group?

Mike, most likely your data is safely stored in the cab file. XP can open
it and you can extract the files you want.
This will not affect your OS on the E: Drive.
Opening a Cab file
If you're using Windows XP, then your operating system has built-in support
for Cab files. They are described as "Cabinet files." Just double-click on a
Cab file and it will open in Explorer, just like a folder. However, if you
right-click on items in a cabinet file, you won't see all the same options
you'd see for a file in a normal folder. This shows that it is not a real
folder.








"Mike (Confused in Arizona)" <Mike (Confused in
Arizona)@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:39C5803B-B476-4CD0-A63E-0177CB43C08D@microsoft.com...
>I ran into the dreaded hal.dll missing or corrupt error during my Windows
>ME
> migration. I got past it but now need ideas on how to recover my data.
>
> Drive C: 800 MB (System Disk) - No Operating system but is bootable.
> Drive D: 80 GB (Seagate Drive) - Original Windows ME system installed
> Drive E: 8 GB (blank drive)
>
> I ran setup and attempted to do an upgrade of the system on the D drive.
> After scanning the system, converting files and making alterations it
> loaded
> the base setup data and initiated a reboot. At this time I got the
> hal.dll
> missing or corrupt error. After trying some of the less destructive
> options
> mentioned on the forums, I tried to do a new install by booting from the
> XP
> CD to my E drive which I let XP partition and format. This was
> successful
> and I have a mini XP system on my E drive.
>
> My problem is that the data and programs on the D drive are in a partial
> state between ME and XP. I have an undo folder with a backup.cab file, a
> $WIN_NT$.~BT file with some other data and a user???.tmp file. Ultimately
> I
> want the D drive to contain the XP image and retain the migrated ME files.
> Because of the partial installation, there is no ME image to return to.
> Can
> I manually do anything with UNDO that will not mess the working Drive E
> mini
> system? Can I somehow trick the system by copying the known good hal.dll
> from Drive E over to the D drive and complete the installation?
>
> I would like to do this without having to reformat and repartition the D
> drive. It would be very inconvenient for me to have to try and back it up
> reformat and restore. Any suggestions from the group?