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How-To Geek Forums » Windows Vista

(Solved) - cant logon to vista after "trying" to put a vista theme

(10 posts)
  • Started 3 months ago by pipo
  • Latest reply from pipo
  • Topic Viewed 351 times


pipo
pipo
Posts: 423

ok, i think i really messed up this time, i was trying to implement a vista theme that i saw in lifehacker, i changed some dll files and after rebooting, i can't logon to windows anymore. i badly need help coz i'm in the middle of a very important project and i can't retrieve my files. as of the moment, i can't repair my vista installation coz my vista install cd is missing and i don't want to to do a system recovery coz the project i was doing is saved in the primary partition.

i was trying to use ubuntu livecd, but i can't access my windows files. anybody have a quick suggestion on how i can retrieve my files. i even went as far as booting to the command prompt and copying the files to a usb, but the only things that are being copied are the files itself, not the folders and the folder contents.

my last resort is installing my windows xp on my other partition. but if anybody has a better solution/suggestion, i would greatly appreciate it.

Posted 3 months ago #
 
raphoenix
raphoenix
Posts: 2467

pipo

BOOT COMMAND PROMPT

Use ATTRIB with /S /D switches to clear directories and then Copy or Xcopy.

See Below.

Attrib Displays, sets, or removes the read-only, archive, system, and hidden attributes assigned to files or directories. Used without parameters, attrib displays attributes of all files in the current directory.

Syntax
attrib [{+r|-r}] [{+a|-a}] [{+s|-s}] [{+h|-h}] [[Drive:][Path] FileName] [/s[/d]]

Parameters
+r
Sets the read-only file attribute.
-r
Clears the read-only file attribute.
+a
Sets the archive file attribute.
-a
Clears the archive file attribute.
+s
Sets the system file attribute.
-s
Clears the system file attribute.
+h
Sets the hidden file attribute.
-h
Clears the hidden file attribute.
[Drive:][Path] FileName
Specifies the location and name of the directory, file, or set of files for which you want to display or change attributes. You can use wildcard characters (that is, ? and *) in the FileName parameter to display or change the attributes for a group of files.
/s
Applies attrib and any command-line options to matching files in the current directory and all of its subdirectories.
/d
Applies attrib and any command-line options to directories.
/?
Displays help at the command prompt.
Remarks
Working with groups of files
You can use wildcard characters (that is, ? and *) with the FileName parameter to display or change the attributes for a group of files. If a file has the system or hidden attribute set, you must clear these attributes before you can change any other attributes for that file.

Post Back With Results.

Regards,
Rick P.

Posted 3 months ago #
 
pipo
pipo
Posts: 423

hi raphoenix,

thanks for the reply, but i can't quite understand what you said after booting to command prompt, but your command prompt suggestion gave me an idea. you see, the instructions for the theme i was following told me to rename the *.dll files to something like *.old.dll. so what i did was to boot to command prompt, go the the system32 folder and tried to search for all the .dll files with the extension *.old.*, i tried renaming them, voila, i got back in.

i'm sorry i wasn't able to fully understand your suggestion, but thanks a lot for the booting into command prompt idea, that did the trick.

Posted 3 months ago #
 
Scott
Scott
Posts: 2219

Hey Hey,
great news pipo and kudos to Rick !

Posted 3 months ago #
 
0zSpitt
0zSpitt
Posts: 395

i'm glad i'm not the only one who computer got messed up by those themes

Posted 3 months ago #
 
raphoenix
raphoenix
Posts: 2467

pipo,

Glad you were able to retrieve your important data.

@Scott,

You are much too generous in your praise but thanks :) :)

Best Regards,
Rick P.

Posted 3 months ago #
 
drifta
drifta
Posts: 121

pipo just wanted to let u know that u had to rename the files .old only not .old.dll

Posted 3 months ago #
 
pipo
pipo
Posts: 423

thanks for the tip, drifta, i actually don't know how to implement themes in vista. can somebody please point to a site or a link on how to put/install themes on vista (i hear i need vista glazz or something, is that freeware, if not, is there an alternative freeware i can use?).

thanks guys.

Posted 3 months ago #
 
Scott
Scott
Posts: 2219

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto.....al-styles/

Posted 3 months ago #
 
pipo
pipo
Posts: 423

thanks scott, i think i remember seeing that how-to by the geek, although, i wasn't paying attention (lol). thanks again to everyone.

Posted 3 months ago #
 

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