Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!emory!mephisto!mcnc!rti!bcw
From: bcw@rti.rti.org (Bruce Wright)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms
Subject: Re: Broken Window
Summary: Y
	 Might try running SETUP ...
Keywords: what did I do?
Message-ID: <4012@rtifs1.UUCP>
Date: 9 Aug 90 16:36:31 GMT
References: <38980@cci632.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: Research Triangle Institute, RTP, NC
Lines: 72

In article <38980@cci632.UUCP>, deb@cci632.UUCP (Deborah Brown) writes:
> Last night, I was using file manager (Windows 3.0) to move a file from one
> directory to another.  I had three windows open while I was doing this.
> 
> I copied the file ok, but when I went to exit the file manager, I was told
> that there was an "unrecoverable file damage" or something like that.  I 
> found out that my main window that contains the basic functions had 
> disappeared.
> 
> What the heck did I do?  

Something might have clobbered one of the .GRP files, or possibly
PROGMAN.INI.  If that isn't the case I don't have any good ideas -
possibly a Windows bug or a hardware error.

> Has this happened to anyone else?

Not to my knowledge.  But that doesn't mean too much - software
and especially hardware errors can be very specific.

> How does one recreate a group without reinstalling the entire package?

This depends on what's corrupted.  If at least some of your group files
are intact, you can re-install them pretty simply by the following
steps (starting from the DOS prompt):

	1.  Save the old PROGMAN.INI file somewhere in case something
	    goes wrong.  (This is the Program Manager's initialization
	    file).
	2.  Delete the old PROGMAN.INI file.
	3.  Save the old group files (*.GRP) somewhere in case 
	    something goes wrong.
	4.  Run Windows and select the New option under the Program
	    Manager's File menu.
	5.  For each group, select New Group and type in the group's
	    file name (if the file is corrupted you may need to type 
	    the group name too).  Group files are named things like 
	    MAIN.GRP and ACCESSOR.GRP in the Windows directory, so 
	    it's pretty easy to figure out which file goes with which 
	    group.
	6.  Exit Windows.
	7.  Run Windows again and see if the Program Manager comes
	    up properly.

If installing one or more of the group files causes problems, you
may have to start over and not install that group, or install it
under a different file name and add programs to it manually (see
below).

You can recreate fatally corrupted groups manually by adding programs 
to them (also under the New option).  The program file names are for 
the most part pretty obvious for the standard Windows programs - just
look at *.EXE in the Windows directory.

If you want to locate Windows applications on your machine (other 
than the ones that come with the Windows distribution), you can run
SETUP to scan the disk (this is what Windows does during its install
process in order to scan the disk for Windows applications).  Choose
the Options menu and select the item about setting up applications.  
(If you are having trouble with the Program Manager you can still 
get to Setup by starting Windows with WIN SETUP).

By the way, the PROGMAN.INI file is editable and you can change the
group file names easily using a DOS editor - may be useful in trying 
to recover from this sort of problem.  The *.GRP files are NOT editable.

As far as I can see it's an unpleasant problem no matter how you
deal with it.  Re-installing Windows is in some ways the simplest
because it is more mechanical, but it may not be the fastest unless
the corruption is really severe.

						Bruce C. Wright