Safe Recovery with Setup Log Files

Windows 95 Setup creates several log files: BOOTLOG.TXT, DETLOG.TXT, NETLOG.TXT, and SETUPLOG.TXT, plus DETCRASH.LOG if Setup fails. The following sections describe these files.

Basically, there are three points at which the computer might stop or stall during Windows 95 Setup: before, during, or after hardware detection.

• If Setup fails before hardware detection, Windows 95 Setup recovers by reading SETUPLOG.TXT to determine where the system stalled, what to redo, and what to skip.
• If Setup fails during hardware detection, the DETCRASH.LOG file is created, containing information about the detection module that was running and the I/O port or memory resources it was accessing when the failure occurred.

  When the detection process finds this file, it automatically runs in Safe Recovery mode to verify all the devices already in the Registry and then skips all detection modules up to the failed module. Safe Recovery then skips detection and any attempts to configure the failed module, in effect skipping the action that caused the failure. Then, Safe Recovery continues the detection process, starting with the next module. If the detection process is completed successfully, DETCRASH.LOG is deleted.

  DETCRASH.LOG can be read only by Setup. For information about the text equivalent of this information, see "DETLOG.TXT: The Hardware Detection Log File" later in this chapter.

• Sometimes the detection process causes some devices to quit working (such as a CD-ROM drive or a network connection). If you rerun Setup, Safe Recovery recognizes that the detection process has already been completed successfully and assumes that all the necessary hardware information is in the Registry. Therefore, it skips the detection process completely at this point and continues the installation process.

SETUPLOG.TXT: The Setup Log File

The SETUPLOG.TXT file is an ASCII text file that contains Windows 95 Setup information created during the installation process. While Windows 95 is being installed, corresponding entries are written to SETUPLOG.TXT, listing information about the specific steps, their sequence, and the error conditions encountered. This file is used by Setup for recovery in case of setup failure, and it can also be used for troubleshooting errors that occur during the installation process.

Setup uses the information in SETUPLOG.TXT to ensure that the installation does not fail twice because of the same problem. If you restart Windows 95 Setup after a setup process fails, Setup reviews the contents of SETUPLOG.TXT to determine which steps completed successfully. If SETUPLOG.TXT indicates that a process started but does not indicate that the process completed, then that part of the installation process is skipped and the next part is processed. Even if Setup encounters devices that cause several installation attempts, the installation process will always progress and skip the modules that failed.

SETUPLOG.TXT is stored on the computer's root directory. Information is added to the file according to the order of the steps of the installation process. If an error occurs during installation, you can determine the probable cause of the error by examining the entries at the end of SETUPLOG.TXT.

Information in SETUPLOG.TXT is divided into the following basic categories:

• Selected Setup sections, including [OptionalComponents], [System], [NameAndOrg], and [batch_settings]
• Setting up of system startup parameters
• Selecting the directory
• Beginning of installation process
• Queuing of needed files
• Copying of needed files
• Preparing for restarting the system

Tip The [OptionalComponents], [System], and [NameAndOrg] sections can be copied from SETUPLOG.TXT on a computer with a complete installation of Windows 95 and then added to equivalent sections in MSBATCH.INF, as described in Chapter 5, "Custom, Automated, and Push Installations." Notice, however, that these sections in SETUPLOG.TXT do not include networking information.

The following table shows entries in SETUPLOG.TXT file to check for information about the Setup process. Because entries are added to SETUPLOG.TXT in the order that the related actions occur during Setup, you might be able to find a probable cause of any error by examining the entries at the end of the file.

Tip for Verifying System Files

With Windows 3.x, it was not easy to recover files, such as a component file that was accidentally deleted or a system file that was corrupted. You either had to use the Expand utility to copy the file, or you had to reinstall Windows 3.x to restore the lost file. SETUPLOG.TXT is part of the Windows 95 solution to verifying the integrity of installed components.

If you run Windows 95 Setup after Windows 95 is already installed, Setup prompts you either to reinstall Windows 95 or simply to verify installed components. If you want to verify installed components, Setup examines SETUPLOG.TXT and reruns the installation process without completely copying all operating system components. Windows 95 verifies the integrity of files installed during Setup with the files on the Windows 95 installation disks. If the integrity check fails due to a missing or corrupted file on the computer, Setup automatically reinstalls that file.

DETLOG.TXT: The Hardware Detection Log File

The DETLOG.TXT file contains a record of whether a specific hardware device was detected and identifies the parameters for the detected device.

During Windows 95 Setup, after the information gathering phase, Setup begins hardware detection, which can also occur when you use the Add New Hardware option in Control Panel to add a new device. Both Windows 95 Setup and Device Manager use SYSDETMG.DLL, which contains all the detection modules for each device class and specific devices.

Windows 95 loads detection modules based on information in MSDET.INF that points to specific INF files for each device class, from which information is retrieved and written to the Registry. The device class installers are DLLs that work with Device Manager to install, configure, and remove devices or classes of devices in the system. Device Manager generates a list of compatible drivers for the device from the appropriate INF file. For information about using Device Manager to configure device drivers, and for information about the device classes used to identify logical device types, such as display, keyboard, and network adapters, see Chapter 19, "Devices."

By creating an updated DETLOG.TXT file every time the detection process runs, the detection module tracks the detected devices and the I/O port addresses used. Any existing DETLOG.TXT is renamed DETLOG.OLD. If the detection process causes Setup to stall or the computer to lock up, then a binary file named DETCRASH.LOG is created. DETLOG.TXT is an ASCII text file created only for users to read; Windows 95 Setup reads the binary information in DETCRASH.LOG. Any changes made to DETLOG.TXT are not passed to DETCRASH.LOG.

The DETLOG.TXT file can be found in the root directory of the startup drive after Windows 95 is installed. The entries in DETLOG.TXT are placed in the order of the hardware information discovered as each step of the detection process is carried out. The following table briefly describes entries that appear in DETLOG.TXT.

Summary of DETLOG.TXT Entries

The hardware detection process continues examining computer hardware. The "|" symbol in the IO= line (for example, IO=200-201 | 3e0-3e1) indicates a range of I/O entries that are checked during the detection process. In the DETLOG.TXT file, you will find a QueryIOMem: and an IO= line for each I/O address checked.

For most devices, multiple I/O addresses are checked, which can result in a detailed and redundant device detection list. The I/O address ranges checked during detection are grouped on one I/O line. Multiple addresses on an IO= line are separated by commas. For example:

Checking for: ATI Ultra Pro/Plus (Mach 32) Display Adapter
QueryIOMem: Caller=DETECTMACH32, rcQuery=0
   IO=3b0-3bb,3c0-3df
QueryIOMem: Caller=DETECTMACH32, rcQuery=0
   Mem=a0000-affff

If the system stalls during hardware detection, you can determine the probable cause of the error by examining the last entries in DETLOG.TXT. You can use the information in this file to determine specific error conditions occurring in the hardware detection, and reconfigure or replace the specific adapter or device. The following table shows specific kinds of entries to check in DETLOG.TXT for information about the results of the hardware detection process.

DETLOG.TXT Entries to Check for Troubleshooting

Some additional notes on DETLOG.TXT and hardware detection:

• Detection does not detect enumerated devices such as ISA Plug and Play devices, PCI devices, and PCMCIA devices. For information about these devices, see Chapter 18, "Introduction to System Configuration."
• If the computer stalls during detection, and you rerun Windows 95 Setup and choose Safe Recovery, new detection information is appended to the previous DETLOG.TXT file. The previous version of DETLOG.TXT is saved as DETLOG.OLD, overwriting any previous DETLOG.OLD files.

The hardware that has been tested and shown to be compatible with Windows 95 appears in the Manufacturers and Models lists in the Add New Hardware option in Control Panel.

NETLOG.TXT: The Network Setup Log File

This file describes the detection results for network components during Windows 95 Setup. For information about NETDET.INI, the file that Setup uses to determine how to install networking components on computers running NetWare clients, see Chapter 9, "Windows 95 on NetWare Networks."

The following table describes typical entries in a NETLOG.TXT file after you run Windows 95 Setup for the first time. In this example, Client for Microsoft Networks is installed with the IPX/SPX-compatible protocol, and both are bound to an Intel® EtherExpress™ network adapter.