Error Message: Sage Cannot Be Removed

ID: Q155000

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 95
Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95
Microsoft Windows 95 OEM Service Release version 2

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, you should first make a backup copy of the registry files (System.dat and User.dat). Both are hidden files in the Windows folder.

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to remove Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95, you may receive the following error message:

Sage cannot be removed because backups are missing or the wrong version.

This error message may be followed by:

Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 Setup was not completed successfully.

CAUSE

You are attempting to uninstall System Agent from a Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2) Installation.

Microsoft Plus! Setup does not remove System Agent from Windows 95 OSR2 installations.

RESOLUTION

Microsoft Plus! Setup uninstalls System Agent if the backup files are copied from a retail Windows 95 installation. If you have access to a retail Windows 95 system, use the following steps to remove System Agent.

NOTE: The following files are required. If Microsoft Plus! is installed on the retail Windows 95 system, the following files' extension will be .w95. File sizes are listed in bytes.


   Windows\Scandskw.exe           4,608
   Windows\System\Dskmaint.dll  189,456
   Windows\Command\Scandisk.exe 134,738

If you need to extract these files from the retail Windows 95 disks, they are located as follows:


   File name      DMF disks      Non-DMF disks   CD-ROM
   ----------------------------------------------------------
   Scandskw.exe   Win95_09.cab   Win95_14.cab    Win95_09.cab
   Dskmaint.dll   Precopy2.cab   Precopy2.cab    Precopy2.cab
   Scandisk.exe   Disk 1         Disk 1          Win95 folder

Rename the corresponding files in the Windows 95 OSR2 installation to a different file extension (such as .old).

Copy the retail Windows 95 files to the Windows 95 OSR2 installation with the extension .w95.

Run Microsoft Plus! Setup and remove System Agent.

Rename the original Windows 95 OSR2 system files to their original file extensions.

NOTE: Failure to restore the original files may render ScanDisk unusable. For more information, please see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

Q154998 Error Message: ScanDisk Cannot Check Drive

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall Windows 95. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

NOTE: For information about how to edit the registry, view the Changing Keys And Values online Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe). Note that you should make a backup copy of the registry files (System.dat and User.dat) before you edit the registry.

If a retail Windows 95 system is unavailable, you can prevent System Agent from loading by removing the SystemAgent string from the following registry key


   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

and the Plus! key from the following registry key:


   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ 
   Uninstall\Plus!

To reclaim disk space, delete the following System Agent files:


   Windows\System folder: Sage.exe, Sage.vxd, Sage.dll.
   Program Files\Plus! folder: Sagelog.txt, Sysagent.exe
   Program Files\Plus!\System folder: Sage.dat, Sage.def

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 version 1.0. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft Plus! Setup updates several system files, as well as ScanDisk, for DriveSpace 3. Setup does not overwrite these files but rather renames them with .w95 extensions so they can be restored.

When you install Microsoft Plus! in Windows 95 OSR2, Setup does not replace Windows 95 OSR2 system files because they are more recent. Consequently, backups that would be generated for the files are not created.

The uninstall process for System Agent includes restoring the original ScanDisk files, but the uninstall process does not work with OSR2 because the backup files were not created.

Keywords : kberrmsg kbtool winplus win95
Version : WINDOWS:95
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type :