Freshly installed Win 98 SE - whenever I try to delete a file I get the message "the recycle bin format is invalid. do you want to empty the recycle bin?" and whatever I click the computer freezes.

I understand I need to do something (have read two different answers online so far) at a DOS prompt. How do I get a DOS prompt?

And what should I type when I do?

Thanks!

- Bob

Hi bunner Bob.
The reccyle bin folder is corrupted, which you can correct by deleting the recycle folder.
- Try starting you pc and, while starting, tap F8 quite rapidly, after a few tries you'll get a bootmenu.
- Here select 'boot to dos'. Voila you're in dos :-).
- Now you'll see something like 'c:\windows'. Type 'cd..'(enter) until you only see 'c:\'
- Now enter 'deltree c:\recycler'
This way the corrupted recycler will be deleted, and a new one will be generated upon the booting of win98.
Good luck, Bram
ps. deleting the recycler folder will also delete all files you currently have placed in the recycle bin, so be carefull

Hmm - well, I tried that and got a pretty long list of options, none of which mentioned DOS. I thought it might be picking up something off the (default) XP partition, so I restarted and waited until the point where I choose which partition to boot, and I selected the (non-default) 98 partition, at which point I got a few suggestions. One of these was Command-line something or other. This sounded right. Got the C prompt, entered what you said. Then couldn't figure out how to restart so I used the reset button. Booted back up into 98 again and the problem's still there.

So either I didn't do it right, or restarting via the reset button wasn't the way to go.

I next went to shut down and saw there was a restart in MS-DOS - aha! So I did that, and it went exactly as you said (cd.., etc). I deleted the recycler again, but this time I'll wait until you tell me how to quit/reboot from DOS...so...how do I do it?

Also - this install of 98 SE could need an update of some sort, maybe. Could that be the problem?

It was a fresh install (partitioned drive, formatted both FAT32, installed 98 on the C partition (5 GB), rebooted with XP CD, reformatted D partition (15 GB) NTFS & installed, updated SP2, etc the XP installation, downloaded driver for Vanta/Vanta LT card for 98, installed, and here I am - just in case you need the history)

- Bob

Ah you're using two operating systems. You were heading for the right direction. Can you go back to the bootmenu->win98->commandline?
There please enter cd.., and repeat the first steps? But instead of eetering deltree c:\recycler enter deltree c:\recycled
Afterwards, to check the directory was deleted. enter dir/p. This way you'll get the directory listing of all directories on your c-drive. If there's no recycled folder anymore, everything should be o.k. after boot.
Afterwards, reset, either by pressing control-alt-delete, or the reset button.

Good luck once again. This one should work

That seemed to do it. Actually, the "first" command line did let me get to the 98 drive, and everything else proceeded as expected. Deleting works fine now.

Thanks!

Allright, good job mate :-)