How to Deal with a load=foxrstart.exe Line in the Win.ini File

ID: Q137472

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

When installing Visual FoxPro under Windows 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups 3.x, Visual FoxPro installs 32-bit .ocx files and a 32-bit Vfp.exe file. The Setup uses Foxrstrt.exe, which tells the 32-bit .ocx files to self register themselves and assigns an icon to the 32-bit FoxPro executable (Vfp.exe) and to Imagedit.exe. If the Setup is not successful, then "load = foxrstart.exe" appears in the Win.ini file.

MORE INFORMATION

When the system is restarted by the Visual FoxPro setup, it is running Win32s (32-bit Environment). At this point, setup launches Foxrstrt.exe, an executable that tells the 32-bit .ocx files to self register themselves and assigns an icon to the 32-bit FoxPro executable (Vfp.exe) and to Imagedit.exe.

If "load = foxrstart.exe" appears in the Win.ini file, installation of Visual FoxPro has not completed successfully.

NOTE: Foxrstrt.exe may take a few minutes to run. You may think your computer is hung and reboot it before Foxrstrt finishes. This prevents the .ocx files from being registered, keeps the MS-DOS icon assigned to Vfp.exe, and leave behind the "load=foxrstart.exe" line in the Win.ini file.

To reassign a correct icon for 32-bit Visual FoxPro, on the File menu, click Properties in the Program Manager.

To register the .ocx files, run C:\Vfp\Samples\Ole\Regsvr32.exe by clicking Run on the File Manager's File menu. Do this for each of the .ocx files if Foxrstart fails or is interrupted. For example: 

   Regsvr32.exe C:\Windows\System\Msoutl32.ocx
NOTE: If there are too many entries in the load= line in the Win.ini file (90+ characters) after installing Win32s, then on rebooting, you may see an error when trying to load one of the entries in the load= line. This error occurs because setup adds Foxrstrt.exe to the load= line that registers the 32-bit .ocx files and reassigns an icon to Vfp.exe and Imagedit.exe after the reboot into the 32-bit Win32s environment.

Additional reference words: 3.00 VFoxWin KBCategory: kbenv KBSubcategory: FxenvOs

Last Reviewed: October 1, 1995