I386

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joseph Childs
  • Start date Start date
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Joseph Childs

I recently discovered an I386 folder on my Windows XP Home system and do not
recall installing it. It appears to be connected with Microsoft, but I can't
find out what it does. I recently installed Internet Explorer 7.0 and then
uninstalled it and returned to Internet explorer 6.0. Was this installed as
part of the 7.0 installation? I recently have had erratic connection
problems to the internet and want to make sure the contents of I386 has
nothing to do with that.
 
Joseph said:
I recently discovered an I386 folder on my Windows XP Home system and
do not recall installing it. It appears to be connected with
Microsoft, but I can't find out what it does. I recently installed
Internet Explorer 7.0 and then uninstalled it and returned to Internet
explorer 6.0. Was this installed as part of the 7.0 installation? I
recently have had erratic connection problems to the internet and want
to make sure the contents of I386 has nothing to do with that.
Click to expand...

The I386 directory holds the files needed to repair/modify/install your
operating system. It is the equivalent of the CABS directory in
Win9x/ME. If you got the computer with XP preinstalled, it was put
there by the OEM. If you installed XP yourself, it was part of the
operating system (not IE7) install.

Leave it alone. The contents have nothing to do with any connection
problems you are having.

If your connection problems occurred after installing/uninstalling IE7
post in the IE7 newsgroup after searching for the topic using Google
Groups Advanced Search. Use a search term that describes your problem,
constrain the search to the IE7 newsgroup and the date to very
recently. The IE7 newsgroup is:
microsoft.public.internetexplorer.general.

You can also check MVP Sandi Hardmeier's canonical IE7 site. Sandi has
workarounds, known issues, troubleshooting, and links. This may be the
only site you need.

http://www.ie-vista.com/

Malke
 
Which i386 folder?

%systemdrive%\i386 is copy of the i386 folder from the XP CD.

%windir%\ServicePackFiles\i386 contains the most recently updated service
pack files. Used for Windows File Protection.

The ServicePackFiles folder only exists if you have upgraded to XP SP1 or XP
SP2 and they were not included in the original install and the SP1 or SP2
upgrade was done by downloading it from Microsoft. If the Service Pack is
installed by means of a CD-ROM or a distribution share, the ServicePackFiles
folder is not created. Same for slipstreaming a Service Pack.

%windir%\Driver Cache\i386 contains cab files of driver files for quick
access for PnP devices.

%windir%\inf\i386 Ihave no idea what this folder is for other than it has
files for my scanner.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
Joseph said:
I recently discovered an I386 folder on my Windows XP Home system and
do not recall installing it. It appears to be connected with
Microsoft, but I can't find out what it does. I recently installed
Internet Explorer 7.0 and then uninstalled it and returned to
Internet explorer 6.0. Was this installed as part of the 7.0
installation? I recently have had erratic connection problems to the
internet and want to make sure the contents of I386 has nothing to do
with that.
Click to expand...

No, it wasn't caused by IE7. The i386 folder is a storage area that Windows
created when it was installed. It's where windows looks first if a file
becomes corrupted that it needs. It can then fix itself without any
problems in some cases.

It would be unwise to remove it.

Pop`
 
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