Microsoft KB Archive/202589

= "IOS Failed to Initialize" Error Message Occurs When Installing Media Player =

Article ID: 202589

Article Last Modified on 11/26/2003

-

APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows Media Player 5.2
 * Microsoft Windows Media Player 6.0
 * Microsoft Windows Media Player 6.1
 * Microsoft Windows Media Player 6.2
 * Microsoft Windows Media Player 6.4

-



This article was previously published under Q202589



SYMPTOMS
When you restart Windows 95 after installing the Windows Media Player, you may receive one of the following error messages:

Windows initializing device IOS: Windows protection error. IOS failed to Initialize, Please restart

While initializing IOS: Windows protection error. You need to restart your computer.

Windows initializing device IOS: Windows protection error. You need to restart your computer.

When the error message occurs, you may not be able to start Windows 95 normally. However, you should be able to start Windows 95 in Safe Mode.



WORKAROUND
It may be possible to start Windows 95 normally by using the following workaround:
 * 1) Start Windows 95 in Safe Mode or from a command prompt.
 * 2) Perform one of the following:


 * 1) * Edit the Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files and disable any references to Smartdrv.exe. To disable a line, type "rem" (without the quotation marks) at the beginning of the line.
 * 2) * Rename Smartdrv.exe to another name.
 * 3) Restart your computer normally.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Windows 95 and OEM Service Releases. An update to address this problem is now available, but should be applied only to systems experiencing this specific problem. Unless you are severely impacted by this specific problem, Microsoft does not recommend implementing this update at this time. Contact your OEM or Microsoft Technical Support for additional information about the availability of this update.



MORE INFORMATION
For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

157924 Err Msg: IOS Failed to Initialize on Boot

Additional query words: netshow wms wmp

Keywords: kbbug kbpending KB202589

-

[mailto:TECHNET@MICROSOFT.COM Send feedback to Microsoft]

© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.