AUTOEXEC.NT file gets deleted by SP2 - 16 bit apps then don't work

The IT dept at my company has been doing extensive tests
regarding
Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed on XP machines. We wanted
to know why,
after installing SP2, 16 bit applications no longer worked
(we have a
few legacy apps which we rely on). Our results:
First I want to start by saying that during our research
we came
across a rash of newsgroup postings related to this
problem and,
interestingly, about 99% of the postings were made after
SP2 was
released by Microsoft (ie. mid-August 2004).
Our testing indicates that installing SP2 causes the file
"AUTOEXEC.NT" to be deleted from the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32
directory.
Without this file in the "SYSTEM32" folder, 16 bit
programs no longer
work. Instead, one gets the following error message when
trying to
run a 16 bit app...
Title bar of error message: 16 bit Windows Subsystem
Error Message:
C:WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\AUTOEXEC.NT. The system file is not
suitable for
running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications.

By the way, the error message ACTUALLY SHOULD SAY, "the
system file
AUTOEXEC.NT cannot be found in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32
folder".

On each test machine we installed SP2 on, we first (before
installing
SP2) made sure the AUTOEXEC.NT was in the
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 folder
and, of course, made sure both of our 16 bit apps ran
normally. Then
we installed SP2 and, upon it's completion, noticed that
AUTOEXEC.NT
was no longer in the SYSTEM32 folder. Of course, when
trying to then
run our 16 bit apps we'd get the above error message.
The solution is simple: search your hard drive for another
copy of
AUTOEXEC.NT (we found two other copies in different
directories) and
then copy AUTOEXEC.NT to the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 folder
and reboot.
Your 16 bit app should now run.

Here are a few links which you should read if you're
having this
problem...
http://www.techsupportforum.com/showthread.php?t=13850
Also, Microsoft talks about the above error message
(though they don't
connect it to SP2, as our testing had revealed)...
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-
us;324767
(Microsoft also mentions the following two files which may
be
affected: Config.nt and Command.com but our testing
didn't reveal any
problems with these files).
Finally, somebody wrote a utility (it's free to download)
to fix this
problem. It basically automates Microsoft's manual
solution...
http://www.webuser.co.uk/cgi-bin/forums/showflat.pl?
Cat=&Board=tips&Number=92053&page=0&view=collapsed &sb=5&o=1
4&part=

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