Because I'm an idiot, I ran a Windows update on my ME machine. After the
reboot, I got the above error.

I tried using a fix found on the Microsoft support site (it involved editing
in DOS the system.ini command line regarding the Explorer.exe shell). This
didn't work and now my computer either boots immediately to a black screen in
normal mode, or boots to an "It is now safe to turn off your computer" in
safe mode.

I tried reinstalling ME over itself, however the install errors out at 35%.
When I purchased the computer, a master CD was not included, and it was not
possibly to create an emergency boot disk. (I've been using an onld Win 95
start up disk to access the command prompt function at start up.)

If there's any suggestions anybody has for me at this point, it will have to
be command prompt based as I am completely unable to access any functions
outside of the prompt.

Barring that, is there any way for me to reinstall the operating system if
the soft reinstall is having issues copying files or finding pathways for the
files? I don't even know what caused all this aside from the security
updates.

Thanks for any help/suggestions any of you may have,

DB.