A friend who runs '98 on a semi-ancient PC has the following problem. Just before his PC boots into Windows it comes up with the error message: Unable to locate configuration files. He can only OK this and the PC performs an illegal operation and he can only restart it again. I suggested starting the PC in safe mode, he tried this and the outcome was the same. He needs to get access to some Word documents he has saved. Anyone any ideas how to get into Windows?
Many Thanks.
Steve.

Troubleshooting Windows 98 Startup Problems

see if anything here helps. especially the Windows 98 Does Not Start in Safe Mode section, where you will see details as to: If you are still unable to start Windows 98 in Safe mode, run the Windows Registry Checker (Scanreg.exe) tool.

otherwise you could put that drive in another computer as a slave & access Word.