Help with repair-install & previous files/folders/programs

[Guest]

My Windows XP Pro SP2 would not start due to missing or corrupt boot.ini file:
<Windows root>\ system 32\ hal.dll (error message)

I tried to use the Recovery Console but kept getting a loop error where it'd
say press 'r' to enter Rec Con, I'd press 'r', it'd act like it was about to
enter RC, then pop up an error message about missing System32 files/.dlls and
skip back to asking me to press 'r' to enter RC.

I could get out of the loop only by quitting and going to the install page
where it'd ask if I wanted to proceed with installing WinXP or goto Rec Con.

Since I couldn't get to RC, and couldn't do anything but sit in the loop, I
opted to re-install hoping it'd fix the boot error while keeping my files
intact just like it had done back when I upgraded from Win2k to XP.

I re-installed WinXP to repair the problem, then patched & upgraded back to
WinXP SP2 so my WindowsXP Pro is back up to date.

However, as it is, the "repair" install seems to have taken my old install
and shelved it into limbo and replaced it with the bare bones new install.

I now have TWO sets of folders, my OLD ones that I'd like to access, and the
new (default) ones that XP setup as part of the "NEW" install. My OLD ones
have the standard names, the new ones have a ".x" attached to them.

EX:

OLD folder/NEW folder

"Administrator"/"Administrator.ComputerName",
"UserName"/"UserName.ComputerName",
"AllUsers"/"AllUsers.WINDOWS",
"DefaultUser"/"DefaultUser.WINDOWS" (hidden)

All my old files/settings/programs are in the old folders above, but I can't
get any of them to run from their current locations.

If I goto their "program.exe" (C:\Program Files\Program Folder\Program) I
just get error codes and they won't run.

Also, none of the programs are in my Start Menu, or anywhere I can get to
other than digging through the C: drive to get to them.

I'm guessing that as WinXP re-installed, it broke the paths that the
programs used to have and need in order to run.

Likewise, my NEW Documents, Pictures, and Start Menu folders are all mostly
empty except for the default items XP loads in there (Messenger, MSN, etc.)
while my OLD folders have all my original stuff in them (programs, files,
pics, apps, settings, drivers, etc).

How does WinXP "know" which folders are the ones to use and which are
archives to ignore?

How can I alter WinXP to open (only) the OLD folders instead of the new ones
it created with the new install?

Can I simply Delete/Rename all the NEW folders
("Administrator.ComputerName") and that would leave only the old folders
("Administrator")--so it'd default to those like it used to?

In other words, how can I get back to where I was before I had to
repair/re-install?

 

[Patrick Keenan]

My Windows XP Pro SP2 would not start due to missing or corrupt boot.ini
file:
<Windows root>\ system 32\ hal.dll (error message)

HAL.DLL is not the boot.ini.

I tried to use the Recovery Console

How, exactly? Did you boot from CD or was the RC installed to your hard
disk:?

but kept getting a loop error where it'd
say press 'r' to enter Rec Con, I'd press 'r', it'd act like it was about
to
enter RC, then pop up an error message about missing System32 files/.dlls
and
skip back to asking me to press 'r' to enter RC.

I could get out of the loop only by quitting and going to the install page
where it'd ask if I wanted to proceed with installing WinXP or goto Rec
Con.

Since I couldn't get to RC, and couldn't do anything but sit in the loop,
I
opted to re-install hoping it'd fix the boot error while keeping my files
intact just like it had done back when I upgraded from Win2k to XP.

I re-installed WinXP to repair the problem, then patched & upgraded back
to
WinXP SP2 so my WindowsXP Pro is back up to date.

However, as it is, the "repair" install seems to have taken my old install
and shelved it into limbo and replaced it with the bare bones new install.

Sorry, but it's clear that you did not do a repair install. You did a new
install, which has probably deleted most if not all of the old registry.

I now have TWO sets of folders, my OLD ones that I'd like to access, and
the
new (default) ones that XP setup as part of the "NEW" install. My OLD
ones
have the standard names, the new ones have a ".x" attached to them.

If you don't have a second Windows folder, too, you can't really get back
from where you are.

If you do, get to the recovery console, and run "bootcfg /rebuild".

EX:

OLD folder/NEW folder

"Administrator"/"Administrator.ComputerName",
"UserName"/"UserName.ComputerName",
"AllUsers"/"AllUsers.WINDOWS",
"DefaultUser"/"DefaultUser.WINDOWS" (hidden)

All my old files/settings/programs are in the old folders above, but I
can't
get any of them to run from their current locations.

If I goto their "program.exe" (C:\Program Files\Program Folder\Program) I
just get error codes and they won't run.

You have to reinstall everything. If the old registry is gone, you cannot
fix this any other way.

Also, none of the programs are in my Start Menu, or anywhere I can get to
other than digging through the C: drive to get to them.

Definitely not a repair install.

I'm guessing that as WinXP re-installed, it broke the paths that the
programs used to have and need in order to run.

Yes, and this is the difference between a repair install and a re-install.

A repair install keeps the old registry, a new install does not. On the
other hand, this is also why repair installs sometimes do *not* solve
problems that are located in the registry.

Likewise, my NEW Documents, Pictures, and Start Menu folders are all
mostly
empty except for the default items XP loads in there (Messenger, MSN,
etc.)
while my OLD folders have all my original stuff in them (programs, files,
pics, apps, settings, drivers, etc).

How does WinXP "know" which folders are the ones to use and which are
archives to ignore?
Registry.


How can I alter WinXP to open (only) the OLD folders instead of the new
ones
it created with the new install?

Generally you cannot. You have to import the old information.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811151

Can I simply Delete/Rename all the NEW folders
("Administrator.ComputerName") and that would leave only the old folders
("Administrator")--so it'd default to those like it used to?

No, this will *not* work. This will merely give you an unbootable system.

In other words, how can I get back to where I was before I had to
repair/re-install?

It's quite possible that you can not do this without basic reinstalls.

What's needed is the registry from the old install. If there isn't a second
Windows folder, this information is lost and you cannot get back there.

In that case, all you can do is to migrate the data from the old profiles,
but you *still* have to reinstall all the apps, because the current registry
knows nothing of them.

You might stop and consider where you are, and whether it is worth it to
back up and wipe the drive, or replace it (remove it and attach it later to
copy the old profile data back), and do a clean install so you do not have
old data littering the drive.


HTH
-pk

 

[Guest]

You might stop and consider where you are, and whether it is worth it to
back up and wipe the drive, or replace it (remove it and attach it later to
copy the old profile data back), and do a clean install so you do not have
old data littering the drive.


HTH
-pk

Yeah, that helps, at least I know there's no easy fix.

Thanks for the KB link, I'll see if that's a solution, but probably I'll
just do a full clean install and start over once I move those few things I
want to save/backup/transfer.

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

How, exactly? Did you boot from CD or was the RC installed to your hard
disk:?
CD

Sorry, but it's clear that you did not do a repair install. You did a new
install, which has probably deleted most if not all of the old registry.

If you don't have a second Windows folder, too, you can't really get back
from where you are.

I do not have a second folder.

You have to reinstall everything. If the old registry is gone, you cannot
fix this any other way.

What's needed is the registry from the old install.

What about the Registry backups that a program like Registry Cleaner makes
before it does anything? I've looked, and within my RegCleaner program
folder there's a backup folder with quite a few backup copies of my old
registry, even one from the morning I ultimately ended up in the mess I'm in.

I'm pretty sure that I can open those backups in notepad, if that helps.

 

[SG]

Some good reading in case this should happen to you again,
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/a/missinghaldll.htm

All the best,
SG