Overwriting a Windows XP Professional operating system

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HELP!!!!
I have overwritten my Win XP Pro operating system and now I cannot access any of my files. When I overwrote it I mixed up my name as administrator and now my system will not boot up with any of my settings including Outlook Express. I have tried to overwrite it again and now I get a warning that all my files and settings will be lost. I really need my Outlook Express messages and address book. Can anybody help me?.......(soon???????)
 
HELP!!!!! I have overwritten my Win XP Pro operating system and now I
cannot access any of my files. When I overwrote it I mixed up my name as
administrator and now my system will not boot up with any of my settings
including Outlook Express. I have tried to overwrite it again and now I
get a warning that all my files and settings will be lost. I really need
my Outlook Express messages and address book. Can anybody help
me?.......(soon???????)
Click to expand...

If you can boot the system and log on to Windows with the new account that
you created, you most likely can regain access to the files that belong to
the old user account. You do this by taking ownership of the files and
folders: HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

For assistance with the OE aspects, visit the Outlook Express newsgroup:
http://support.microsoft.com/newsgr...LCID=US&ICP=GSS3&sd=GN&id=fh;en-us;newsgroups
 
Hi, John.

Maybe you'd better give us a few details. WinXP is very protective of its
critical files and won't normally allow any of them to be overwritten.

So, the first question is, HOW did you "overwrite" them? And HOW have you
"tried to overwrite it again"?

Second, what do you mean by the phrase, "will not boot up with any of my
settings including Outlook Express"? Do you mean it will not boot up at
all? Or that it will boot up, but without your OE settings?

The good news is that all is not lost. At least, not if I understand your
dilemma. The worst that could happen is that you might have to do an
"in-place upgrade" as described in this KB article:
How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q315341

This is a half-day project, including reinstallation of WinXP itself but
preserving your installed applications and data, and including going online
to Windows Update (AFTER you get your firewall and antivirus back in place!)
to get SP1 (unless it is included in your WinXP CD-ROM) and all the later
hotfixes. So, I hope you don't have to do this, but it is available as a
Plan B.

Probably, though, all you need to do is to create a new Administrator
account to fix the problem in the original one. Since I'm just one guy with
one computer, I haven't bothered to learn much about passwords and
permissions, but others have. Somebody should be along soon with
instructions for how to recover from your dilemma.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP

johnp said:
HELP!!!!!
I have overwritten my Win XP Pro operating system and now I cannot access
Click to expand...
any of my files. When I overwrote it I mixed up my name as administrator and
now my system will not boot up with any of my settings including Outlook
Express. I have tried to overwrite it again and now I get a warning that all
my files and settings will be lost. I really need my Outlook Express
messages and address book. Can anybody help me?.......(soon???????)
 
So, the first question is, HOW did you "overwrite" them? And HOW have you
"tried to overwrite it again"?
Click to expand...

My guess is that they've confused "overwrite" with "reinstall" or have used
"repair/restore" options provided by an OEM CD. But I could be wrong ;)
 
Hi,
Thank you both very much for your responses. What happened was:-
I re-installed Win XP Pro over another version off the same disc. I messed up,at the final stage, with the administrator name and computer name. I can see all my files using Windows Explorer and I can access and use the programmes. I have not tried to access Outlook Express because when I did a similar thing earlier this year I lost all my addresses and messages. I thought that if I re-installed Win XP again I could then set it up with my correct name, computer name etc. and everything would be OK. When I started the installation process again the software told me that it would wipe out all my files, including everything in My Documents, so I ducked out. Now I really need to get to my e-mail stuff. If you can help I will be eternally grateful.
John.
 
Hi, Thank you both very much for your responses. What happened was:- I
re-installed Win XP Pro over another version off the same disc. I messed
up,at the final stage, with the administrator name and computer name. I
can see all my files using Windows Explorer and I can access and use the
programmes. I have not tried to access Outlook Express because when I
did a similar thing earlier this year I lost all my addresses and
messages. I thought that if I re-installed Win XP again I could then set
it up with my correct name, computer name etc. and everything would be
OK. When I started the installation process again the software told me
that it would wipe out all my files, including everything in My
Documents, so I ducked out. Now I really need to get to my e-mail stuff.
If you can help I will be eternally grateful. John.
Click to expand...

John, when you reinstalled XP over itself, the old account became
non-existent. Even though you created a new account with the same user
name, XP regards these as two different users. However it has retained all
of the the old account's folders, files and other data for that "other"
user.

You need to take ownership of these files and folders as previously
mentioned. I think with the OE message store you could take ownership of
the hidden folder containing the old *.dbx and *.wab files. Then import
those into the OE identity that you should create for your new account.

I use Outlook and another newsreader so am bit rusty on my OE fixes but
that will be the general gist of the procedure. The folks over in the OE
newsgroups that I referred you to earlier will be able to guide you through
this step-by-step.
 
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