Reinstall Windows XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bullwinkle J. Moose
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Bullwinkle J. Moose

I recently had a fatal windows crash and tried to run a repair installation.
The installation froze at 34 minutes and would go no further except to run a
loop by going back to the 39 minutes reinstallation.

I was unable to do a complete install of windows as the loop could not be
broken. Further when I tried a complete install first it would not run since
I have sp2 on he machine and my original windows xp disk is sp1.

I ended up having a professional do the job which he did.

The install put the system on logical disk "L". Not a big deal but why not
on to "C" as normal?

Secondly how can I setup a disk with both sp1 and sp2 on it. I think it's
called slipstreaming?

Any help appreciated.

Regards,
 
Why do you think OS is on "L" drive"
If all drives/partitons are used that means yuo have "12" drives???
Bootable OS has to be installed on "Primary" partition not "Logical"
partition!!
Why do you think yours is "Logical"?
Professional would probaly install OS on C drive.
If yuo had done "Clean/New" with a Full version, install would have erased
your HD. It wouldn't matter what your previous version was.
 
Hi, Dennis.

Some points need to be clarified.

The System Partition must be a primary partition and marked Active
(bootable). But the Boot Volume may be any volume (any primary partition or
any logical drive in an extended partition) on any HD in the computer. For
example, I currently am multi-booting 8 different versions of Windows (both
x86 and x64 versions of WinXP Pro and of each of 3 builds of the Microsoft
Vista beta). They all boot from G:, the System Partition, which is the
first (only) primary partition on my SATA HD (designated in the BIOS as the
current boot device). Each Windows installation is in a different logical
drive, scattered over 3 HDs. This can get confusing for me, a mere human,
but the computer has no trouble keeping them straight. I often refer to
Disk Management to remind me which volume is which. At the moment, I'm
running WinXP Pro (x86 - the 32-bit version) on F:, the first logical volume
in the extended partition on my IDE HD. The others are in D:, I:, J:, K:,
L:, P: and Q.

Remember that the term "drive letter" is a misnomer. It actually refers to
volumes, which includes CD/DVD drives, USB "thumb" drives, network drives -
even the SanDisk SD card reader for my camera. And letters need not be
assigned in sequence; my DVDs are V: and W:, but I don't (at the moment)
have a drive T: or U:. And I sure don't have 24 HDs!

Many users - even professionals - have been startled to see that their WinXP
did not install onto C:, as they assumed it would. And the only way to
change the letters of the System Partition and Boot Volume is to run Setup
again. :>( For an explanation of how Setup assigns letters, see this page
in the WinXP Pro Resource Kit:
Creating Volumes During Windows XP Professional Setup
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prkb_cnc_xlxw.asp

(Links don't always land on the specific page I have in mind. If this one
doesn't, then start at the top of the RK and follow this trail):
Welcome > Part II Desktop Management > Ch 12 Disk Management > Managing
Volumes During Windows XP Professional Setup

And you might want to compare it to the former system:
Order in Which MS-DOS and Windows Assign Drive Letters
http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...ent=1&NoWebContent=1&NoWebContent=1#appliesto

You might also be interested in:
Definition of System Partition and Boot Partition
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314470/EN-US/

Many writers have pointed out the counterintuitive use of these terms: We
BOOT from the SYSTEM partition and keep the operating SYSTEM files in the
BOOT folder on the BOOT volume. :>(

RC
 
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