Yes, you should be able too. You may need to take ownership of them, but
that senario is not uncommon, and admins will put on a parallel copy of the
OS in a different directory so they can then acces their data.
I don't know where on your machine that data is located, as normally on
servers it's in separate folders or drives, etc but if it is in some folder
contained within the original installations base files, then I would
recommend installing the OS into a different directory rather than the
default winnt or windows directory (should be option for Advanced Options
somewhere around the 4th or 5th window during install if memory is correct)
and in there it gives you an option to decide "where to install". This can
still be on C:\ but just pick a different dir name so it won't overwrite
your data still in the original installation location.
When the machine reboots after installing the second version, it will
default to the new install, but the boot.ini screen will show both installs
as available, and the "latest/newest" one is the one on top (default
selection).
After you copy your stuff over, you can then delete the whole dir for your
old install. Be careful deleting the docs/settings folder though if
installing on the same drive as the original though as both installs will be
sharing that folder so both your old and new profile will be in there. If
you have other drives/partitions you may consider installing it on one of
them.
--
David Brandt
Microsoft Corporation
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