Reinstall XP Home, keeping desktop layout?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Percival P. Cassidy
  • Start date Start date
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Percival P. Cassidy

I have one machine with XP Home SP3 that is acting strangely --
sometimes reads FAT(32) media, sometimes won't; sometimes takes for ever
to boot; sometimes takes many attempts before it will shut down; etc. I
think it's time to reinstall; I'll try a repair install first (I have an
SP2 CD), but if that doesn't work I'll start over.

All I have on C: is the OS itself and apps that refused to install to
D:, which is my Apps drive. All my downloaded stuff is on E:, backups on X:.

If I create an "archive" using Files and Settings Transfer, can I select
what gets copied back? I assume that transferring all the old registry
settings would not be smart. Can I save the Desktop layout?

Perce
 
I have one machine with XP Home SP3 that is acting strangely --
sometimes reads FAT(32) media, sometimes won't; sometimes takes for ever
to boot; sometimes takes many attempts before it will shut down; etc. I
think it's time to reinstall; I'll try a repair install first (I have an
SP2 CD), but if that doesn't work I'll start over.

All I have on C: is the OS itself and apps that refused to install to
D:, which is my Apps drive. All my downloaded stuff is on E:, backups on
X:.

If I create an "archive" using Files and Settings Transfer, can I select
what gets copied back? I assume that transferring all the old registry
settings would not be smart. Can I save the Desktop layout?
Click to expand...


Forgot to mention: restoring from recent restore points doesn't solve
problems; attempts to restore from older restore points don't work.

Perce
 
Percival said:
All I have on C: is the OS itself and apps that refused to install to
D:, which is my Apps drive. All my downloaded stuff is on E:, backups
on X:.
Click to expand...

In the event that you wind up performing a Clean Install, make sure C:
is at least 50GB. Also, it is important to have the OS and all the
applications on C:. Almost all of your programs will have preferences,
associated registry keys, etc. on the C: partition, so you might as well
keep it all together. And should you wish to create images of C: for
disaster recovery purposes (highly recommended), you will be all set.
:-)

D: can be for *all* your data. You may have a "downloaded stuff" folder
on it if you wish.

I would not have a backup partition on the same drive (if the hard drive
is toast, you will have also lost your backup!). An external hard drive
should be used for this purpose.
 
In the event that you wind up performing a Clean Install, make sure C:
is at least 50GB. Also, it is important to have the OS and all the
applications on C:. Almost all of your programs will have preferences,
associated registry keys, etc. on the C: partition, so you might as well
keep it all together. And should you wish to create images of C: for
disaster recovery purposes (highly recommended), you will be all set.
:-)
Click to expand...

I've been caught too many times by programs that save data in the
program directory. If that's on C: and I have to reinstall the OS --
including reformatting C: -- I've often lost data as well. In one case I
installed a new version of a program without uninstalling the old one;
unbeknown to me the new version was using the data file originally
created by the earlier version; then when I uninstalled the old version
the data file disappeared too.

Even now I have programs that -- even though installed on D: -- insist
on storing configuration and data files in C:\Documents and
Settings\<User Name>\Application Data\<Application Name>\ rather than in
the application's own directory (or a subdirectory thereof) or in the
folder I have defined as "My Documents" (not on C:).
D: can be for *all* your data. You may have a "downloaded stuff" folder
on it if you wish.

I would not have a backup partition on the same drive (if the hard drive
is toast, you will have also lost your backup!). An external hard drive
should be used for this purpose.
Click to expand...

X: is a separate hard disk.

Perce
 
Percival said:
I've been caught too many times by programs that save data in the
program directory. If that's on C: and I have to reinstall the OS --
including reformatting C: -- I've often lost data as well.
Click to expand...

I shall repeat:

And should you wish to create images of C: for disaster recovery
purposes (highly recommended), you will be all set. :-)

This means you would have a little time machine of sorts. Nothing will
ever be lost again (okay, 99.9% chance). And you will be able to restore
the exact configuration of everything on your partition(s).
In one
case I installed a new version of a program without uninstalling the
old one; unbeknown to me the new version was using the data file
originally created by the earlier version; then when I uninstalled
the old version the data file disappeared too.

Even now I have programs that -- even though installed on D: -- insist
on storing configuration and data files in C:\Documents and
Settings\<User Name>\Application Data\<Application Name>\ rather than
in the application's own directory (or a subdirectory thereof) or in
the folder I have defined as "My Documents" (not on C:).
Click to expand...

And that is why I suggested you make sure *all* the programs are
installed to C:, rather than to two partitions. If you install a program
to D: but Windows insists on placing its Application Data on C:, you
wind up with a confusing mess. Simply use C: for the OS and all the
apps. Easy as pie.

Also, My Documents (no matter which partition it points to) should be
used for data only -- data that stands alone; not the stuff associated
with the OS and its updates and installed programs or their associated
"Application Data." I mean all your documents, spreadsheets, e-mails,
photos, videos, etc. Actually, *installation files* for programs may
reside in a folder in My Documents as well.
X: is a separate hard disk.
Click to expand...

This is a good. Better, of course, is if this separate hard disk is
external to the PC.
 
Under a different useraccount, such as Administrator, take a backup of your
user-profile under c:\Documents and Settings to X. It may also be worth
copying the All Users profile. Ensure that hidden files are copied, the most
important being NTUSER.DAT. (This gives you the HKCU part of the registry)

After the rebuild, you need to create an identical user, log on once to
create the profile, log off again, then copy the files back (as
Administrator) to a same-named folder.

This will not necessarily ensure that programs on D: will still work, but it
will at least give you your desktop settings, etc. Those programs which don't
work will need reinstalling 'over the top' of the existing copy to reinstate
their HKLM registry settings.

The FSTW is notoriously unreliable, BTW. I've seen people lose the lot
trying to do things that way. ntbackup to a .bkf file mostly works, and is
one possible approach.
 
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