reinstall xp pro

  • Thread starter Thread starter Boris W
  • Start date Start date
B

Boris W

Had Norton Antivirus issues leading me to a crapped out
registry - so in trying to reinstall WinXP I can't see to
find a way to make sure to retain my data.

I can't use the recovery console since I used it to revert
to a saved reg file, which didn't work and cause the
administrator password to reset it seems so I can't get
back to my files or a command prompt.

So - I'm left with the reinstall - please how can I
reinstall and retain my data and softare???
 
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341

"How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP"

(repair installation)

In brief, change the BIOS settings to boot from the CD-ROM drive. Choose
install rather than going to the repair console. Under install, choose to
repair the existing installation.

This will preserve most of the settings and installed software. (You may
have to re-install some software or drivers, but not most.)

You will lose most or all things installed through Windows Update. (This
would include SP1, if you've updated to it.) It ought to be a lot less work
than a complete re-install, though.

HTH.

Bob Knowlden

Spam dodger may be in use. Replace nkbob with bobkn.
 
Are you quite sure that it's booting from the CD? (On the systems I've done
this on, it requires altering the boot order to start with the CD drive
first.)

(You should have seen, during boot, a message something like "press any key
to boot from the CD". The CD boot doesn't look much like a regular XP
startup.)

I have no deep understanding of this, but when you boot from the CD, the
state of the OS on the hard drive ought to be irrelevant.

Good luck.

Bob Kn.
 
Boris said:
Had Norton Antivirus issues leading me to a crapped out
registry - so in trying to reinstall WinXP I can't see to
find a way to make sure to retain my data.

I can't use the recovery console since I used it to revert
to a saved reg file, which didn't work and cause the
administrator password to reset it seems so I can't get
back to my files or a command prompt.

So - I'm left with the reinstall - please how can I
reinstall and retain my data and softare?
Click to expand...

Try and set the BIOS to boot CD before Hard disk, then boot the XP CD,
start Setup (do not take 'Repair' at this stage), then after the license
agreement take 'Repair Installation'. This will retain your existing
software installations and most settings. But if the registry is too
far gone to be read by Setup it is not going to help. In that case
putting the drive as slave to some good install so as to backup data is
about all you can do
 
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