Two copies of XP on the same drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter DSL-Dave
  • Start date Start date
D

DSL-Dave

I recently had a hard drive crash that I was unable to recover from by using
WinXP recovery console, or by re-installing over the old copy. In
desperation, I installed a second copy of XP Pro using C:\XP instead of
C:\Windows as the root. All went well, and I am back up and running. All my
data appears to be available on the drive, however, I would like to be able
to transfer my old settings to the new copy, i.e., all my OE6 settings, the
desktop, etc. Can this be done easily, or must I "bite the bullet" and
manually reconfigure everything?
Thanks,
Dave
 
Hi Dave,

Unless you can boot the original installation, you will need to bite the
bullet. If you can boot it, the files and settings transfer wizard will
accomplish this for you. Otherwise, copy data files you want to keep into
the new installation, but that is all you will be able to get.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
 
Rick "Nutcase" Rogers said:
Hi Dave,

Unless you can boot the original installation, you will need to bite the
bullet. If you can boot it, the files and settings transfer wizard will
accomplish this for you. Otherwise, copy data files you want to keep into
the new installation, but that is all you will be able to get.
Click to expand...
Hi Rick,

Thanks for your reply. I have been patiently awaiting an answer since Jan
15th!
First, let me ask you if it is considered cross-posting to wait a reasonable
time for ANY answer before duplicating my post in another group. I wouldn't
normally do this, however, in this situation, I was kinda desperate!
I suspect that all, if not most, of my original data is still on the hard
drive.
After creating the second copy of XP (and registering it) I was able to find
most everything, however, if possible, I would like to be able to get back
the message stores from OE6 and my autoformat information.

Of course, ideally, I would like to be able to repair the original copy
(which is still untouched.)
When I attempted to rebuild the original copy of XP, it would get in to
where it needed about 34 minutes to complete, and then would reboot. I
originally thought that this was being caused by a hardware failure,
however, after removing all of the extraneous hardware, it still did the
same thing.
Obviously, since I was able to do a clean and uneventful second installation
(after re-installing the hardware), there was no hardware problem.

My other question is, if I am able to get the original copy working, is
there a problem (legal or otherwise) in having two running copies of XP on
the same hard drive (obviously, not able to run them both simultaneously!)

Thanks for your time, patience and effort. I know, at times, your efforts
must seem unrewarding, but, believe me, that is far from the truth!

Sincerely,
Dave
 
Hi Dave,

It's customary to wait 24-48 hours, after that the original post is probably
lost in the shuffle. So many questions, so little time.

For the OE mail files, locate the old *.dbx files, and use the import
function to bring them into the new system. As these are usually under the
doc & settings area, you may need to take ownership first (once you've
located them, start/search/files, look for*.dbx). Right-click the folder,
select properties. Go to the security tab and click advanced. You can take
control of the folders on the owner tab. For the security tab to appear in a
WinXP Pro system, you must disable simple file sharing in the control
panel/folder options/view tab. For a WinXP Home system, you must restart in
safe mode and logon as administrator. More details here:

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP [Q308421]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308421

I agree, that it boils down to a corrupt installation, as your clean install
shows that. The EULA doesn't provide for running two copies of Windows on
the same machine, but there is no way to enforce it either.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
 
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