Using Retail XP Media Version

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kitb

My question is: I have a retail version of Media Edition XP and want to use
that disk to do a repair install on a laptop running the same. Can I use
this disk and put in the serial # from the bottom of the laptop as this
laptop. has no recovery disk and I can't boot at all as I am getting:
windows\system32\config\system corrupt or missing.

I want to do either a repair install or a fresh install.......which might be
better. Please advise and thank you very much for any and all ans. that I
rec.

KittyKat
 
kitb said:
My question is: I have a retail version of Media Edition XP and
want to use that disk to do a repair install on a laptop running
the same. Can I use this disk and put in the serial # from the
bottom of the laptop as this laptop. has no recovery disk and I
can't boot at all as I am getting: windows\system32\config\system corrupt
or missing.
I want to do either a repair install or a fresh install.......which
might be better. Please advise and thank you very much for any and
all ans. that I rec.
Click to expand...

How did you get a retail version of a product (Windows XP Media Center
Edition is what you are speaking of - so I assume) that never sold as
retail? Yes - many software download sites offer it - advertised as
"retail" - but AFAIK, Windows XP Media Center Edition only came bundled
*with* computers as an OEM license type. Even if you buy it *as a system
builder*, it is still an OEM licensed version.

If the CD matches the flavor and type ("Home", "Professional", "Media
Center", etc; Retail, OEM, MSDN, Volume, etc) of the installed OS/product
key sticker - then you should be fine.

Repair install would keep things intact.

In any case - here is the official Microsoft knowledge base article on
fixing the issue you are almost reporting...

How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from
starting
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

Good luck!
 
Hello Shenan,

I believe I used the wrong terminology........... You are correct in saying
this OS was not purchased from store. It is XP Media Edition 2005 that came
with my e-machine, and I need to either do a repair install or fresh install
on another e-machine laptop w/ same OS but this one has no disks nor
recovery partition.

I started out by booting from disk to dos mode (since comp. would not start)
to repair ntldr.dll error which led to hal.dll error which led to ntoskrnl
error (repairing each as I went) & then trying bootcfg /repair which led to
another error so I did chkdsk /r which didn't fix a darn thing and I am
giving up. I think this machine is also too far gone with viruses and
malware (owner has teenager boy who downloads games, cracks, music, movies
and probably porn : ^ O ) so I believe it is best to start over.

Since he has no disk, I was wondering if I used mine, with his key (from
bottom) if that would work. I appreciate the link you supplied and will
file it away for future reference but as I said, I think I'll start
over..Don't you think that would be best?

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply!

KittyKat
 
kitb said:
My question is: I have a retail version of Media Edition XP and want to
use that disk to do a repair install on a laptop running the same. Can I
use this disk and put in the serial # from the bottom of the laptop as
this laptop. has no recovery disk and I can't boot at all as I am getting:
windows\system32\config\system corrupt or missing.

I want to do either a repair install or a fresh install.......which might
be better. Please advise and thank you very much for any and all ans.
that I rec.

KittyKat
Click to expand...

First, as far as I can tell, Windows Media Edition was never sold as retail,
only as OEM.

Second, a repair install isn't the appropriate response for the problem
you're experiencing. It may have no impact on the problem at all.

A clean install would sort of fix it, but since you don't have any recovery
disks, you also don't have the drivers that will be required to make the
laptop work properly. You will need to check with the laptop manufacturer
to get these BEFORE starting any kind of install.

The correct directions are here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

You can use *any* bootable XP CD to get to the Recovery Console, or you can
attach the drive to another system, or boot with any other CD that
recognises NTFS (including Linux CDs) and complete the tasks mentioned. If
you attach the drive to another system, and understand the directions, you
can pretty much skip thorough the task in about ten - twenty minutes and be
done.

While the drive is attached to another system, take the opportunity to back
up its data!

HTH
-pk
 
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