Windows Repair

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This may not be appropriate to add this question, but I have been looking for
the answer to this very question. I would like to know how you repair
windows if the windows operating system was installed by the vendor? Is the
only option to take your computer to a computer repair shop? If someone has
the same operating system, can you use their CD to complete the repair
process? thank you.

LGZ
 
LGZ said:
This may not be appropriate to add this question, but I have been looking
for
the answer to this very question. I would like to know how you repair
windows if the windows operating system was installed by the vendor? Is
the
only option to take your computer to a computer repair shop? If someone
has
the same operating system, can you use their CD to complete the repair
process? thank you.

LGZ
Click to expand...

It doesn't matter that the vendor pre-installed XP. What does matter is
the way they supplied the re-install files, as they must have done.

If the system came with an XP install CD, it's as described in the previous
posts. On systems with "recovery" disks or partitions, non-destructive
repair is sometimes but not always supported. If it isn't supported, the
recovery will start with wiping the disk and removing all data. Back up
first before trying this!

Turn your system off and restart it, and carefully watch the screen for
directions to the key to press to start system recovery. If there is no
recovery partition, you should have received some sort of disk set. If
you don't have either disks or partition, contact the vendor for recovery or
reinstall media.

I will say again here that the concept of supplying only a recovery
partition is flawed, and for the sake of perhaps a dollar penalizes the
end-user. Drives do fail, and when they do, all the partitions are equally
inaccessible. If the vendor won't supply the XP install on CD, the
end-user is forced to buy both a new drive and a new XP license.

Most systems with recovery partitions do provide a method for the end user
to make their own reinstall CD, but they do not require that this be done.

The only other CDs that will work are identical versions, for example XP
plus Home plus OEM plus a particular vendor (i.e. Dell disks won't work on
other-brand systems). To get to the recovery console, on the other hand,
you can use any bootable XP CD, Home or Pro.

Back up your data before doing any kind of repair or restore. In the
worst case, it's easy to remove the drive, attach it to an inexpensve
(around $20) USB2 drive case or adapter, plug that into another XP system
with enough free drive space, and copy the files off. You may need to Take
Ownership of files or folders to do this. Be sure to get the files in
hidden folders, which usually includes your email and address files.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

HTH
-pk
 
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