XP Repair Installation

  • Thread starter Thread starter billurie
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billurie

As reported, I couldn't get new Windows Update to work
because of invalid product key, so I bit the bullet on
it and did what I believe is called Repair Installation
on my spare hard drive/XP/SP2. It ran fine, accepted
the product key I gave it, and validated okay. I was
surprised to find that all my files and folders survived,
and the new Windows Update as well. I intend to make this
my new Master OS.

All my application folders, and Program Files are there,
but I prefer not to go to the effort of reinstalling them
all, one at a time and making desktop icons. During XP
installation, it talked about System Tools Folder and
Settings Transfer Wizard, suggesting that as the right
way to do it. I'm prepared to run the old drive as Master
and the newly reactivated drive as Slave, to get whatever
can be transferred, over to the new drive. I didn't find
the onboard info on Files and Settings Xfer Wiz awful easy
to follow; maybe there's a KB article on it. May I have
your good advice on this?
Thank you.

William B. Lurie
 
Open the wizard,set as old computer,select files,settings for it to save,save
the data in a new folder that you create,once its thru,transfer the data
folder
to a cd.With the cd,set as new computer in the wizard,browse to cd folder,the
cd gives you a backup as well.
 
As reported, I couldn't get new Windows Update to work
because of invalid product key, so I bit the bullet on
it and did what I believe is called Repair Installation
on my spare hard drive/XP/SP2. It ran fine, accepted
the product key I gave it, and validated okay. I was
surprised to find that all my files and folders survived,
and the new Windows Update as well. I intend to make this
my new Master OS.

All my application folders, and Program Files are there,
but I prefer not to go to the effort of reinstalling them
all, one at a time and making desktop icons. During XP
installation, it talked about System Tools Folder and
Settings Transfer Wizard, suggesting that as the right
way to do it. I'm prepared to run the old drive as Master
and the newly reactivated drive as Slave, to get whatever
can be transferred, over to the new drive. I didn't find
the onboard info on Files and Settings Xfer Wiz awful easy
to follow; maybe there's a KB article on it. May I have
your good advice on this?
Thank you.

William B. Lurie
Click to expand...


You'll still have to reinstall each and every application and game
anyway, in order to recreate the hundreds (possibly thousands) of
registry entries and to replace the dozens (possibly hundreds) of
essential system files back into the appropriate Windows folders and
sub-folders.

The FAST wizard is useful for transferring data files and some
user-specific settings. It cannot move applications.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH
 
Bruce said:
You'll still have to reinstall each and every application and game
anyway, in order to recreate the hundreds (possibly thousands) of
registry entries and to replace the dozens (possibly hundreds) of
essential system files back into the appropriate Windows folders and
sub-folders.

The FAST wizard is useful for transferring data files and some
user-specific settings. It cannot move applications.
Click to expand...
Thank you, Bruce, for the bad news. In reading the many pages of
description of the wonderful features of XP (and many wondrous
featured it does have) I got the impression that it was designed
to do what I'm asking. To reinstall many of the applications
(notably Symantec products) it is virtually impossible.

Let's look at my situation in a different light: I have a fine
XP OS that is just what I want in every way, except that the
new WU security doesn't like my product key. But I have another
product key which worked fine with the newly-installed OS. Instead
of the impossible task of reinstalling a zillion applications in
the new OS, I would be happy to simply reach into the complete OS
with the bad product key, and change its key to the one which has
been proven acceptable. The KB articles which I have seen on this
are 'iffy' as to whether they will work with SP2, and there's a
question as to whether this inherited OS is Corporate or what.
(328874, for example, is four pages long and I have problems
with it).

William B. Lurie
 
A repair installation is just what its name says, it installs _on top_ of an
existing install. If you did a "repair" on another HD, you did a parallell
(new) XP installation, not a repair install...

The _repair_ installation should have kept all programs and settings as was,
a parallell (ie. new install _beside_ the existing) does NOT migrate all
progs and settings...

--
Tumppi
Reply to group
=================================================
Most learned on nntp://news.mircosoft.com
Helsinki, Finland (remove _NOSPAM)
(translations from FI/SE not always accurate)
=================================================
 
Bill

Put the XP CD that you will use for the repair install into the CD tray and
boot from it.. do NOT take the first option to press 'R' for repair.. just
continue as if you were going to load XP for the first time..

Eventually, you are given the option to do a new install or REPAIR the
incumbent.. press F8 to continue with the repair.. you MAY have to activate
your XP over the telephone, but it tells you how to do that..

You will NOT have to re-install all of your programs, but you WILL have to
do all of the XP updates again..

It is a simple enough procedure.. just do it..
 
Mike said:
Bill

Put the XP CD that you will use for the repair install into the CD tray and
boot from it.. do NOT take the first option to press 'R' for repair.. just
continue as if you were going to load XP for the first time..

Eventually, you are given the option to do a new install or REPAIR the
incumbent.. press F8 to continue with the repair.. you MAY have to activate
your XP over the telephone, but it tells you how to do that..

You will NOT have to re-install all of your programs, but you WILL have to
do all of the XP updates again..

It is a simple enough procedure.. just do it..
Click to expand...
Thanks, Mike. I'll make another clone which is complete except that
its product key has been rejected, and follow your specific
procedure. It did not seem credible to me that there was no way
to correct a product key which had gone bad for some reason.
 
As reported, I couldn't get new Windows Update to work
because of invalid product key, so I bit the bullet on
it and did what I believe is called Repair Installation
on my spare hard drive/XP/SP2. It ran fine, accepted
the product key I gave it, and validated okay. I was
surprised to find that all my files and folders survived,
and the new Windows Update as well. I intend to make this
my new Master OS.

All my application folders, and Program Files are there,
but I prefer not to go to the effort of reinstalling them
all, one at a time and making desktop icons. During XP
installation, it talked about System Tools Folder and
Settings Transfer Wizard, suggesting that as the right
way to do it. I'm prepared to run the old drive as Master
and the newly reactivated drive as Slave, to get whatever
can be transferred, over to the new drive. I didn't find
the onboard info on Files and Settings Xfer Wiz awful easy
to follow; maybe there's a KB article on it. May I have
your good advice on this?
Thank you.

William B. Lurie
Click to expand...

Hi Bill a properly run Repair Install will not require you to reinstall your
applications. You will have to reinstall Windows Updates and Service Packs
not included in the version of XP that you used to run the Repair Install.
 
If the invalid product key warning is due to an illegal copy of Windows XP
Volume License version on the system then keychangers are of no use. You
will need to run a Repair Install with a legal version of Windows XP
Professional version to correct the problem.
 
Harry said:
If the invalid product key warning is due to an illegal copy of Windows XP
Volume License version on the system then keychangers are of no use. You
will need to run a Repair Install with a legal version of Windows XP
Professional version to correct the problem.
Click to expand...
Harry, I thought I had mentioned that when I did what I thought was a
repair installation, loading only OS but retaining everything else, my
product key validated just fine but all the leads to all the
applications were gone. So I have CD which must have a valid key. My
problem is how to go about applying that key to a complete OS without
losing anything.
 
uggabugga said:
In the past, I was in a similar situation and was able to change the key
using a program named Magic Jelly Bean Keyfinder. Weird name but it works.

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml

Just click on Options and then Change Windows Key. Type in the key and click
on Change.
Click to expand...

Hey UG:
Thanks loads for that little program. It does indeed work.
I tested it and it quickly and easily allows me to change
Product Key. Read in another message I'm about to post,
that all is not Danish in Denmark. Using it to try
to change the Product Key to one which had allowed me to
install *and* validate a fresh installation of XP from my
CD, did *not* work, was *not* accepted by 'keyfinder'.
But this doesn't detract from that being an
amazingly simple key finder and changer.
 
uggabugga said:
In the past, I was in a similar situation and was able to change the key
using a program named Magic Jelly Bean Keyfinder. Weird name but it works.

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml

Just click on Options and then Change Windows Key. Type in the key and click
on Change.
Click to expand...

Hey UG:
Thanks loads for that little program. It does indeed work.
I tested it and it quickly and easily allows me to change
Product Key. Read in another message I'm about to post,
that all is not Danish in Denmark. Using it to try
to change the Product Key to one which had allowed me to
install *and* validate a fresh installation of XP from my
CD, did *not* work, was *not* accepted by 'keyfinder'.
But this doesn't detract from that being an
amazingly simple key finder and changer.
 
Mike, I thought I followed your steps well enough, but obviously
I did not. After the installation was completed, yes, all of my
programs are there, in Program Files and in their own
folders, but I'm still in the same boat. The programs have no
icons and the desktop is empty. If your instructions below
should have given me an OS and all applications and data
ready to run, just as they were before this lengthy installation,
then I didn't do it right.

Could I impose on you to expand those few lines to include what
the options will be at all of the places where I must make a choice,
and which option to select, so that the only long-term effects of
doing this procedure are to clean up any erroneous Windows XP
code, and to allow me to enter the correct Product Key?

Thank you.............

Bill Lurie

Mike Hall (MS-MVP) wrote:

Bill:
 
Thanks, Mike. I'll make another clone which is complete except that
its product key has been rejected, and follow your specific
procedure. It did not seem credible to me that there was no way
to correct a product key which had gone bad for some reason.
Click to expand...
Mike, I've broken the thread on this because a mechanical
intermittent forced me to go to a backup drive and system. I know
I already asked for more details...but I tried again, to make sure
it wasn't me, and no way do I find a procedure leading to F8 as
you state in your sequence. I'd really appreciate a procedure to
follow that includes all the steps that the Install CD will lead
me to.

Now the drive I had been trying simply to correct the Product Key on,
has 'files missing' and will not boot, but I can still make a clone
which is only in need of a procedure for substituting a valid key for
one that is unacceptable.
 
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