Skip to main content

Reinstalling Windows XP Without Drive Format

Objective: To reinstall Windows XP in order to obtain a fresh install/registry, but without possibly deleting data stored on the drive by the customer. This document assumes that Windows XP is presently installed in the standard WINDOWS directory.

  1. Boot the computer from the Windows XP CDROM.

  2. Wait for Device Drivers to Load.

  3. Hit Enter to Setup Windows.

  4. Hit the F8 key to Agree.

  5. Hit ESC to Don’t Repair.

  6. Select the C Partition with the arrow keys and hit Enter.

  7. Hit C to Continue Setup.

  8. Hit Enter to Leave The Current File System Intact.

  9. Hit ESC for Different Folder.

  10. Backspace over WINDOWS and replace this with WINNT and hit Enter.

  11. Wait for Setup Files to be copied to hard drive.

  12. The computer now reboots and begins installation.

  13. Follow the prompts as normal in order to finish installation.

  14. The computer reboots.

  15. Follow the prompts as normal.

  16. Once the installation has completed, double click on C Drive.

  17. Click on View Contents of Drive.

  18. Go to Tools : Folder Options.

  19. Click on the View tab.

  20. Click on Show Hidden Files and Folders.

  21. Uncheck Hide Protected Operating System Files.

  22. Uncheck Hide Extensions for Known File Types.

  23. Click OK.

  24. Double-click the BOOT.INI file.

  25. Delete the ENTIRE line of text beginning with multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)Windows….
    This is the original WINDOWS directory boot line.

  26. Save the file and exit.

  27. You now have the original WINDOWS directory intact on the hard drive which you can delete. Or you can leave it there temporarily until you are ready to delete it.

  28. My Documents, etc. can of course be copied from C:Documents and Settings to the new My Documents location under the new Profile Directory.
http://www.smartnetadmin.com
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Access Denied (policy_denied). Your system policy has denied access to the requested URL. For assistance, contact your network support team.

While browsing the internet, you may encounter the message: "Access Denied (policy_denied).  Your system policy has denied access to the requested URL.  For assistance, contact your network support team."   This message indicates the internet traffic is being filtered.  The most common source of an internet traffic filter is in corporate environments that use a proxy server or a firewall appliance designed to filter web traffic.  Some businesses are configured as satellite locations using a VPN tunnel.  In these configurations, the VPN may be configured to filter internet traffic.  In rare instances, the Internet Service Provider is filtering internet traffic.  Typically though, your IT Department or a Network Management Team has configured your internet traffic to be filtered.  Isolating Source of Web Filtering In an environment that is unmanaged and the source of the filtering is unknown, following are some steps you may wish to peform: Th...
3 comments
Read more

Event ID: 7001 - Source: VSS - Unable to create a shadow copy

When using Microsoft Windows Server, you may encounter the error message: "Unable to create a shadow copy."  In the Event Viewer, you may find the following Event: "Event ID: 7001 - Source: VSS - Unable to create a shadow copy."  This event involves the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).  Most likely the Server was rebooted while creating a Shadow Copy.  Many websites describe deleting or renaming the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\WBEM directory used by Windows Management Instrumentation to resolve this issue.  This is not correct.  Following are the steps to resolve this issue: Double-click My Computer. Right-mouse click the Hard Drive causing the problem. Click the Shadow Copies tab. Select the appropriate Volume. Click Disable. Click OK. Click Start - Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Scheduled Tasks. Delete all tasks related to the Volume Shadow Copy Service. Reboot the Server. Double-click My Computer. Right-mouse click the Hard Drive causing the problem. Cl...
Post a Comment
Read more

How do you stop an unstoppable Windows Service?

You may encounter a Windows Service in Services that has the buttons for Start, Stop, Pause and Resume greyed out.  If you attempt to stop the Service using sc stop [servicename], you encounter the error message: "The requested control is not valid for this service."  To resolve this issue, please perform the following steps: Click Start - Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Services. Double-click the relevant Service. Change the Service Start-Up Type to Disabled. Click Apply. Click OK. Hit CTRL-ALT-DEL on your keyboard. Select Task Manger. Perform an End Task on the relevant Service. This issue has been resolved. http://www.smartnetadmin.com
Post a Comment
Read more