To honor and support our valiant Hosedragger, who churned out more words on a scary topic in one day since Stephen King woke up yesterday, we launch the first-ever Technical Support thread.
Ask, and answer, computer questions here.
Separate thread for other discussions on the way.
posted by Cthulhu @ 9:05 PM
53 comments
53 Comments:
hey thanks sulla!
sulla! sulla! sulla!
Sulla is da man
Yeah, repair doesn't work. I couldn't get passed step one aas far as the Microsoft instructions were concerned. They wanted me to copy a TM file or something and it wouldn't do it.
copy a tm file?
Something like that. I don't remember
To complete part one, follow these steps: 1. Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, or insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.
Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do so.
2. When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
3. If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.
4. When you are prompted to do so, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.
5. At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following lines, pressing ENTER after you type each line:
md tmp
copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\tmp\security.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\tmp\default.bak
delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
delete c:\windows\system32\config\default
copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default
let's try going through it.
oh...yeah...that won't work
those files have to exist before you can copy them.
Didn't get past the md tmp part last time, will try again
Need Diet Pepsi. BRB
Mmmm...Diet Pepsi. hideously addicted
yeah...me and diet dr pepper are the same way
Finger it out yet?
How's the geeking? No dice?
I'm looking up reinstall articles on microsoft now. the steps you have are for recovery, not exactly the same thing. "Hold here for a moment"
Dudes:
I added the Debinitions to the lexicon, please add any suggestions.
Is this it?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341/
try these steps:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341/EN-US/
the inplace upgrade is how to get back system files when they are completely missing
yep, thats the one.
oh, and dude, I want to change chimp tar® to chimp schmeer®
and method 2 is the better choice from that article.
OK...Stand By
All right. It won't let me press R. It only goes to that partition screen
c:Partition1[NTFS] 95386mb (16607 free)
Unpartitioned Space 8mb
chimp schmear... hmm.
Chimp tar rolls off the tongue a little better, and is still pretty... evocative.
I could overwrite it, which would lose everything, including possibly the My Documents folder. Have I reached that point yet?
ouch - it doesn't recognize that windows xp is installed.
hmm...risky to do this, so I don't recommend it, but you could simply install windows xp fresh on the existing partition. You'd have to reinstall all your programs, but all your existing files would still be there for you.
If all my files would still be there than that's fine. I don't care about the programs, I just want my files and pics.
your documents folder would still be there IF you choose a different first user account to build the new windows under.
yep, I think that's the way to go. be sure to choose NOT to format the existing partition.
What the hell does THAT mean
To use the folder and delete the existing Windows installation in it, pres L
To use a different folder, press ESC
To quit setup, press F3
when you choose to install xp, it shows you that list of partitions.
at some point it will ask you if you want to format it first. just type N
So go ahead and press L?
okay good, you're past the formatting part.
Yes, choose to use the same windows folder location.
It is deleting the existing windows installation
I hope I didn't just F myself
you're good. it's just installing over the c:\windows folder
Please tell me I didn't just F myself...
Even if it isn't true
seriously, you're good. all your files still exist.
I've had to do this several times at work for the salespeople (i have no idea where they go on the internet, but man do they screw up their hard drives fast).
OK it rebooted
Still installing
It will take 39 minutes. Back after Rescue Me
ok
Dude:
I'm calling it a night. You going to work tomorrow?
yep, gonna have to
about to call it a night myself
hosedragger - if I'm not around when you get back, leave me an email, and I'll walk you through whatever happens after windows xp finally boots up.
Well, I lost everything in the re-install. Is there a way that I can ever get the Documents file back or is it gone forever?
Hosedragger -
Talk to Petrarchan again...there some recovery programs that swear they can restore files even after a reformat.
You'd only want to restore what you can from the My Documents section, right?
Anyway, Pet might have a good idea on one that will work for you -- if not, I've had good luck with MajorGeeks and ZedNet.
Then there is always taking the laptop to a local data recovery specialist and letting them dig it out.
hosedragger - I got your email from last night. Yep, ntfs permissions will have to be redone to your folders after a reinstall so that you can get at your existing files. You're close now.
Pet - thank goodness you had a better answer.
What happened with the files? I've done a reformat without the files disappearing.
BrendaK - When you reinstall XP over itself, it resets the default ntfs permissions only on the directories it knows about, so when security groups like the local administrator will have permissions on all the standard C drive files, but won't recognize existing profile directories left over. What you have to do is reapply the local administrators group to the whole C drive (takes a while), and then you'll have access to all the old files and directories.
I had Hosedragger opt to select a differently named first user so that the old named directory under documents and settings would not be completely overwritten. This old location was where he was getting "access denied" messages when attempting to open files and directories from there. Once he reapplies permissions, he'll have access to all the files in all the profile directories.
The danger that Hosedragger had was in the initial setup. The bios no longer detected an install of XP, so during the install, when it recognized the existing partition, I had him make sure not to format it, otherwise he really would have lost all the memory pointers. As it is, he just needs to reinstall program applications.
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