OOPS. XP recovery problem.

[bobaandy]

Hi, it seems there were no restore points.
If you re-read the original message, you will see that interrupting a repair install is how I messed this up in the first place. Also that I have tried to re-repair install several times since then to no avail.

 

[KSoD]

Then you are going to be out of luck. There will be no way to restore the system and a format and reinstall are going to be in order.

 

[bobaandy]

When I try to repair the installation now, it says that "Windows has already tried repairing this, but failed. Would you like continue where it left off?"

Of course I hit yes. But what is telling the repair service it failed once?

 

[KSoD]

Because it has. As you said in your first post you never let it go thru the full repair cycle. So that is why it is saying that it failed once. Cause it already did fail once.

If you can not get the repair to go thru and there are no restore points your only option will be to format and reinstall.

There is no other options.

 

[bobaandy]

And there is no easy way to restore the files/settings/registry/etc after I format/reinstall...?

EDIT: I booted up from another drive and managed to grab a full image of the drive in question. I have tried reinstalling windows and restoring every file but the WINDOWS folder, but that didn't work. It booted up fine, but it didn't see my old account and files as a legit user it could load. Wishful thinking I suppose.
I still have the image though. Is it possible to reinstall Windows on the drive, and try what i did before with selectively restoring folders, but also include key folders Windows needs, like the registry? What else would I have to restore that was in the WINDOWS folder?

 

[KSoD]

No. Simple answer. You can not just copy over the Windows folder cause that contains the files you are currently using. You cant over write files you already are using.

Unless you can get a backup of the Registry there is no way to restore that easily as well. Not to mention you will need more than just the Registry files to get the software workign again. You will need the App Data folders and profiles for those appications.

You will be better off reinstalling everything. It will be less hassle then trying to hack your system back to the way it was. All that will do is cause instability and cause you to have a repeat of what happened before.

 

[bobaandy]

Hi,

This drive is a direct clone of a drive I had for 8 years. There is no way I can "simply reinstall" everything. I DO have the app folders and profiles for everything, I checked the image file I grabbed of the drive. It's all there. All that I need to do is to an in-place XP install of windows without the Repair function on the CD. That's really it.

Are you the only one who reads these forums? Surely more people exist!

 

[KSoD]

Yes more people read these forums.

There is no simple reinstall of everything from a Image like you want. That is just the way it is. You cant just copy the files you have over the ones you are using cause Windows wont allow it. It wont allow you to copy over system files that are in use at the time to replace them with other ones.

Is the image you have a real image or just a copy of the drive? What i mean by that is it a image created using Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image or cloning software like that? Or it is just a copy of the drive?

If it is a true image you should be able to use the software that was used to create the image and put the previous image back on. But if it is just a copy of the files there is not going to be any way to do what you want.

Let me explain.

When you install the software it makes note of the partition, sector and the very fine details of where the files are located on that drive when the software is installed.

So when you click on a executable it know where to look exactly, by partition/sector and knows exactly where that data is stored. To just copy the information back it would not be located in teh exact same partition/sector it was located in before and upon trying to run the application it would give you a error cause it would not find the information it was looking for.

While having the App Data/Profile and Registry information is great, just copying the information back wont work.

The best case solution for you would be to try to install Windows again, then use the File and Data Transfer Manager and see if you can get the data back that way. That will be your best case solution.

Other than that if it isnt a Image created usign Norton Ghost or any other cloning software what you want to accomplish will not be possible.

 

[bobaandy]

For those interested, I fixed this. It took me 2 or 3 weeks to figure this out, and I am A+ certified. So I figure I would share what I did for others who may be in the same situation I was. It ended up being very simple.

I took the hard drive and put it in another computer, which saw it as just another drive.
I went into the WINDOWS directory of the troublesome HDD and navigated to system32. I copied the entire config folder to the desktop.

I then booted to the XP CD and installed a brand new copy of windows OVER the old copy on the problematic drive. After windows rebooted 2-3 times, It was done.

I booted back into the original OS, and copied the config folder back. This brings back the registry.

I booted to the problem drive, and it started installing stuff off the CD again. I let it do it's thing.

Finally, I booted to the CD one last time, and repaired it. It worked like a charm, and when the computer restarted, it began right were it left off when I interrupted it.

The downside is you will need to reinstall all your drivers and service packs. But hey, that's a small price to pay.