- Joined
- Jun 22, 2002
- Location
- Sterling IL
before doing the following steps be sure that there's no other option availble to boot windows as this is going to basically turn your installation into a clean install without losing your files. if possible back up your My Documents and Internet Favorites folders, they will be erased.
1. Boot your computer with the Windows XP CD-ROM.
2. In the Welcome to Setup screen, press R to repair.
3. If you have multiple versions of Windows running on your computer, select the installation you would like to log on to by typing the number of the installation and then pressing ENTER.
4. Type the Administrator password for your computer, and then press ENTER. (if no password was set then just press enter)
5. At the prompt type "cd system32\config" (without the quotation marks) and then press ENTER.
6. Type "ren system system.old" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
7. Type "ren software software.old" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
8. Type "ren security security.old" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
NOTE: drive refers to the drive letter where Windows XP is installed.
9. Type "copy drive:\windows\repair\system drive:\windows\system32\config" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
10. Type "copy drive:\windows\repair\software drive:\windows\system32\config" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
11. Type "copy drive:\windows\repair\security drive:\windows\system32\config" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
12. Type "exit" (without the quotation marks), and the computer restarts automatically. Allow the computer to boot normally.
now you should be able to boot into windows and start installing your drivers. as stated at the top of this post, your going to be at a clean install status.
edit: the My Documents folder and Internet Favorites folder are not deleted, they are renamed. you can find them at C:\Documents and Settings\(user name) you'll see the renamed My Documents folder.
1. Boot your computer with the Windows XP CD-ROM.
2. In the Welcome to Setup screen, press R to repair.
3. If you have multiple versions of Windows running on your computer, select the installation you would like to log on to by typing the number of the installation and then pressing ENTER.
4. Type the Administrator password for your computer, and then press ENTER. (if no password was set then just press enter)
5. At the prompt type "cd system32\config" (without the quotation marks) and then press ENTER.
6. Type "ren system system.old" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
7. Type "ren software software.old" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
8. Type "ren security security.old" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
NOTE: drive refers to the drive letter where Windows XP is installed.
9. Type "copy drive:\windows\repair\system drive:\windows\system32\config" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
10. Type "copy drive:\windows\repair\software drive:\windows\system32\config" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
11. Type "copy drive:\windows\repair\security drive:\windows\system32\config" (without the quotation marks), and then press ENTER.
12. Type "exit" (without the quotation marks), and the computer restarts automatically. Allow the computer to boot normally.
now you should be able to boot into windows and start installing your drivers. as stated at the top of this post, your going to be at a clean install status.
edit: the My Documents folder and Internet Favorites folder are not deleted, they are renamed. you can find them at C:\Documents and Settings\(user name) you'll see the renamed My Documents folder.
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