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How-to repair Windows XP

Windows Repair How-to XP

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#46
AndyLFC5times

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Hello, have read the above as I need to use windows repair, I have never set a password, but when I press enter it says incorrect password??? Have also tried method of setting an administrator password on windows and then typed this in when windows repair has asked for it, again incorrect password?
Anyone got any ideas.
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#47
userlite

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Next, Windows Setup will find existing Windows XP installations. You will be asked to repair an existing XP installation, or install a fresh copy of Windows XP.

If no installations are found, then you will not be given the option to repair. This may happen if the data or partition on your drive is too corrupted

well happen to me
so what I can do??????

Edited by userlite, 06 May 2006 - 06:54 PM.

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#48
CB_Epyon

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Hi, Ive got a major headache from trying to repair my girlfriends computer. I went through all the steps, I have her windows XP pro CD but i cant find the booklet with the CD key on it anywhere. I would have used the "magic keyfinder" before but I could only boot the computer in safe mode before i tried to repair it . Is there any program that can find the CD Key off the Disc itself? Otherwise I am stuck in the windows XP pro set up :whistling:

Edited by CB_Epyon, 10 May 2006 - 12:19 PM.

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#49
roscoeb

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Hello, have read the above as I need to use windows repair, I have never set a password, but when I press enter it says incorrect password??? Have also tried method of setting an administrator password on windows and then typed this in when windows repair has asked for it, again incorrect password?
Anyone got any ideas.



I have the same problem -- did you find a solution?

Q
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#50
Ooze27

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I donīt have the Repair option.Weird i think,or maybe thatīs because my system is way corrupt,i donīt want to do a fresh install,because i have lots of important data.Is there any workaround for this?
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#51
breejen

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:whistling: I've tried to repair my pc using this method and I get up to the "loading windows" blue screen and the computer shuts down. The "Windows XP Pro Setup" screens do not appear.
What do you think is wrong with my machine?

Edited by breejen, 27 May 2006 - 01:44 PM.

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#52
gim123

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Hello all,

Not too sure if I'm putting this in the right place, but I need help! I have two Dell computers (laptop & older desktop) and a few weeks ago I needed to do a clean install of Windows XP on the desktop as it had slowed to a crawl. Dumb as [bleep], I used the wrong OEM Windows re-installation disk (the disk that came with the laptop) & product key to re-install and activate Windows. Unwittingly I activated the same Licence twice (as it had already been activated on the laptop). I have since removed the installation from the desktop and installed & re-activated the proper version (Quite a fun couple of evenings-in).

My problem is now that my laptop installation is not recognised as a valid installation (I can't do windows updates etc :whistling: ). I'm quite worried about this and I can't find any Microsoft customer care number to ring about licensing etc.

My question is: do I need to re-install (or repair-install) windows on the laptop and re-activate it so that Microsoft/Dell is aware that I'm only using the OEM copy on the laptop.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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#53
JJR

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I did an IN Place for XP Pro everything runs great but beware when you try to install Windows 3.1 installer it may fail.Something to do with registry permissions will not allow replacement of system files.Still can't fix and may have to do a clean install thanks Mr.Gates.
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#54
mrsquirrel79

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i have installed xp home edition temporarily before i purchase the pro upgrade and i'm wondering if i can still do an upgrade of pro without having activated the home edition?? please help!
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#55
admin

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Yes, you can upgrade XP Home to XP Professional link. You have a couple of options. Either run setup from inside Windows Home and select the upgrade option, or boot from the Pro CD and perform a clean install.

If you upgrade you won't lose any data, or have to reinstall any programs. If you perform a clean install you'll have to reinstall all programs, and may lose data (depending if you format or not).

Since you just installed Home there may not be much else on the system yet. In that case, I would reformat and do a clean install of Pro. You will need the XP Home CD to verify a previous version if you bought an upgrade edition of XP Professional.
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#56
olspookishmagus

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Well, here's my side of the story.

I have a HP laptop that came with Windows XP SP1 preinstalled (OEM) when I bought it. Since then however, when struck with a virus I did format the HDD and used that very same CD to reinstall Windows XP SP1 from scratch.

The installation proceeded and finished succesfully thus the laptop was performing very well until last week since, when all of a sudden, the system won't boot up at all. It shows the loading screen and just before the log-on screen appears a blue screen pops-up and very quickly vanished. All I get to read is that it has to do with a registry problem.

I've read the guide on this site and on various sites too, but none of the approaches seem to work for my case.

When using the OEM CD, I installed Windows XP SP1 from I never get to the Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and press R to start the repair. prompt, ever, even thought I follow the instructions to the letter.

When trying to use the workaround mentioned here I am not able to perform this step: copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak which could happen because that file is 2 GB's.

Well, is there any other way of working this out?
Can you think of a reason why I can't get to the repair prompt?

Thanks in advance.
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#57
sari

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olspookishmagus,

Please post your question in our OS forum, which can be found here. One of our trusted techs that monitor that forum will be able to help you.

sari
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#58
sarahx

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I'm sorry to ask this again, but it seems like quite a lot of people have asked already and I cant find an answer! What happens if your hard disk is so corrupt that windows repair can't find an old version of windows to repair from? It comes up with my partition, asking if I want to install on that- and I'll lose all my data if I do so, right? Are there any other solutions? Thanks for all the help :whistling:
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#59
admin

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If the repair option fails, there are a couple other options in this post...
http://www.geekstogo...?showtopic=138#
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#60
Gyorys

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Recently my PC shut down unexpectedly. When I reboot I saw the Windows XP start up screen briefly then the screen went black with the following error message:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\windows\system\config\system

Tou can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using the original Setup CD_ROM.

Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair

I tried the fix from Microsoft but could not find the SYSTEM file. There was a system.bak file which I copied to the config directory. After I robooted again I received the following error message:

LSASS>EXE When trying to update a password the return status returned current password not correct.

It is a Dell 8200.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

Thanks!!!!
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