[dsenette]

...it's not detecting the windows installation...but...it's obvious that windows there....is this a retail version of xp or is it a system recovery disk? (this shouldn't be this hard)

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this is a retail disc. but before this computer had windows ME on it...i dont know if that makes a difference but installing XP and adding some more memory seemed to work really well for awhile and then all this stuff started

[Junerish]

this is a retail disc. but before this computer had windows ME on it...i dont know if that makes a difference but installing XP and adding some more memory seemed to work really well for awhile and then all this stuff started

[dsenette]

if it's a full retail version of xp...then this repair SHOULD be working...the cavalry is now asking for help...

[Junerish]

if it's a full retail version of xp...then this repair SHOULD be working...the cavalry is now asking for help...

that kinda scares me- like this will never be fixed *crosses fingers*

[dsenette]

it'll get fixed....it's just a matter of HOW it get's fixed...and what we need to do to get it fixed...i'm hoping (as i'm sure you are) to find the least destructive method (i.e. can we fix this without a format/reinstall)...i've asked one of the other windows experts (much better than i am) to poke his weary old eyeballs in here...we'll see what he thinks and take it from there

[wannabe1]

Hi Junerish...

Looks like the cd is seeing the NTFS partition, but isn't recognizing the actual Windows installation.

Do you have important files on the machine? I think we can still run a repair on this and get away with it, but I'm not 100% sure how it will effect your data. It should be ok, but I can't guarantee it.

In the first Weclome to Setup screen, C: Partition1 [NTFS] is selected...you will press "Enter" on this screen.

In the next screen of format options, use the arrow keys to select "Leave the current file system intact (no changes)" and press "Enter".

This should run the setup on the selected partition using the existing file system...essentially, an inplace upgrade. If, during this process, you are asked if you wish to save your current installation...tell it "Yes". It appears you have room on the drive to do this and it can be deleted later.

[wannabe1]

It appears there is a slight glitch in the board at the moment? Double post.

Edited by wannabe1, 12 December 2006 - 02:43 PM.

[Junerish]

pfft i so messed that up and reinstalled- and there goes all my stuff

EDIT: ok it looks like theres my other account still there (and some of the programs i had are in the program folder) but it wont let me look at the other accounts documents/settings folder? is there anyway to get my stuff?

Edited by Junerish, 12 December 2006 - 06:29 PM.

[wannabe1]

If you can see the files, you should be able to recover them by Taking Ownership. If you reinstalled, you will probably have to reinstall your programs to get them working with the new registry.

Did following the earlier advice lead to the install or was there a misstep somewhere?

[Junerish]

Hi Junerish...

Looks like the cd is seeing the NTFS partition, but isn't recognizing the actual Windows installation.

Do you have important files on the machine? I think we can still run a repair on this and get away with it, but I'm not 100% sure how it will effect your data. It should be ok, but I can't guarantee it.

In the first Weclome to Setup screen, C: Partition1 [NTFS] is selected...you will press "Enter" on this screen.

In the next screen of format options, use the arrow keys to select "Leave the current file system intact (no changes)" and press "Enter".

This should run the setup on the selected partition using the existing file system...essentially, an inplace upgrade. If, during this process, you are asked if you wish to save your current installation...tell it "Yes". It appears you have room on the drive to do this and it can be deleted later.

somewhere in trying that i must i have pressed "enter" or something when i shouldnt have but i did select "In the next screen of format options, use the arrow keys to select "Leave the current file system intact (no changes)" and press "Enter"." at that part so i dont really know what happened...i just suddenly realized "OMG no it says its reinstalling"

i can see the files for the programs but they were just on the "C" drive...but i couldnt see any of "my documents" from before..."C:\Documents and Settings" when i click on the old user account it says access is denied- now i'll go see if i can figure out that last thing you mentioned

[Junerish]

If you can see the files, you should be able to recover them by Taking Ownership. If you reinstalled, you will probably have to reinstall your programs to get them working with the new registry.

Did following the earlier advice lead to the install or was there a misstep somewhere?

this seems to be working, and you have no idea how happy i am not to lose all my stuff, but i was wondering if there was a way to change multiple folders at once? obviously i'll do it one by one if thats the only way i get to keep my stuff but i've got a million other things i need to be doing

also- should reinstalling have fixed everything? i havent had the closing stuff down problem yet but i havent had my stuff installed so no icon making (where i seem to notice all the issues) and before sometimes it would seem to be fixed and then start messing up the next day...the drwatson and drwtson32.exe files are still in "C:\WINDOWS\system32" so i'm kinda freaked out about that since i've tried deleting them and they just come back

[dsenette]

"OMG no it says its reinstalling"

it said that because it was reinstalling...but what it did was just reinstall windows ontop of the other installation...leaving your files where they were

the drwatson and drwtson32.exe files are still in "C:\WINDOWS\system32" so i'm kinda freaked out about that since i've tried deleting them and they just come back

these files are part of windows...they aren't a bug or a virus...they should stay there...if you delete them...windows will replace them on it's own

[wannabe1]

i was wondering if there was a way to change multiple folders at once?

There should be a check box to "Include all sub directories" or something to that effect that should allow you to recover all the folders within a folder when you take ownership of the main folder.

[Junerish]

these files are part of windows...they aren't a bug or a virus...they should stay there...if you delete them...windows will replace them on it's own

is there a way to stop the constant error message with them though? it wont let me go and look at certain folders after awhile at all it just closes the folder when i try to open it

also whats a good free anti-virus program...right now i have avast but it runs out and i dont remember what i was using before

[dsenette]

is there a way to stop the constant error message with them though? it wont let me go and look at certain folders after awhile at all it just closes the folder when i try to open it

is this still happening even after the repair install of windows?