Format Drive

[Jim McKinley]

I am using XP Home SP2. I am going to format my drive and install a new
complete version of Windows instead of the OEM Windows I have. Are there
any files I can save so that my desktop, appearance, screen saver, etc are
saved so that I can have the same look as now. Individually changing all of
these will be a chore.

Thanks,

Jim
*******************************************
Baseball is the Only Game Where
the Defense Controls the Ball
*******************************************

 

[Nepatsfan]

I am using XP Home SP2. I am going to format my drive and install a new
complete version of Windows instead of the OEM Windows I have. Are there
any files I can save so that my desktop, appearance, screen saver, etc are
saved so that I can have the same look as now. Individually changing all
of these will be a chore.

Thanks,

Jim
*******************************************
Baseball is the Only Game Where
the Defense Controls the Ball
*******************************************

You might want to look into Windows XP's File and Settings Transfer Wizard.
Here are a few articles with more info.

How to use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard with a wizard disk in
Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=306187

How to use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard with a wizard disk in
Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=306187

Using the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard in Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/crawford_november12.mspx

Moving Files and Settings to a New PC
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/getstarted/bott_fstw.mspx

When I've used the FAST Wizard it's only been to transfer settings. I prefer
to manually transfer data files and email.

Note: Keep in mind that your new installation should be at the same service
pack level as your old installation for the FAST wizard to work properly.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I am using XP Home SP2. I am going to format my drive and install a new
complete version of Windows instead of the OEM Windows I have. Are there
any files I can save so that my desktop, appearance, screen saver, etc are
saved so that I can have the same look as now. Individually changing all of
these will be a chore.

Two points:

1. Most, if not all, of what you want to save are not individual
files, but entries in the registry. So the answer to your question is
no, you will have to recreate all the settings you want.

2. I assume that when you say "a complete version of Windows," you
mean a retail version. What makes you think that a retail version is
more complete than an OEM version? It isn't, and what you are planning
on doing does not at all sound like a good idea to me.

 

[Twayne]

....
2. I assume that when you say "a complete version of Windows," you
mean a retail version. What makes you think that a retail version is
more complete than an OEM version? It isn't, and what you are planning
on doing does not at all sound like a good idea to me.

You're probably right about retail being essentially OEM, but remember,
many companies, like the Dell MCE machine I'm working on that them
moment, can pretty severely bastardize the windows envronment under the
guise of "customization". I've seen it several times where ntbackup is
not just not installed, but no on the disks period, drivers deleted or
exchanged or renamed so you can't tell what they are, and other little
"niceties".
This 2006 Dell MCE machine is a great example of how to not set
systems up, in fact. The XP disk doesn't let you handle partitions or
any of the initials like formatting but starts right in at installing
files. To do those tasks, you have to start with their mediadirector3
CD, which will only partition/format for the MCE stuff and nothing else.
No disk calls for the next disk to use and most filenames are simply
numbers instead of meaningful names. Great for piracy protection I
suppose, but a real hassle to replace a drive that's gone belly up and
even freezing won't bring to life long enough to boot it.
It sounds like a pro-active step, intended or not, to me.

You're implying that it sounds like a bad idea to install a retail
version, which can be used on future computers, etc., and IMO that can
't be a bad thing. What is it that you think is not a good idea, based
on the very little information provided so far. Are you basing it
simply on the OP wanting to keep the desktop appearance etc.?

You probably think I'm just being a smartass, but I am genuinely curious
about what I may have missed or not realize that creates that
impression.

Twayne

 

[Twayne]

I am using XP Home SP2. I am going to format my drive and install a
new complete version of Windows instead of the OEM Windows I have. Are
there any files I can save so that my desktop, appearance, screen
saver, etc are saved so that I can have the same look as now.
Individually changing all of these will be a chore.

Thanks,

Jim
*******************************************
Baseball is the Only Game Where
the Defense Controls the Ball
*******************************************

Nepatsfan's answer is likely the best one and will get you closest to
what you want if it works for you.

It's worth trying his approach, but realize that an exact replication
probably isn't going to be possible. The closest you will be able to
come is to set it up yourself for parts of it.
Basically all the settings you will need are in either a right click
on an empty area of the screen and/or taskbar, plus use the Display icon
from Control Panel to set up the rest of it.
Some things may not be possible. The screen saver, for insance, may
or may not be in the retail version; it depends on where it came from
originally. Sort of a crapshoot.

Feel free to come back for assistance here; someone will come along with
a solution for you; for experienced users, these are pretty easy areas
to work with.

HTH,

Twayne

 

[Big_Al]

Twayne said this on 2/14/2009 2:12 PM:

You're probably right about retail being essentially OEM, but remember,
many companies, like the Dell MCE machine I'm working on that them
moment, can pretty severely bastardize the windows envronment under the
guise of "customization". I've seen it several times where ntbackup is
not just not installed, but no on the disks period, drivers deleted or
exchanged or renamed so you can't tell what they are, and other little
"niceties".
This 2006 Dell MCE machine is a great example of how to not set
systems up, in fact. The XP disk doesn't let you handle partitions or
any of the initials like formatting but starts right in at installing
files. To do those tasks, you have to start with their mediadirector3
CD, which will only partition/format for the MCE stuff and nothing else.
No disk calls for the next disk to use and most filenames are simply
numbers instead of meaningful names. Great for piracy protection I
suppose, but a real hassle to replace a drive that's gone belly up and
even freezing won't bring to life long enough to boot it.
It sounds like a pro-active step, intended or not, to me.

You're implying that it sounds like a bad idea to install a retail
version, which can be used on future computers, etc., and IMO that can
't be a bad thing. What is it that you think is not a good idea, based
on the very little information provided so far. Are you basing it
simply on the OP wanting to keep the desktop appearance etc.?

You probably think I'm just being a smartass, but I am genuinely curious
about what I may have missed or not realize that creates that
impression.

Twayne

Odd, I have a dell MCE machine about circa 2006 and I've got no issues
what so ever with it. I've reloaded it 2 times maybe and each time I've
been able to format it during the install boot just like a retail CD.
And I see no DELL custom features in here, and even have ntbackup.
Maybe origianlly when I got it there were Dell things in here, but since
I reloaded, nothing. And the CD's slipstream like retail etc.
Pretty much seamless. If I'm the odd ball in the group, I'm glad I
got the odd ball machine then.

 

[A Nonnie Moose]

I am using XP Home SP2. I am going to format my drive and install a new
complete version of Windows instead of the OEM Windows I have. Are there
any files I can save so that my desktop, appearance, screen saver, etc are
saved so that I can have the same look as now. Individually changing all
of these will be a chore.

Thanks,

Jim
*******************************************
Baseball is the Only Game Where
the Defense Controls the Ball
*******************************************

This is not really an answer to your question -- but -- here's my
experience.

My HP computer developed a virus infection that trashed my hard drive. I
tried using the OEM recovery disks to recover but that only led to further
frustration, incomplete installation, unstable OS, and a general disaster.

I have a retail version of WinXP SP1 and an upgrade with SP2. I fgiured it
would be a simple matter to install the retail SP1, upgrade to SP2, and be
on my way.

Wrong.

The retail version installed without a problem and the upgrade to SP2 did
the same. This gave me a fine, clean machine with WinXP Home SP2 -- but --
there was no audio and the machine did not recognize my external HD. I
searched and searched for the audio drivers to no avail; and, could not make
the machine recognize the external HD.

My daughter had a new, never used external HD. I installed it and got the
drivers from its companion software.

To solve the no audio problem, I had to go into BIOS, disable the
motherboard audio, and install a PCI audio card with its driver.

The computer is now humming along and seems to be faster than it was before
crash. I installed all my apps from the original CD's -- Word, Excel,
Photoshop, etc., etc.

I tell this story to alert you to the possibility that the retail version of
Win will install just fine, but, your computer may use proprietary drivers
for audio and other functions.

 

[Twayne]

Twayne said this on 2/14/2009 2:12 PM:

Odd, I have a dell MCE machine about circa 2006 and I've got no issues
what so ever with it. I've reloaded it 2 times maybe and each time
I've been able to format it during the install boot just like a
retail CD. And I see no DELL custom features in here, and even have
ntbackup. Maybe origianlly when I got it there were Dell things in
here, but since I reloaded, nothing. And the CD's slipstream like
retail etc. Pretty much seamless. If I'm the odd ball in the group,
I'm glad I
got the odd ball machine then.

Hmm, I should probably take this to a new thread and will do so if it
seems we have more than one response for each other. OP, please forgive
me - I did mark it OT at least<g>.

How did you reload it and what does "reload" mean? Perhaps I've done
something supremely stoopid here, but I can't see how.
In this case the drive went belly up: There was no way of ever
getting it to spin again so a replacement drive was used, meaning it was
virgin-clean. On top of that, they weren't given any CDs at the time of
purchase, and knew nothing of how to fire up the computer restore
feature. Then they pretty well trashed it trying to work with the
"replacement" disks, which were nearly all upgrades to what they
originally had according to their online invoice. Plus, not everything
was included; I still had to download 17 more drivers myself on top of
their disk-set which BTW had NO audio drivers. When I saw the mess of
stuff, I copied them all to my hard drive for fast
searching/researching.
I THINK I finally finished it up tonite; at least it's passing all the
diags and the MCE stuff is working, even the MCE button next to the
power button.
Anyway, there was just no way to delete/recreate partitions and
format with the XP disk. Then in one of the discussion groups I was
reading, someone mentioned you had to start with the media3 disk, which
I did, and voila, there was the missing stuff from the red XP disk!
I'm still left with three entries in Device Manager for "Base System
Device" and nothing meaningful about what they are, no drivers I can
find, and nothing that seems to be borked. So for now I just disabled
them and I'll ask for the machine back as soon as something won't work
right; maybe it'll at least give me a hint what they're for and what to
search for.
Any comments on all that? It's been pretty annoying, I'll tell ya
what! <g>

Cheers,

Twayne

 

[Big_Al]

Twayne said this on 2/14/2009 8:22 PM:

Hmm, I should probably take this to a new thread and will do so if it
seems we have more than one response for each other. OP, please forgive
me - I did mark it OT at least<g>.

How did you reload it and what does "reload" mean? Perhaps I've done
something supremely stoopid here, but I can't see how.
In this case the drive went belly up: There was no way of ever
getting it to spin again so a replacement drive was used, meaning it was
virgin-clean. On top of that, they weren't given any CDs at the time of
purchase, and knew nothing of how to fire up the computer restore
feature. Then they pretty well trashed it trying to work with the
"replacement" disks, which were nearly all upgrades to what they
originally had according to their online invoice. Plus, not everything
was included; I still had to download 17 more drivers myself on top of
their disk-set which BTW had NO audio drivers. When I saw the mess of
stuff, I copied them all to my hard drive for fast
searching/researching.
I THINK I finally finished it up tonite; at least it's passing all the
diags and the MCE stuff is working, even the MCE button next to the
power button.
Anyway, there was just no way to delete/recreate partitions and
format with the XP disk. Then in one of the discussion groups I was
reading, someone mentioned you had to start with the media3 disk, which
I did, and voila, there was the missing stuff from the red XP disk!
I'm still left with three entries in Device Manager for "Base System
Device" and nothing meaningful about what they are, no drivers I can
find, and nothing that seems to be borked. So for now I just disabled
them and I'll ask for the machine back as soon as something won't work
right; maybe it'll at least give me a hint what they're for and what to
search for.
Any comments on all that? It's been pretty annoying, I'll tell ya
what! <g>

Cheers,

Twayne

I had to persist to get them to send CD's with the system, but it didn't
take much of a persist, I got a really good tech on the first service
call. The CD's did not come with the system but about 2 weeks later. I
was totally aware of "what if the drive fails" story. And I've heard
the "restore" vs "install" CD stories too. My XP CD does have a Dell
logo on it, and it does not need activation so its OEM for sure, but
again, it works just like the retail I have on my desktop. And by the
way, they did give me separate software / driver CD's but to tell you
the truth, I just went on line and put in my service tag and downloaded
everything. And I do have one yellow ! for the serial device, but I
have no serial port on this laptop so I suspect no hardware to even
worry about. I guess like all other war stories, there are both good
and bad sides of things. Sorry but I was just making a comment that
not 'every' dell is a lemon. I personally have had good luck with this
one. And oddly enough, it was the first PC I bought that I didn't put
together as a build your own.
I wish you luck.

 

[Twayne]

Twayne said this on 2/14/2009 8:22 PM:
....

I had to persist to get them to send CD's with the system, but it
didn't take much of a persist, I got a really good tech on the first
service call. The CD's did not come with the system but about 2
weeks later. I was totally aware of "what if the drive fails" story.
And I've heard the "restore" vs "install" CD stories too. My XP CD
does have a Dell logo on it, and it does not need activation so its
OEM for sure, but again, it works just like the retail I have on my
desktop. And by the way, they did give me separate software /
driver CD's but to tell you the truth, I just went on line and put in
my service tag and downloaded everything. And I do have one yellow
! for the serial device, but I have no serial port on this laptop so
I suspect no hardware to even worry about. I guess like all other
war stories, there are both good and bad sides of things. Sorry but
I was just making a comment that not 'every' dell is a lemon. I
personally have had good luck with this one. And oddly enough, it
was the first PC I bought that I didn't put together as a build your
own. I wish you luck.

Yeah, thanks, I might need it<g>. I have learned a lot, not that I
really wanted to learn all that. It's passing all it own diags plus a
bunch of my own, so I think it's in decent shape at least. We'll see;
the owner called just as I was doing the last Cold Start testing one
last time and they arrived just as I zipped up the carry-all for it. I
half expect it to come back, but I think it's manageable now at least.
lol, I can just imagine the surprise factor to run across Dell as the
first "retail" PC you had<g>!

Cheers,

Twayne

 

[Jim McKinley]

Why bother?

OEM or retail versions will still be the same as far as functionability...

anyway ...as to backingup registry settings such as specifically which
screen saver you use would surely be more difficult
and time consuming than simply setting up the parameters manually.

The reason I am wanting to do this is that my Windows was an OEM in a
Compact machine I got in 2002. The propriatary power supply went out last
year and it wasn't much more expensive to get a new machine. I had a clone
(is that still a term?) built and transferred everything on the hard drive.
I have no disks to reformat if I want or restore after a crash. I just feel
more secure with a set of windows.

Jim