installing over an existing installation - Overite??

[Omar]

I will like to install Windows XP over an existing XP Pro
installation that does not starts. The OS CD does not
detect a previous installation because the
C:\windows\system32\config\system and other files were
deleted or corrupted.

My question is... If I install XP on top of the existing
installation, will I overwrite my profile files in the "my
documents" directory and the Outlook.pst file?

The copy command in the repir console of the CD does not
want to copy my Outlook.pst file to any other directory
and also does not support "wild cards".

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

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"Omar" (e-mail address removed) wrote in message:

| I will like to install Windows XP over an existing XP Pro
| installation that does not starts. The OS CD does not
| detect a previous installation because the
| C:\windows\system32\config\system and other files were
| deleted or corrupted.
|
| My question is... If I install XP on top of the existing
| installation, will I overwrite my profile files in the "my
| documents" directory and the Outlook.pst file?
|
| The copy command in the repir console of the CD does not
| want to copy my Outlook.pst file to any other directory
| and also does not support "wild cards".

 

[Omar]

Thanks Carey,

The second link was useful as far as responding to my
question: Will the Documents and Settings get deleted?

All of the files in the "C:\windows\system32\config"
directory were gone including the SAM database file so I
was not able to logon as Administrator to my partition. I
couldn't rename or copy file of the "Documents and
Settings" folder for this reason, I think.

I did two things that could have helped me: I renamed
the "C:\BOOT.INI" and I inserted an old WinNT4 CD and
tryed to install it on the system (NT would get stock).
After I did all this, I inserted back the XP CD and went
in to the Recovery Console, then renamed the "Documents
and Settings" folder and all this without having to logon
to the partition.

Thanks for the help.