Recovery Console to fix boot problem on a Dual Boot Machine - Is it Necessary?

[RSS]

Hi-

I am trying to recover from what appears to be a corrupted registry
(c0000218 error). The good news (maybe) is that I've got 2 drives that
are bootable in my machine. Do I still need to or want to use the
Recovery Console to try to repair the operating system on my main
(damaged) Windows install? Or can I just perform the file
manipulations (i.e. those described in the Q307545 directive) while
booted off the functioning drive?

I am able to see all of my data on the damaged install just fine (and
I've backed it all up to the good drive, to be safe), and I don't think
it's a hardware problem. I'm pretty sure the registry problem occurred
because I had to do a reset of the computer and it was probably trying
to write to the registry when I did it.

Thanks for any thoughts, or suggestions on how to procede. I'm hoping
to not need to reinstall all my software, if possible (my functioning
boot drive unfortunately doesn't have all the software installed, so
it's not as simple as just switching to using it as a primary).

One last question: a friend of mine suggested to use the Win XP disc
and let it try to "repair" the install, but I'm wondering is this also
going to mess up all of my software installs?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[AJR]

Although not a common practice - using a "parallel" installation of XP to
perform repairs is an acceptable technique. Various "repair CDs" are
actually Linux distributions that can access FAT and NTSC file systems.

 

[John John]

You can fix it from the working installation, following the instructions
in the KB article that you mentioned. Your working installation is like
a "Super" Recovery Console in cases like this. See this for the repair
installation:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306952/

John

 

[RSS]

A couple more questions:

1) The articles below seem to suggest that I will *not* have to
reinstall all my software. Can you verify this?

2) When I run the WinXP CD from within WinXP of the good installation,
will it prompt me for which disc I want to repair?

Thanks again.

 

[John John]

See in-line replies.

A couple more questions:

1) The articles below seem to suggest that I will *not* have to
reinstall all my software. Can you verify this?

No I can't. Mostly it goes well and you won't need to reinstall your
software but that is not a 100% guarantee. Some of your software may
not take too well to the changes and may need to be reinstalled.

2) When I run the WinXP CD from within WinXP of the good installation,
will it prompt me for which disc I want to repair?

You won't be needing or using the Windows XP CD to do the repairs from
the working Windows, the cd is only needed to start the Recovery
Console, gain access to the broken installation and use the basic tools
available from there. In your case you have all the tools within the
working Windows and you have the access to the broken installation, no
need for the cd unless you want to do a repair install.

John

 

[RSS]

Ok. I gotcha now. I think. I was getting confused, and thought you
were *recommending* the repair install that you indicated in the linked
articles.

In the article that describes the copying of registry snapshots, they
make this big deal about how you can't do that method with an OEM
install because of administrator passwords that may be in the system.
I am pretty sure I am using an OEM version of WinXP, but since I
installed it myself I should be okay?

Right?

Sorry for the naive questions... I just want to think this whole thing
through before I start making changes.

I'm half tempted to just rebuild my system on my empty third hard
drive, because some funky things have been gradually happening anyway,
and I wonder if it's time for a clean slate.

Thanks again.

 

[John John]

Yes, I've read the caveat for doing the procedure on OEM installations
but I have done it on some OEM's and had no problems with it, but I'm
sure Microsoft put the warning there for a reason. As it is the
installation isn't booting, so your options are somewhat limited to say
the least, if you try the fix and it doesn't work you won't be much
worse off than you are now. Also, there are other ways around password
problems on Windows XP so the warning might be moot.

If the installation was compromised or showing signs of degradation and
corruption it might be an idea to flatten the box and rebuild, but that
is a lot of work and something that I usually avoid if at all possible.

John

 

[RSS]

thanks again. i'm going to try to do the snapshot registry recovery
and hope for the best. i think at the same time, i might also build a
new OS and install the major software on my third hard drive so that i
will have a clean system "waiting for me" if the problems continue.