Windows XP Home says missing files, reinstall of XP from CD during setup

[J]

Windows XP Home (tm of Microsoft) claims
missing files during reinstall of XP from the recovery CD during setup
of Compaq laptop.
I needed to do a clean install.
Have been using the original install a year.
The laptop is perfect in a hardware sense.
CD / DVD ROM reads perfectly every cd I've ever put in it.

My friend says that HP / Compaq / Microsoft probably shipped me a
CD that is not a full install and that I'm probably screwed.

I specifically asked the salesman for a laptop that had a full
recovery CD. Will I have to sue these companys to get
a CD that works?

 

[Guest]

A recovery cd is issued & mfg only by the pc mfg,microsoft has nothing to do
with the data on the cd....Also,hp usually ships another cd that has
"Format &
Recovery" options,locate that & format the hd 1st,then reinstall xp,maybe the
cd you used has that option but was missed.Usually 99.9% of the time both
must be done with a new OS....

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Windows XP Home (tm of Microsoft) claims
missing files during reinstall of XP from the recovery CD during setup
of Compaq laptop.
I needed to do a clean install.
Have been using the original install a year.
The laptop is perfect in a hardware sense.
CD / DVD ROM reads perfectly every cd I've ever put in it.

My friend says that HP / Compaq / Microsoft probably shipped me a
CD that is not a full install and that I'm probably screwed.

Three points:

1. Microsoft isn't involved at all. If you buy an HP computer, it's HP
that creates the recovery CD for their machine, and it's tailored for
that machine.

2. There's no such thing as a recovery CD that's a "full install."
It's not an installation CD at all, but simply one that's designed
(again, by HP, not Microsoft) to return that particular computer to
factory-delivered condition.

3. You should contact HP and explain the problem to them, and ask them
how to proceed. Because each manufacturer's recovery CD is different,
it's unlikely that anyone here can help you.

I specifically asked the salesman for a laptop that had a full
recovery CD.

Ugh! Personally, I would never choose to buy a computer that came with
a recovery CD. I always want to have a complete installation CD.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Windows XP Home (tm of Microsoft) claims
missing files during reinstall of XP from the recovery CD during setup
of Compaq laptop.

This can have a few reasons, including dirt on the CD lens and failing
memory.

What exactly are the reported errors and when do they occur? What files
are reported as missing?

I needed to do a clean install.

You won't be able to do this with any recovery CD, in the accepted (here,
anyway) sense of "clean install".

Have been using the original install a year.

Why did you need to reinstall?

The laptop is perfect in a hardware sense.

I'll suggest that it may be less perfect than you think.

CD / DVD ROM reads perfectly every cd I've ever put in it.

... except for this one. Installing XP can have more stringent checks than
many other system operations. Failed file copies often indicates other
problems not related to the install media itself.

My friend says that HP / Compaq / Microsoft probably shipped me a
CD that is not a full install and that I'm probably screwed.

Your friend is both right and wrong. Restore CDs are full installs, yet
are not; they have the a full install of Windows XP, combined with the
drivers and apps specific to your system, but often don't have some of the
few extras that not everyone needs. The setup doesn't allow certain
specific custom choices.

They aren't the same as retail or OEM Microsoft Windows XP install disks.
They are both more and less.

The kind of error you mention seldom has anything to do with the CD itself.

I specifically asked the salesman for a laptop that had a full
recovery CD.

Sounds like it does, so you got what you asked for.

However, there's a difference between a recovery CD and an original Windows
Install CD. Install CDs are much more work for everyone.

For example, recovery CDs will get your system working completely, in a
short time, in one step. After a standard XP "full install", it's very
common for key pieces of hardware to *not work at all*.

And that's because the recovery CD has the drivers for the motherboard
chipset, the video, and the modem, and the network card built-in, and the
standard CD doesn't. After the "standard" install, you still have to have,
or get, those drivers, and install them one at a time.

Will I have to sue these companys to get
a CD that works?

Lawyers won't be of any help to you in this.

The CD, in all likelihood, does work, and you've run into some other
problem. Perhaps a more detailed description of the problem might yield
better help.

HTH
-pk

 

[J]

A recovery cd is issued & mfg only by the pc mfg,microsoft has nothing to do
with the data on the cd....Also,hp usually ships another cd that has
"Format &
Recovery" options,locate that & format the hd 1st,then reinstall xp,maybe the
cd you used has that option but was missed.Usually 99.9% of the time both
must be done with a new OS....

Thanks to all 3 people who replied.

I was hoping to save the files I had created in the past
that were on the hard disk and just do a repair
or reinstall in the windows directory. Those options on the recovery
CD did not work for me.

I had to reformat using the recovery disk and that worked.
It turns out that reformat does more than just format the disk.
It copies files to the disk after reformat.
I just install the OS and not all the applications so far and it boots
to XP (tm of Microsoft).
Thanks.