boot from CD

[Sandy]

If I boot from CD, there are 2 options.
The first one is install the WinXP.
The second is restore the WinXP.
Will the first option, installation, format the harddisk?
I guess I need to restore some of the system files.
Then if I restore the WinXP from CD, will the applied patch be deleted?
Thanx a lot

 

[James M. Fisher [MVP]]

The first option will only format the partition if you tell it to.
What you want to do (it appears to me) is a "repair install":
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

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[Ron Sommer]

This site has the information you need.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/

 

[Alex Nichol]

f I boot from CD, there are 2 options.
The first one is install the WinXP.
The second is restore the WinXP.
Will the first option, installation, format the harddisk?

This *may* be some OEM CD that came with the machine. If so you would
have to look up the manual.

If it is a retail CD the second of those would be 'repair' not
'restore'. That boots to a limited command driven version that can be
used for some minor but critical repairs. If you take the first option
there will be a license agreement and then either the chance to select
an instance of the system already present and hit R so as to reinstall
over the top, retaining all programs and data; or a 'New Install' in
which one would take steps to delete the present partition that XP is in
and make a new one for a clean start