File/EXE recovery

  • Thread starter Thread starter JoeO
  • Start date Start date
J

JoeO

I accidentally (used control Panel - Add/Remove program) to remove the wrong
application/EXE file from my system. The program's folder is still in the
system but the EXE and INI are gone. Right now, I can't find a copy of the
uninstalled software to reinstall it. I know the dependencies are still in
my system so I suspect recovering the EXE and INI file will most likely
help. Does any one know of a way... third party tool/magic words/prayers
that can enable me recover the files. Please HELPPPPPPPPP.

Thanks in advance
 
Hi,

To try and retrieve your deleted files, you would want to use an undelete
utility. These are commonly available for free, and work on the premise that
the space the file formerly occupied has not been overwritten with new data
yet. Once that has occured, recovery requires more extensive (and expensive)
work with dedicated forensic tools by someone who knows what they are doing.

This one here works quite well for basic file recovery:
http://www.all-freeware.com/gu4.htm

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
From: "JoeO" <[email protected]>

| I accidentally (used control Panel - Add/Remove program) to remove the wrong
| application/EXE file from my system. The program's folder is still in the
| system but the EXE and INI are gone. Right now, I can't find a copy of the
| uninstalled software to reinstall it. I know the dependencies are still in
| my system so I suspect recovering the EXE and INI file will most likely
| help. Does any one know of a way... third party tool/magic words/prayers
| that can enable me recover the files. Please HELPPPPPPPPP.
|
| Thanks in advance
|

If the OS is WinXP, you post in a XP News Group. If the OS is Win2K, you post in a Win2K
News Group.

Not Both ! Your answer is OS dependent.
 
There are third party tools available that handle this, such as Emergency
Undelete from http://www.undelete.com/coverpage.asp and others. Deleting the
files only marks the space as available to use so the sooner you stop using
the drive the better chance you'll have of recovery.


--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
|I accidentally (used control Panel - Add/Remove program) to remove the
wrong
| application/EXE file from my system. The program's folder is still in the
| system but the EXE and INI are gone. Right now, I can't find a copy of the
| uninstalled software to reinstall it. I know the dependencies are still in
| my system so I suspect recovering the EXE and INI file will most likely
| help. Does any one know of a way... third party tool/magic words/prayers
| that can enable me recover the files. Please HELPPPPPPPPP.
|
| Thanks in advance
|
|
 
If I understood the description, he used Add/Remove to uninstall a
application. System Restore doesn't monitor User Data, but it should
restore the System State which includes applications that were on the
PC at the time the Restore Point was created.
 
Nope

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

R. McCarty said:
If I understood the description, he used Add/Remove to uninstall a
application. System Restore doesn't monitor User Data, but it should
restore the System State which includes applications that were on the
PC at the time the Restore Point was created.


Dave Patrick said:
AFAIK restore points would do nothing as far as deleted files are
concerned.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Use System Restore to the last point before the errant uninstall.
| See the following for Step-by-Step help:
|
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/systemrestore.mspx
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
For Windows XP Professional the System State data comprises only the
registry, COM+ Class Registration database, files under Windows File
Protection, and boot files.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...all/proddocs/en-us/ntbackup_system_state.mspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...y/en-us/dnwxp/html/windowsxpsystemrestore.asp

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/sr/sr/monitored_file_extensions.asp

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| If I understood the description, he used Add/Remove to uninstall a
| application. System Restore doesn't monitor User Data, but it should
| restore the System State which includes applications that were on the
| PC at the time the Restore Point was created.
 
Thanks all for your tips... I appreciate it. So far none has worked. But I
will keep trying... tomorrow. The system is WIN XP SP2.
 
In
JoeO said:
I accidentally (used control Panel - Add/Remove program) to
remove
the wrong application/EXE file from my system. The program's
folder
is still in the system but the EXE and INI are gone. Right now,
I
can't find a copy of the uninstalled software to reinstall it.
I know
the dependencies are still in my system so I suspect recovering
the
EXE and INI file will most likely help. Does any one know of a
way...
third party tool/magic words/prayers that can enable me recover
the
files. Please HELPPPPPPPPP.
Click to expand...


"Deleting" a file doesn't actually delete it; it just marks the
space as available to be used. There are third-party programs
that can sometimes recover deleted files. The problem is that the
space used by the file is likely to become overwritten very
quickly, and this makes the file unrecoverable.



So your chances of successfully recovering this file are decent
if you try recovering it immediately after deleting it, and
rapidly go downhill from there. If you've been using the computer
since then (for example to write this question and read this
answer), your chances are probably very poor by now.



But if the file is important enough, it's worth a try anyway.
Stop using the computer in question immediately, if you haven't
done so already. Download an undelete program (here's one:
http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html but there are
several others to choose from; do a Google search) on a friend's
computer and bring it to yours on a floppy to try.



If this fails, your only other recourse is to take the drive to a
professional file recovery company. This kind of service is very
expensive and may or may not work in your case.
 

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