HELP!!! Install fatal error. My wife is gonna kill me.

[Joe Wheels]

Trying to upgrade XP pro on my wifes machines in trying to fix
problems. The install crashed with fatal errors. I can see all the
info on the drive if I put it into another machine as a slave but her
personal items in "My Documents" are not accesible because her profile
was password protected. If I try to boot from her machine it goes into
a loop with errors installing. I need to know which files to get rid
of so that it will boot from her Windows directory instead of trying
to install (from where it crashed). In other words what files did the
install leave on the hardrive which direct it to try to install as
apposed to booting from the Windows directory.

I need to get at her Calender info and Contacts or my **s is in big
trouble.

HELP!!!! Please.

 

[Torgeir Bakken (MVP)]

Trying to upgrade XP pro on my wifes machines in trying to fix
problems. The install crashed with fatal errors. I can see all the
info on the drive if I put it into another machine as a slave but her
personal items in "My Documents" are not accesible because her profile
was password protected.

You need to take ownership to access them...

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

 

[GeneL]

I believe the instal has a modified NTLDR. But, if you have it as a slave on a second machine, couldn't you simply modify the boot.ini on your machine to point to her install of windows? Although that
would be a problem if you had different hard ware.

If you've got it mounted, and you just want to get the files off, couldn't you simply take ownership of the files copy them to your machine and start fresh on her machine?

This probably didn't answer your question, but it might give you options.

--Gene

 

[Joe Wheels]

OK so far I was able to get Windows to follow thru on the
install.........by renaming a folder in sys32 "caproot2" Now I start
to boot and all is going just wonderful I get to the point where I see
the mouse pointer just before the blue screen is supposed to pop and
BOOM I get an error message about not enough virtual memory
to.........but the message is so fast I can't read it fully. Then it
goes back and tries to rebbot again and this will continue trying
until I hit the manual shut down. Same thing when trying Safe Mode and
same when trying to boot from the install CD. I'm now scanning the
disk for any errors on another machine........... Any ideas on the
virtual memory deal? Thanks in advance. We're getting closer.

 

[Joe Wheels]

YEAH!!!! I've got the data back. Quick question: Can I just import all
that user data into the new machine with the new harddrive and paste
it under documents and settings or do I have to import individual
files. I know that I need to import the OST file for OUTLOOK, but is
there anything else I need to watch for or do I just move/copy the
user folder to the new machine?

Thanks