How best to start over?

[Lee Antony]

XP Pro SP2 became unusable after some STOP 0xD1 and 0x8E messages. System
restore wouldn't run and repair install failed so I did a full Windows
install. I thought I would make a pause before putting all my programs back
to see if this group can help me avoid any blunders. So far I've done
nothing except install the ethernet driver and validate Windows.

I'm wondering what to do about all the stuff in Documents and Settings.
There are now 11 profiles: Administrator - All Users - All Users.WINDOWS -
Default User - Default User.WINDOWS - My new user name - My old user name -
LocalService - LocalService.NT AUTHORITY - NetworkService -
NetworkService.NT AUTHORITY. Can I do something about all these folders?

Some programs weren't working well previously, especially Creative sound
software and Norton Internet Security and I suspect corrupted files
(re-installs did not fix). Should I try to delete all traces of my
applications before I put them back?

If any of you have had to do a restart I would appreciate your help.
Regards Lee.

 

[GreenieLeBrun]

XP Pro SP2 became unusable after some STOP 0xD1 and 0x8E messages. System
restore wouldn't run and repair install failed so I did a full Windows
install. I thought I would make a pause before putting all my programs back
to see if this group can help me avoid any blunders. So far I've done
nothing except install the ethernet driver and validate Windows.

I'm wondering what to do about all the stuff in Documents and Settings.
There are now 11 profiles: Administrator - All Users - All Users.WINDOWS -
Default User - Default User.WINDOWS - My new user name - My old user name -
LocalService - LocalService.NT AUTHORITY - NetworkService -
NetworkService.NT AUTHORITY. Can I do something about all these folders?

Some programs weren't working well previously, especially Creative sound
software and Norton Internet Security and I suspect corrupted files
(re-installs did not fix). Should I try to delete all traces of my
applications before I put them back?

If any of you have had to do a restart I would appreciate your help.
Regards Lee.

First off back up any data you wish to preserve (including exporting
your saved emails and address books if you have any) to CD or an
external device.

Next look at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=316941 (you may need to
view this in IE as some Microsoft pages do not render well in other
browsers.

If you delete the existing partition and then let XP reformat the empty
space then all the stuff on your hard drive will be removed and you
will have a fresh virgin install of XP.

IMPORTANT !!!!!!

Make sure you have your Product Key handy, if you do not have this (and
it should be on the sticker (COA) attached to your computer case ) then
the magical Jellybean key finder
http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml will recover it from
your existing install of XP, Also make sure you have your motherboard
driver CD and any other drivers you may need for whatever hardware
(video, soundcard etc) you have in your machine.

 

[Lee Antony]

First off back up any data you wish to preserve (including exporting
your saved emails and address books if you have any) to CD or an
external device.

Next look at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=316941 (you may need to
view this in IE as some Microsoft pages do not render well in other
browsers.

If you delete the existing partition and then let XP reformat the empty
space then all the stuff on your hard drive will be removed and you
will have a fresh virgin install of XP.

IMPORTANT !!!!!!

Make sure you have your Product Key handy, if you do not have this (and
it should be on the sticker (COA) attached to your computer case ) then
the magical Jellybean key finder
http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml will recover it from
your existing install of XP, Also make sure you have your motherboard
driver CD and any other drivers you may need for whatever hardware
(video, soundcard etc) you have in your machine.

Thank you - yes I decided that formatting hd and and installing Windows
again was going to be quicker than trying to fix up all the old stuff.

I wish I had remembered to make a list of all the programs I don't have cds
for but I expect I didn't really need most of them. I wanted to to put
Documents and Settings on a different partition but didn't see an option for
this. Did I miss it or can't it be done?

 

[GreenieLeBrun]

Thank you - yes I decided that formatting hd and and installing Windows
again was going to be quicker than trying to fix up all the old stuff.

I wish I had remembered to make a list of all the programs I don't have cds
for but I expect I didn't really need most of them. I wanted to to put
Documents and Settings on a different partition but didn't see an option for
this. Did I miss it or can't it be done?

I know you can put your My Documents folder on a different drive but I
believe most of your Documents and Settings stuff has to be on the boot
drive.

 

[Lee Antony]

I know you can put your My Documents folder on a different drive but I
believe most of your Documents and Settings stuff has to be on the boot
drive.

Thanks for your reply but in my simple way I'm wondering why I can't just
drag Documents and Settings to another partition.. Most of my data will be
under this folder and I would like to get it out of C: and into D:.. Is it
Wlm Gates Esq who says I can't do this? FYI the re-install of OS went well
and I have got all my programs and data back.

 

[GreenieLeBrun]

Thanks for your reply but in my simple way I'm wondering why I can't just
drag Documents and Settings to another partition.. Most of my data will be
under this folder and I would like to get it out of C: and into D:.. Is it
Wlm Gates Esq who says I can't do this? FYI the re-install of OS went well
and I have got all my programs and data back.

After doing some googling it turns out that it is possible to move the
Documents and Settings folder but it is not recomended. Below are two
links that may help.

I would suggest that before doing this that you back up your important
data and set a new restore point just in case things go horribly wrong.

http://benjudson.com/article.php?story=20051127175859238

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314843/en-us

 

[Lee Antony]

After doing some googling it turns out that it is possible to move the
Documents and Settings folder but it is not recomended. Below are two
links that may help.

I would suggest that before doing this that you back up your important
data and set a new restore point just in case things go horribly wrong.

http://benjudson.com/article.php?story=20051127175859238

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314843/en-us

Thanks for the links. There's over 50 references to Documents and Settings
in my registry so I don't think I'm brave enough to try this.

 

[Guest]

XP Pro SP2 became unusable after some STOP 0xD1 and 0x8E messages. System
restore wouldn't run and repair install failed so I did a full Windows
install. I thought I would make a pause before putting all my programs back
to see if this group can help me avoid any blunders. So far I've done
nothing except install the ethernet driver and validate Windows.

I'm wondering what to do about all the stuff in Documents and Settings.
There are now 11 profiles: Administrator - All Users - All Users.WINDOWS -
Default User - Default User.WINDOWS - My new user name - My old user name -
LocalService - LocalService.NT AUTHORITY - NetworkService -
NetworkService.NT AUTHORITY. Can I do something about all these folders?

Some programs weren't working well previously, especially Creative sound
software and Norton Internet Security and I suspect corrupted files
(re-installs did not fix). Should I try to delete all traces of my
applications before I put them back?

If any of you have had to do a restart I would appreciate your help.
Regards Lee.