how can I reformat vista hp without losing anything but os?

[Guest]

I have a problem that may require reinstalling vista hp. I do not have a
good image to restore from. I have a dell laptop with the vista cd. I
want to reinstall vista hp and keep everything else.

I have talked with acronis and they say their backups cannot restore without
reinstalling corrupted vista hp os.

Is there a way to reinstall vista hp but keep everything else?

Or is there a backup program that can restore image or applications and
files on a reinstalled vista hp?

thanks

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Richard

It depends on a couple of items.
1. What type of disk do you have? If it is a Dell 'recovery disk', then you
will lose everything on the hard drive.
2. If this is a Vista installation disk, and if you can perform an Upgrade
Install with that disk, then all of your programs, files and settings should
be OK.

What is the problem with Acronis True Image? I have used version 10 of this
program to recover many Vista installations.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi Richard,

Backup data to removable media (CD/DVD/Thumb drive, etc.) and then do a
clean install. Programs will need to be reinstalled from their original
installation media. You can't format and reinstall just the OS, it doesn't
work that way.

I have talked with acronis and they say their backups cannot restore
without
reinstalling corrupted vista hp os.

Correct. If you don't have a clean image to restore, then their product
cannot help you right now. It (or another utility like it) can help you
going forward if you have enough foresight to create the image *before*
anything goes wrong.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Guest]

Well Rick, you say ' You can't format and reinstall just the OS, it doesn't

work that way.'

But you are contradicting the other three who responded before you who say
that I can reinstall only the os by doing the 'upgrade reinstall'.

I appreciate everyone's opinion.

But, Now I need to know who is correct? Please discuss amongst yourselves
here so I can get an accurate answer and don't mess anything up.

Also, when I boot from the cd, I get the option to install windows vista,
which I assume means a total reformat.
When I browse the cd from the D file, I see the 'upgrade' folder, but when I
click it, I get another folder called 'netfx', and if I click that, I get
four more netfx folders, so what is the correct procedure for doing the
upgrade, if you folks do finally agree that that will work to reinstall the
os only?


thanks

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

HP's restore media doesn't allow for repair installations, it is wipe &
install clean only. Refer to HP's system documentation for the proper method
of using their restore media (generally it means booting the system with a
disk and following some pretty easy prompts).

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Richard

Actually everyone was right.

When you mentioned Acronis, I assumed that you already had a backup image
created that you could use. Like Rick said, if the system is already
corrupted, it is too late to make a backup image.

Rick mentioned the fact that you cannot "format" and reinstall just the OS
which is correct, the keyword here being 'format' which means wiping the
hard drive clean.

What you need to do now is follow Shawn's advice and try the upgrade
install.

 

[Guest]

shawn or others,

thanks for your help.

The upgrade function is disabled on the cd if bootted from cd, so.....
I am trying to do upgrade from within vista, as I think you suggested.

However as I said before.......

When I browse the cd in the D file, I see the 'upgrade' folder, but when I
click it, I get another folder called 'netfx', and when I click that, I get
four more netfx folders, so what is the correct procedure for doing the
upgrade?

thanks

 

[Michael Palumbo]

shawn or others,

thanks for your help.

The upgrade function is disabled on the cd if bootted from cd, so.....
I am trying to do upgrade from within vista, as I think you suggested.

However as I said before.......

When I browse the cd in the D file, I see the 'upgrade' folder, but when I
click it, I get another folder called 'netfx', and when I click that, I
get
four more netfx folders, so what is the correct procedure for doing the
upgrade?

thanks

Don't brows the folders on the DVD, these folders are there for setup to
use. You don't do an upgrade from the upgrade folder.

Simply start the setup from within Vista and choose to upgrade, that's all
you have to do.

Backup your important data before doing the upgrade, just to be safe.

Mic

 

[Guest]

Well I am in the process right now of upgrading or actually reinstalling
vista hp.
I figured out that i needed to eject the cd drive and reinsert it while
windows was open, in order to get the setup to show up.

So I would like to thank you, Shawn, for giving me the straight facts from
the beginning and Ronnie for initially seconding it.

However in the interest of keeping it real, I must say that Rick, you were
totally incorrect in your first statement,
"You can't format and reinstall just the OS, it doesn't
work that way."

And in your second statement , you seem to be trying to backtrack without
admitting your mistake. But it's not clear, and you may still be misinformed.
You were misleading me at best.

And Ronnie you said that Rick was right in his first statement? No way.


So I can't thank you enough, Shawn, and I definitely would have been lost
without your continued responses .

You know, it is very difficult for lay people to do software tech fixes on
their computers, without the knowledge that techs have. So we depend on you
guys and gals to be very accurate in layman's terms in order for us to have
any chance of success. Even microsoft is hiding the fact that we can do a
repair reinstall of vista hp by 'upgrading'. They make no mention of such a
thing in the help files on the setup disc.
My dell 'advanced resolution experts' know nothing of such a thing. They
had me do the startup repair from the disc in an attempt to solve an os
issue, when there was no problem with my computer's startup. They aren't
even aware of the 'upgrade' solution.

I was referred to chicagotech by another microsoft community mvp.
Chicagotech is a joke. They are only there to drum up business for their
consultations, and after several tries there, not one of them suggested an os
'upgrade reinstall' as a solution. In fact, one of them had me delete some
registry keys without backing them up, and after his solution failed, he
ignored my pleas for help to reinstall the registry keys .

regards
Richard

 

[Rick Rogers]

What I meant, and was not very clear about, was that you cannot format the
system and remove only the OS, leaving programs and data files intact. A
format, by definition, removes all files/folders currently on a volume and
marks all space as available for use (whether that be by an OS install or by
an existing OS on another volume).

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Guest]

Rick,

I'll accept that as a techie definition of reformat,

but if we are going to be honest here,

then why did you twice state that only a 'wipe clean' would enable me to
reinstall the os?
and you never even mentioned the 'upgrade reinstall'. IT seemed pretty
clear to me that you were disagreeing with Shawn and Ronnie who were
recommending the upgrade reinstall.

"Backup data to removable media (CD/DVD/Thumb drive, etc.) and then do a
clean install......
HP's restore media doesn't allow for repair installations, it is wipe &
install clean only."

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

then why did you twice state that only a 'wipe clean' would enable me to
reinstall the os?

Read what you quoted: "HP's restore media doesn't allow for repair
installations, it is wipe & install clean only." If it's a retail disk, then
an upgrade is possible, but HP's restore media generally does not provide
for this.

and you never even mentioned the 'upgrade reinstall'.

Because with HP's media this option doesn't exist.

IT seemed pretty
clear to me that you were disagreeing with Shawn and Ronnie who were
recommending the upgrade reinstall.

Not disagreeing, but clarifying what your options are with restore media as
opposed to the retail disk they were referring to.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Guest]

thanks to everyone for your help.

The reinstall worked fine, but now I seems I need to reinstall device
drivers from the dell cd to get 'direct sound' , etc. Do I need to boot into
the dell cd , instead of opening it within vista ?

And I found this on the web which seems to second Rick's opinion that a
clean install may be better in some cases than the upgrade that I performed.

copied from website:
It's a fact: a clean install of Windows is *always* preferable to upgrading
a new version over top of a previous Windows installation.

Why is this so?

The answer is three words: The Windows Registry. For example: when you
install and uninstall programs to a Windows PC, things get added to the
Registry -- the 'heart' of the Windows Operating System.

The Registry is a complex database that keeps track of installed programs,
program preferences, user data, operating system settings, and the like.

However, over time, some programs may not install or uninstall properly, and
the Registry becomes compromised. Hint: that's why it's important to use
utilities like Registry Mechanic to keep Windows running smoothly.

When you upgrade to a new version of Windows, some of the previous
information in the Registry -- including erroneous entries (otherwise known
as 'registry errors') -- are transferred over to the Upgrade.

If a previously installed program isn't compatible with the Windows Upgrade,
or, if the Registry has errors, this may cause the system to develop error
messages and possibly even crash Windows. And that's why it's preferable to
format your hard drive and then install Windows clean: because you would
essentially be starting from a 'fresh slate.'

In response to a recent article, Hermann M. details how you can save money
using the 'Vista Upgrade' DVD -- a significant savings over the Full Install
DVD -- to do a clean install of Windows.

He writes:

" Dear Infopackets Team,

.... Vista Upgrade has an undocumented feature that allows you to do a clean
install of Vista to a hard disk that has no prior copy of XP or Windows 2000.

.... This is usually the preferred method when installing any new operating
system. You must, in essence, install Vista twice to take advantage of this
trick. But Vista installs much faster than XP, so it's quicker than
installing XP followed by Vista to get the upgrade price.

Here's a simplified overview of the steps that are required to clean-install
the upgrade version of Vista. The steps are taken verbatim from Brian
Livingston, Editorial Director of WindowsSecrets.com.

How to do a Clean Install of Vista Using the Vista Upgrade DVD

Step 1. Boot the PC from the Vista DVD.

Step 2. Select 'Install Now,' but do not enter the Product Key from the
Vista packaging. Leave the input box blank. Also, turn off the option
Automatically activate Windows when I'm online. In the next dialog box that
appears, confirm that you really do want to install Vista without entering a
Product Key.

Step 3. Correctly indicate the version of Vista that you're installing: Home
Basic, Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate.

Step 4. Select the 'Custom (Advanced)' install, not the 'Upgrade' install.

Step 5. Vista copies files at length and reboots itself one or more times.
Wait for the install to complete. At this point, you might think that you
could 'activate' Vista, but you can't. That's because you haven't installed
the Vista upgrade yet. To do that, run the DVD's setup.exe program again, but
this time from the Vista desktop. The easiest way to start setup again is to
eject and then reinsert the DVD.

Step 6. Click 'Install Now.' Select Do not get the latest updates for
installation. (You can check for these updates later.)

Step 7. This time, do enter the Product Key from the Vista packaging. Once
again, turn off the option Automatically activate Windows when I'm online.

Step 8. On this second install, make sure to select 'Upgrade,' not 'Custom
(Advanced).' You're not doing a clean install now, you're upgrading to Vista.

Step 9. Wait while Vista copies files and reboots itself. No user
interaction is required. Do not boot from the DVD when asked if you'd like to
do so. Instead, wait a few seconds and the setup process will continue on its
way. Some DOS-like, character-mode menus will appear, but don't interact with
them. After a few seconds, the correct choice will run for you automatically.

Step 10. After you click a button labeled Start in the Thank You dialog box,
Vista's login screen will eventually appear. Enter the username and password
that you selected during the first install. You're done upgrading to Vista.

Step 11. Within 30 days, you must 'activate' your copy of Vista or it'll
lose functionality. To activate Vista, click Show more details in the Welcome
Center that automatically displays upon each boot-up, then click Activate
Windows now. If you've dismissed the Welcome Center, access the correct
dialog box by clicking Start, Control Panel, System & Maintenance, System. If
you purchased a legitimate copy of Vista, it should quickly activate over the
Internet. (You can instead activate by calling Microsoft on the phone, which
avoids your PC exchanging information with Microsoft's server.)

Why does Vista's secret setup exist?

It's reasonable for us to ask ourselves whether buying an upgrade version of
Vista, and then installing it to an empty hard disk that contains no previous
version of Windows, is ethical.

I believe it is. Microsoft itself created the upgrade process. The company
designed Vista to support upgrading it over a previously installed copy of
XP, W2K Pro, or Vista itself. This isn't a black-hat hacker exploit. It's
something that's been deliberately programmed into the approved setup routine.

Microsoft spent years developing and testing Vista. This upgrade trick must
have been known to many, many people within the development team. Either
Microsoft planned this upgrade path all along, knowing that computer
magazines and newsletters (like this one) would widely publicize a way to
'save money buying Vista.' Or else some highly placed coders within the Vista
development team decided that Vista's 'full' price was too high and that no
one should ever have to pay it. In either case, Vista's setup.exe is
Microsoft's official install routine, and I see no problem with using it
exactly as it was designed.

.... I just thought your readers may be interested in this article. And by
the way Infopackets Team, keep up the good work, I just love your newsletter.
~ Hermann M. "

 

[Michael Palumbo]

thanks to everyone for your help.

The reinstall worked fine, but now I seems I need to reinstall device
drivers from the dell cd to get 'direct sound' , etc. Do I need to boot
into
the dell cd , instead of opening it within vista ?

And I found this on the web which seems to second Rick's opinion that a
clean install may be better in some cases than the upgrade that I
performed.

copied from website:
It's a fact: a clean install of Windows is *always* preferable to
upgrading
a new version over top of a previous Windows installation.

Why is this so?

The answer is three words: The Windows Registry. For example: when you
install and uninstall programs to a Windows PC, things get added to the
Registry -- the 'heart' of the Windows Operating System.

The Registry is a complex database that keeps track of installed programs,
program preferences, user data, operating system settings, and the like.

However, over time, some programs may not install or uninstall properly,
and
the Registry becomes compromised. Hint: that's why it's important to use
utilities like Registry Mechanic to keep Windows running smoothly.

When you upgrade to a new version of Windows, some of the previous
information in the Registry -- including erroneous entries (otherwise
known
as 'registry errors') -- are transferred over to the Upgrade.

If a previously installed program isn't compatible with the Windows
Upgrade,
or, if the Registry has errors, this may cause the system to develop error
messages and possibly even crash Windows. And that's why it's preferable
to
format your hard drive and then install Windows clean: because you would
essentially be starting from a 'fresh slate.'

In response to a recent article, Hermann M. details how you can save money
using the 'Vista Upgrade' DVD -- a significant savings over the Full
Install
DVD -- to do a clean install of Windows.

He writes:

" Dear Infopackets Team,

... Vista Upgrade has an undocumented feature that allows you to do a
clean
install of Vista to a hard disk that has no prior copy of XP or Windows
2000.

... This is usually the preferred method when installing any new operating
system. You must, in essence, install Vista twice to take advantage of
this
trick. But Vista installs much faster than XP, so it's quicker than
installing XP followed by Vista to get the upgrade price.

Here's a simplified overview of the steps that are required to
clean-install
the upgrade version of Vista. The steps are taken verbatim from Brian
Livingston, Editorial Director of WindowsSecrets.com.

How to do a Clean Install of Vista Using the Vista Upgrade DVD

Step 1. Boot the PC from the Vista DVD.

Step 2. Select 'Install Now,' but do not enter the Product Key from the
Vista packaging. Leave the input box blank. Also, turn off the option
Automatically activate Windows when I'm online. In the next dialog box
that
appears, confirm that you really do want to install Vista without entering
a
Product Key.

Step 3. Correctly indicate the version of Vista that you're installing:
Home
Basic, Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate.

Step 4. Select the 'Custom (Advanced)' install, not the 'Upgrade' install.

Step 5. Vista copies files at length and reboots itself one or more times.
Wait for the install to complete. At this point, you might think that you
could 'activate' Vista, but you can't. That's because you haven't
installed
the Vista upgrade yet. To do that, run the DVD's setup.exe program again,
but
this time from the Vista desktop. The easiest way to start setup again is
to
eject and then reinsert the DVD.

Step 6. Click 'Install Now.' Select Do not get the latest updates for
installation. (You can check for these updates later.)

Step 7. This time, do enter the Product Key from the Vista packaging. Once
again, turn off the option Automatically activate Windows when I'm online.

Step 8. On this second install, make sure to select 'Upgrade,' not 'Custom
(Advanced).' You're not doing a clean install now, you're upgrading to
Vista.

Step 9. Wait while Vista copies files and reboots itself. No user
interaction is required. Do not boot from the DVD when asked if you'd like
to
do so. Instead, wait a few seconds and the setup process will continue on
its
way. Some DOS-like, character-mode menus will appear, but don't interact
with
them. After a few seconds, the correct choice will run for you
automatically.

Step 10. After you click a button labeled Start in the Thank You dialog
box,
Vista's login screen will eventually appear. Enter the username and
password
that you selected during the first install. You're done upgrading to
Vista.

Step 11. Within 30 days, you must 'activate' your copy of Vista or it'll
lose functionality. To activate Vista, click Show more details in the
Welcome
Center that automatically displays upon each boot-up, then click Activate
Windows now. If you've dismissed the Welcome Center, access the correct
dialog box by clicking Start, Control Panel, System & Maintenance, System.
If
you purchased a legitimate copy of Vista, it should quickly activate over
the
Internet. (You can instead activate by calling Microsoft on the phone,
which
avoids your PC exchanging information with Microsoft's server.)

Why does Vista's secret setup exist?

It's reasonable for us to ask ourselves whether buying an upgrade version
of
Vista, and then installing it to an empty hard disk that contains no
previous
version of Windows, is ethical.

I believe it is. Microsoft itself created the upgrade process. The company
designed Vista to support upgrading it over a previously installed copy of
XP, W2K Pro, or Vista itself. This isn't a black-hat hacker exploit. It's
something that's been deliberately programmed into the approved setup
routine.

Microsoft spent years developing and testing Vista. This upgrade trick
must
have been known to many, many people within the development team. Either
Microsoft planned this upgrade path all along, knowing that computer
magazines and newsletters (like this one) would widely publicize a way to
'save money buying Vista.' Or else some highly placed coders within the
Vista
development team decided that Vista's 'full' price was too high and that
no
one should ever have to pay it. In either case, Vista's setup.exe is
Microsoft's official install routine, and I see no problem with using it
exactly as it was designed.

... I just thought your readers may be interested in this article. And by
the way Infopackets Team, keep up the good work, I just love your
newsletter.
~ Hermann M. "

Okay, I see where the confusion was here . . .

You are referring to "Windows Vista Home Premium" as "Vista HP" and your
disk as the "HP disk" . . . everyone, including myself, initially thought
you were referring to a Hewlett Packard recovery disk . . . and that you had
a Hewlett Packard computer.

HP is what most people use when referring to Hewlett Packard.

So when Rick said that you can't do an upgrade, or an "In Place" install
using an HP recovery disk, he was absolutely correct, however, this didn't
apply to you since you're using a Vista Home Premium disk, and not an HP
recovery disk, as Rick (and I) thought based on the terminology you were
using.

Mic

 

[Guest]

The 'upgrade' reinstall of vista hp worked but driver reinstalling has not
worked.
However, that doesn't matter because the problem for which I reinstalled
vista is still occuring, and I can restore to the acronis image before the
upgrade.

The problem is that every few hours, I lose internet connectivity for
browsing.. but not for data apps or for pinging web sites. After 30 min,
all connectivity returns. The strange part is that I have no network
browsability in safe mode with networking at startup, even with only
microsoft and intel items loading in both services and startup config.
I have tried connecting directly from computer to modem but the problem
still occurs, and the problem does not occur on my other computer with xp.

So does anyone have an idea what might be the problem?

If I make a partition and a clean install of vista hp on that partition,
will I be able to test out the problem there while maintaining usablilty of
the computer with all programs on the other partition?

thanks

 

[Guest]

Well I ended up reinstalling the os, and it solved every single one of the
problems . I learned that there is often no substitute for reinstalling
the os. I guess Dell botched the os install from the beginning. That may be
a more common issue than people realize.

Thanks to everyone for their help.

Richard