I386 Folder Files Question

[ColTom2]

Hi:

I have a Toshiba laptop running Win XP Home Edition and a Sony desktop
running Win XP MCE(2005).

When I open Windows Explorer and go to Windows\ServicePackFiles on the XP
Home and open I386 folder it still has I suppose all the SP2 files (2,056
objects) in it which includes the Lang folder.

However, when I open the Windows\ServicePackFiles folder on XP MCE (2005)
all it has is the Lang folder and no files.

Why is there a disparity in XP Home having these files while XP MCE (2005)
does not?

The reason that I ask is that I had a corrupt System Restore on the XP MCE
(2005) and I could not restore it until I transferred the I386
ServicePackFiles from my Home XP. Had I not had another computer with these
files how would I have ever restored my System Restore?

If anyone has an answer to all this I sure would appreciate it.

Thanks,

ColTom2

 

[Jerry]

After reading your posting and checking my system I began to wonder why is
there no \ServicePackFiles folder on either of my systems; one with XP Pro
w/SP2 and all updates, the other with XP Home w/SP2 and all updates? What
did you different that I did not?

The Pro system was installed using an XP Pro w/SP2 slipstreamed CD, the Home
CD already had SP2.

 

[ColTom2]

Hi:

From what I have been reading I think that by compressing the my XP MCE
(2005)ServicePackFiles\I386 folder that it deleted them. My question now is
how do I restore them after this compressing process?

I now recall compressing on the XP MCE (2005) files and not compressing the
files on XP Home.

I really did not need the space and would never have compressed the files
had I known all this was going to occur.

So how do I restore previously compressed files?

ColTom2

After reading your posting and checking my system I began to wonder why is
there no \ServicePackFiles folder on either of my systems; one with XP Pro
w/SP2 and all updates, the other with XP Home w/SP2 and all updates? What
did you different that I did not?

The Pro system was installed using an XP Pro w/SP2 slipstreamed CD, the Home
CD already had SP2.

 

[Jim]

Hi:

From what I have been reading I think that by compressing the my XP MCE
(2005)ServicePackFiles\I386 folder that it deleted them. My question now
is
how do I restore them after this compressing process?

I now recall compressing on the XP MCE (2005) files and not compressing
the
files on XP Home.

I really did not need the space and would never have compressed the files
had I known all this was going to occur.

So how do I restore previously compressed files?

ColTom2

After reading your posting and checking my system I began to wonder why is
there no \ServicePackFiles folder on either of my systems; one with XP Pro
w/SP2 and all updates, the other with XP Home w/SP2 and all updates? What
did you different that I did not?

The Pro system was installed using an XP Pro w/SP2 slipstreamed CD, the
Home
CD already had SP2.

It seems most unlikely that compressing files would wind up deleting the
files.
However, if the files are gone, then I can think of at least two ways:
1) Reinstall XP (not a pleasant thought to be sure)
2) Recover the files from your backup (you did make one didn't you?)
Jim

 

[Nepatsfan]

Jerry,

You've answered your own question. Think about it. There's no
Windows\ServicePackFiles folder on either computer since Service Pack 2 was
already integrated into the files used to install the operating system.

If you had used CDs that came with Service Pack 1 to install XP, you'd see a
Windows\ServicePackFiles folder when the system was updated to SP2.

Nepatsfan

 

[ColTom2]

Hi:

Now that you mention it I think that you are right in that I used a
downloaded SP2 CD to install it rather than through Windows Update on my
laptop. Neither computer came with SP2 installed. The Sony I did through
Windows Update and like I say the SP2 CD on the laptop for whatever
difference this would make, which I am not at all sure.

But again if I had not had the SP2 files in the ServicePack Files\I386
folder how would one ever reinstall System Restore?

Thanks


Jerry,

You've answered your own question. Think about it. There's no
Windows\ServicePackFiles folder on either computer since Service Pack 2 was
already integrated into the files used to install the operating system.

If you had used CDs that came with Service Pack 1 to install XP, you'd see a
Windows\ServicePackFiles folder when the system was updated to SP2.

Nepatsfan

 

[R. McCarty]

Windows File Protection would have populated the /DllCache folder
with the latest Service Pack version of files. So even without the SP
folder in place the system would have limited recovery capabilities.

 

[Nepatsfan]

I can't speak to your experience with MCE since I've never worked on an XP
system running that version. That said, here's my take on your situation.

One of my computers has XP Home Edition installed on it. Like your Sony desktop,
there's a folder on it named Windows\ServicePackFiles\I386. It contains a single
empty folder named Lang. There are no files in either folder. Both the I386 and
Lang folders have a modified date of April 7, 2007. Note the date, I'll come
back to it later.

Here's the history of that computer. It's original installation was done with an
XP Home Edition CD that contained no service packs. Service Pack 2 was installed
using a CD obtained from Microsoft. A repair installation was done on April 7,
2007 using an installation CD that had SP2 slipstreamed into it. That's the same
date as the I386 and Lang folders were last modified. My guess was that the
repair installation deleted the files that were in the
Windows\ServicePackFiles\I386 folder but left the folders intact.

Out of curiosity, I ran a test to confirm this. I installed XP Home Edition with
no service packs on my test system. I then installed Service Pack 2. This
resulted in a ServicePackFiles\I386 folder that contained over 400 MBs of files.
I then did a repair installation using an XP Home CD that contained SP2. The
I386 folder now had no files, just an empty Lang folder.

One result of doing the repair installation was that in order to run System File
Checker, I had to put the XP installation CD with SP2 in the CD drive to
complete the process.

Getting back to your situation, I suspect a repair installation was done at some
point in time on your Sony Desktop using an installation CD that had Service
Pack 2 "slipstreamed" into the installation files. That would account for the
empty Windows\ServicePackFiles\I386 folder. If you haven't deleted them, take a
look at any $NTUninstallXXXXXX$ folders in your Windows folder. Compare the date
created for those folders to the date modified for the I386 and Lang folders.
They should be reasonably close to each other since a repair installation would
have wiped out hotfixes released after Service Pack 2.

To answer your original question, if you tried to use System File Checker on
your Sony to repair System Restore, it would have kept asking for an
installation CD that included Service Pack 2. That would have meant creating a
slipstreamed copy of your XP MCE installation CD. The only other alternative
would have been to run a repair installation using your original installation
CD.

Nepatsfan

 

[ColTom2]

Hi:

I have reformatted my computer (Sony), but have never done a repair
installation with an XP SP2 CD. I have a Recovery CD that does not contain
SP2 that I used when I reformatted.

I downloaded SP2 and burned a CD of it. I can't recall if I used this CD
on the Sony in an effort to save time when it came up on Windows Update. I
did use the SP2 CD on either my Sony or Toshiba laptop, but can't recall
which one. I believe that I ran the normal Windows Update to install SP2 on
the Sony, but again I am not sure.

No one other than myself has ever worked on either of my computer's and I
do not have a Windows XP CD. I have Recovery CD's for both computers and
none of which contained SP2.

One reason that I think the Toshiba laptop, which had all the necessary
files to reinstall System Restore, is because I used the SP2 CD in lieu of
the Windows Update. Again I do not have a slipstreamed SP2 CD or any XP CD
per se for that matter. Not having a slipstreamed SP2 CD, but having the
files that I could burn and install on Sony was what allowed me to reinstall
System Restore.

Looks to me that MS should have left these files rather than delete them
because one cannot reinstall System Restore without them unless you acquired
a slipstreamed SP2 CD.

Thanks for all your input in this matter.

ColTom2
I can't speak to your experience with MCE since I've never worked on an XP
system running that version. That said, here's my take on your situation.

One of my computers has XP Home Edition installed on it. Like your Sony
desktop,
there's a folder on it named Windows\ServicePackFiles\I386. It contains a
single
empty folder named Lang. There are no files in either folder. Both the I386
and
Lang folders have a modified date of April 7, 2007. Note the date, I'll come
back to it later.

Here's the history of that computer. It's original installation was done
with an
XP Home Edition CD that contained no service packs. Service Pack 2 was
installed
using a CD obtained from Microsoft. A repair installation was done on April
7,
2007 using an installation CD that had SP2 slipstreamed into it. That's the
same
date as the I386 and Lang folders were last modified. My guess was that the
repair installation deleted the files that were in the
Windows\ServicePackFiles\I386 folder but left the folders intact.

Out of curiosity, I ran a test to confirm this. I installed XP Home Edition
with
no service packs on my test system. I then installed Service Pack 2. This
resulted in a ServicePackFiles\I386 folder that contained over 400 MBs of
files.
I then did a repair installation using an XP Home CD that contained SP2. The
I386 folder now had no files, just an empty Lang folder.

One result of doing the repair installation was that in order to run System
File
Checker, I had to put the XP installation CD with SP2 in the CD drive to
complete the process.

Getting back to your situation, I suspect a repair installation was done at
some
point in time on your Sony Desktop using an installation CD that had Service
Pack 2 "slipstreamed" into the installation files. That would account for
the
empty Windows\ServicePackFiles\I386 folder. If you haven't deleted them,
take a
look at any $NTUninstallXXXXXX$ folders in your Windows folder. Compare the
date
created for those folders to the date modified for the I386 and Lang
folders.
They should be reasonably close to each other since a repair installation
would
have wiped out hotfixes released after Service Pack 2.

To answer your original question, if you tried to use System File Checker on
your Sony to repair System Restore, it would have kept asking for an
installation CD that included Service Pack 2. That would have meant creating
a
slipstreamed copy of your XP MCE installation CD. The only other alternative
would have been to run a repair installation using your original
installation
CD.

Nepatsfan

 

[ColTom2]

The best answer that I have found for assistance in reinstalling System
Restore:

http://bertk.mvps.org/html/reinstall.html

Everybody ought to bookmark this one!