Little different question

[Glenn]

I was having trouble with OE, recently and the question of sp2 fixing it.
My problem is fixed but It lead me to a bunch of questions for general
knowledge that I'm sure a lot of us would like answers to. My
questions.....

I went to 'add and remove' as I was advised to do in control panel to
remove sp2 in preparation of a repair of OE but the warnings were so dire, I
chickened out. Perhaps my xp pro cd is not what you folks have but I can
find nothing there about a repair on it anywhere. One recommendation was to
reload sp2. I did so with no solution forth coming. There is a popup
saying something about if a sp2 was loaded on top of another sp2 that
neither could be removed but I had established a checkpoint before doing it
and I did back it out with 'system restore'

My xp cd has really 2 options. One is a full install. If I should do that,
I realize the updates would have to be redownloaded. That's no big deal, I
just did that on my backup machine by formatting the hd and reloading win98
from the cd. That had IE & OE clear back to ver 5 or so and it upgraded
just fine to 6.+ and works fine. No one has been clear of just what happens
if a full install is done over an existing xp. Will it write over every xp
system and give me a new basis to start upgrading again? Would it mess up
anything else on the hd like programs installed.? Would I have go to M$ and
get it re-authorized? (Which is a bunch of nonsense, I might add.)

Option 2 that I can see on the cd. 'Check system computability, check my
system automatically'. I click on that one and get a popup saying .........

"Setup cannot continue because the version of Windows on your computer is
newer than the version on the CD.
Warning: If you decide to delete the newer version of Windows that is
currently installed on your computer, the files and settings cannot be
recovered"

OK, what settings and files? If it is just simple settings, no big deal. If
it screws up my network settings that took me forever to get right, I might
not proceed. I'm living with thunderbird now, if it can't be fixed, I can
continue. Didn't I hear that M$ was coming out with an upgraded version of
OE, not that I think that would fix anything {g}

I get all these dire warnings but no where does it do more than allude to
disaster. Does anyone really know what would happen?

Perplexed, Glenn

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Glen,

I was having trouble with OE, recently and the question of sp2 fixing it.
My problem is fixed but It lead me to a bunch of questions for general
knowledge that I'm sure a lot of us would like answers to. My
questions.....

I went to 'add and remove' as I was advised to do in control panel to
remove sp2 in preparation of a repair of OE but the warnings were so dire,
I chickened out. Perhaps my xp pro cd is not what you folks have but I
can find nothing there about a repair on it anywhere.

To do a repair installation, you can do either an in-place upgrade by
starting the installer from within Windows, or by booting from the CD. The
warnings about removing a service pack are to make you aware that usually
this is not the right thing to do. If you have updated the system since
installing with a Service Pack, then you will need to create a slipstreamed
version of the product to match the updated system in order to do a repair
installation.

One recommendation was to reload sp2. I did so with no solution forth
coming. There is a popup saying something about if a sp2 was loaded on
top of another sp2 that neither could be removed but I had established a
checkpoint before doing it and I did back it out with 'system restore'

Reinstalling SP2 would not have gained anything. If you suspect corrupt
system files, the correct thing to do is run sfc /scannow to validate the
system file set and replace the corrupt ones.

My xp cd has really 2 options. One is a full install. If I should do
that, I realize the updates would have to be redownloaded. That's no big
deal, I just did that on my backup machine by formatting the hd and
reloading win98 from the cd. That had IE & OE clear back to ver 5 or so
and it upgraded just fine to 6.+ and works fine. No one has been clear of
just what happens if a full install is done over an existing xp.

Unlike the Win9x reinstall, a reinstall of that nature in WinXP leaves you
with what basically amounts to a new system where software must be
reinstalled, and user profiles need to be rebuilt. This is why a repair
installation is used instead.

Will it write over every xp system and give me a new basis to start
upgrading again? Would it mess up anything else on the hd like programs
installed.? Would I have go to M$ and get it re-authorized? (Which is a
bunch of nonsense, I might add.)

Any reinstallation, clean or otherwise, requires reactivation. I will not
get into a debate about the semantics of it.

Option 2 that I can see on the cd. 'Check system computability, check my
system automatically'. I click on that one and get a popup saying
.........

"Setup cannot continue because the version of Windows on your computer is
newer than the version on the CD. Warning: If you decide to delete the
newer version of Windows that is currently installed on your computer, the
files and settings cannot be recovered"

This occurs because a service pack has been added. You need to create the
aforementioned slipstreamed version. Instructions:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd.htm

OK, what settings and files?

Your (and all other) user profiles.

If it is just simple settings, no big deal. If it screws up my network
settings that took me forever to get right, I might not proceed. I'm
living with thunderbird now, if it can't be fixed, I can continue. Didn't
I hear that M$ was coming out with an upgraded version of OE, not that I
think that would fix anything {g}

It's not, so don't wait for it.

I get all these dire warnings but no where does it do more than allude to
disaster. Does anyone really know what would happen?

Hopefully, this information has helped tell you what can happen.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Glenn]

Hi Glen,


To do a repair installation, you can do either an in-place upgrade by
starting the installer from within Windows, or by booting from the
CD. The warnings about removing a service pack are to make you aware
that usually this is not the right thing to do. If you have updated
the system since installing with a Service Pack, then you will need
to create a slipstreamed version of the product to match the updated
system in order to do a repair installation.


Reinstalling SP2 would not have gained anything. If you suspect
corrupt system files, the correct thing to do is run sfc /scannow to
validate the system file set and replace the corrupt ones.


Unlike the Win9x reinstall, a reinstall of that nature in WinXP
leaves you with what basically amounts to a new system where software
must be reinstalled, and user profiles need to be rebuilt. This is
why a repair installation is used instead.


Any reinstallation, clean or otherwise, requires reactivation. I will
not get into a debate about the semantics of it.


This occurs because a service pack has been added. You need to create
the aforementioned slipstreamed version. Instructions:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd.htm

Everything seems to be running now and I was just asking for the future. I
have no intention of changing anything now.

My reading of the theeldergeek.com article is he is checking the cd before
installing it. I already have it installed. Several times you have alluded
to a repair install. As I said earlier, I have looked for anything that
even alluded to a repair and found nothing. Just where is this mysterious
repair program?

Just for the hell of it, I ran your sfc /scannow. It was going slooow so I
went and ate breakfast. When I got back, the desktop was back to normal and
its popup was gone. No flags so I guess everything was ok. It did a lot of
reading of the xp cd.

Thanks for the answer. The mud is a *little* clearer now except for that
elusive repair program. [g]

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

A repair install can be initiated in two ways:

1) Boot the system with the WinXP CD, start the installation routine. It
should identify the existing installation and offer to repair it after you
agree to the license screen (by hitting F8). Do not hit 'r' at the initial
prompt, as that gets you to the recovery console. It is only after the
license screen that you do the repair.

2) From within the working installation, insert the CD and allow setup to
run. There is a point where you choose a new installation or an inplace
upgrade. It is this latter option that will run a repair installation.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

Hi Glen,


To do a repair installation, you can do either an in-place upgrade by
starting the installer from within Windows, or by booting from the
CD. The warnings about removing a service pack are to make you aware
that usually this is not the right thing to do. If you have updated
the system since installing with a Service Pack, then you will need
to create a slipstreamed version of the product to match the updated
system in order to do a repair installation.


Reinstalling SP2 would not have gained anything. If you suspect
corrupt system files, the correct thing to do is run sfc /scannow to
validate the system file set and replace the corrupt ones.


Unlike the Win9x reinstall, a reinstall of that nature in WinXP
leaves you with what basically amounts to a new system where software
must be reinstalled, and user profiles need to be rebuilt. This is
why a repair installation is used instead.


Any reinstallation, clean or otherwise, requires reactivation. I will
not get into a debate about the semantics of it.


This occurs because a service pack has been added. You need to create
the aforementioned slipstreamed version. Instructions:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd.htm

Everything seems to be running now and I was just asking for the future.
I have no intention of changing anything now.

My reading of the theeldergeek.com article is he is checking the cd
before installing it. I already have it installed. Several times you
have alluded to a repair install. As I said earlier, I have looked for
anything that even alluded to a repair and found nothing. Just where is
this mysterious repair program?

Just for the hell of it, I ran your sfc /scannow. It was going slooow so
I went and ate breakfast. When I got back, the desktop was back to normal
and its popup was gone. No flags so I guess everything was ok. It did a
lot of reading of the xp cd.

Thanks for the answer. The mud is a *little* clearer now except for that
elusive repair program. [g]

Your (and all other) user profiles.


It's not, so don't wait for it.


Hopefully, this information has helped tell you what can happen.