msconfig in windows xp

[Guest]

is there any way to acces the msconfig settings when my computer will not
boot from any type of safe mode or in normal mode.

i can boot to the winodws setup screen from cd. What should ido from there

 

[Guest]

No, but from the windows setup screen you can try first pressing R to get the
Recovery Console prompt. From there you can type LOGON to see if you can
start windows. If not, from the setup screen you press Enter to run setup,
and then accept the offered repair setup.
If both fail, you will have to run setup without a repair.

 

[Guest]

so does that mean I will have to erase what is currently on my computer

 

[Guest]

There is no reason to format the drive. You will want to retain all those
data files. A new setup will simply reset all the setting to the default, and
you would need to run setup for all your other apps.

 

[Guest]

It says that it is not a good idea to install two vresion of windows on the
same partition. And can I change the setting then erase the other windows?

 

[Guest]

If you install it to the same folder, it would overwrite. I don't know why
you would get the offer of two installs unless the other install was
bootable. In any event, editing the boot.ini after setup is always possible
to then delete the old folder.
HOW TO Edit the Boot.ini File in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q289022

 

[Patrick Keenan]

It says that it is not a good idea to install two vresion of windows on
the
same partition. And can I change the setting then erase the other windows?

That's a parallel install, not a repair install. You've pressed the wrong
key and gone too far, are in the wrong place, and have to restart to get to
the Repair install. No big worry - nothing has changed as yet.

If you do the parallel install, you will also have to reinstall ALL
applications, because it builds a new registy. A repair install won't
require this because it uses the old one.

HTH
-pk

 

[Patrick Keenan]

is there any way to acces the msconfig settings when my computer will not
boot from any type of safe mode or in normal mode.

No, there isn't.

i can boot to the winodws setup screen from cd. What should ido from there

Is there data on your drive you wish to keep, that isn't backed up now?

If so, stop.

Remove the drive, attach it to another XP system with plenty of drive space,
and back it up. A quick and reliable way to do this is with the Acronis
TrueImage free trial version (about 100 meg), which will take *everything*
on the drive. If you simply copy files, you have a significant risk of
missing files you need but didn't think of or couldn't find, like email
files or address books.

Once that's done, you can safely do the reinstall, in whichever way works.

Or, put in a new drive, and install XP and your apps to that. Then attach
the old drive and copy the data to the appropriate locations.

HTH
-pk

 

[Poprivet]

is there any way to acces the msconfig settings when my computer will
not boot from any type of safe mode or in normal mode.

i can boot to the winodws setup screen from cd. What should ido from
there

Try a repair install as indicated in the other posts. With a repair
install, you'll still have to reinstall all your apps, BUT the data on your
drive willl NOT be erased. All a repair install does is recopy the major
windows files to the hard drive for you, which means only windows gets
"renewed". Contrary to one comment elsewhere, the registry IS rebuilt;
that's one reason you have to reinstall all your apps again.
In "theory" you won't lose any data. However, it's foolhardy to attemp
any kind of system work without having a complete backup of all your data,
usually everything in Documents and Settings folder.

If that doesn't work and you have to do a full install, THEN everything on
the drive is lost now matter what you do. When that process starts, you
first remove and then recreate the partition/s on the drive, and then just
follow the onscreen instructions.

HTH

Pop`