OEM recovery or new-install when XP home fails to boot

[Guest]

Hi,
My XP home OEM version does not boot because of a corrupted sam file so
lsass.exe fails and I can't logon as an administrator to [R]ecover.

The solution is described in 307545 BUT it states that this cannot be used
for OEM installations.

Question: Would an installation of XP Pro (non-oem) over the top of the XP
home OEM solve the problem or would the corrupted sam file remain the same?

Thanks,
Alan
PS: here's the link to the 307545 support document:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545

 

[Michael Stevens]

In

Hi,
My XP home OEM version does not boot because of a corrupted sam file
so lsass.exe fails and I can't logon as an administrator to [R]ecover.

The solution is described in 307545 BUT it states that this cannot be
used for OEM installations.

Question: Would an installation of XP Pro (non-oem) over the top of
the XP home OEM solve the problem or would the corrupted sam file
remain the same?

Thanks,
Alan
PS: here's the link to the 307545 support document:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545

It might, but you would have to use the retail XP Pro Product Key and this
would then be an upgrade to XP Pro and you would not be able to return to
Home without doing a clean install of Home. This would mean starting from
bare metal, all programs/application, settings, etc would need to be
reinstalled and configured. You should contact your OEM if it was installed
from the OEM for fixes or updates.
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Guest]

Thanks Michael,
But if I understand you correctly, I'd only need to reinstall applications
if I want to return to the Home version.
That means I'd better check now what the disadvantages or the pro system
are, if any.
Best regards,
Alan

In

Hi,
My XP home OEM version does not boot because of a corrupted sam file
so lsass.exe fails and I can't logon as an administrator to [R]ecover.

The solution is described in 307545 BUT it states that this cannot be
used for OEM installations.

Question: Would an installation of XP Pro (non-oem) over the top of
the XP home OEM solve the problem or would the corrupted sam file
remain the same?

Thanks,
Alan
PS: here's the link to the 307545 support document:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545

It might, but you would have to use the retail XP Pro Product Key and this
would then be an upgrade to XP Pro and you would not be able to return to
Home without doing a clean install of Home. This would mean starting from
bare metal, all programs/application, settings, etc would need to be
reinstalled and configured. You should contact your OEM if it was installed
from the OEM for fixes or updates.
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

You can try an upgrade install first. If that does not fix the problem you
still have the option of doing a clean install.

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

That means I'd better check now what the disadvantages or the pro system
are, if any.

Alan,

I'd say, none, except that you get some more stuff you may have
to handle.

Hans-Georg

 

[Ron Martell]

Hi,
My XP home OEM version does not boot because of a corrupted sam file so
lsass.exe fails and I can't logon as an administrator to [R]ecover.

The solution is described in 307545 BUT it states that this cannot be used
for OEM installations.

Question: Would an installation of XP Pro (non-oem) over the top of the XP
home OEM solve the problem or would the corrupted sam file remain the same?

Thanks,
Alan
PS: here's the link to the 307545 support document:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545

Hi Alan.

Is your OEM Windows XP on a generic Microsoft CD or is it on a CD that
has the name & logo of the computer manufacturer?

If it is the generic Microsoft OEM version I would try the 307545
procedure. I have used it before and it has worked.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm

 

[Guest]

Thanks Ron,
This is great tip. Unfortunately, the cd lable shows that mine is not the
generice mircrosoft oem version so I can't use this.

But I've found note 308402 which sumarizes my situation very well:
Basically, doing a repair on an oem XP that has been updated to sp2 will
corrupt the sam file.
I've followed the instructions (creating a request for a patch from
microsoft) and I'll let you know the results here.

 

[Guest]

Allan

Just for the record this is what happened.

I couldn't follow the repair option because it wasn't offered in the windows
boot cd menu. Nothing unusual here - Michael had warned about this.

The slipstreamed install CD for xp pro got stuck during the install with no
message or anything. The install-in-progress dots kept moving but I suspect
they're faked. After 3 hours of waiting (39 minutes was predicted) I gave up.

Win XP pro did install properly but the installation cd's for the via driver
that came with the pc did not run unter xp pro (I guess there were problems
with versioning).

The only thing that worked was the PE Bart boot cd image which allowed me to
backup data files before finally using the oem cd to regenerate the original
disk image. This boot cd image is priceless I did have problems later
accessing the files I'd backed up because the windows-authorization failed.
However I copied them with PE Bart boot and the copies were accessible. I
guess this has something to do with them being created by one user (the user
in the original windows installation) and accessed by 'another' user (the
user after reinstalling windows) even though the user name was identical.

All in all not a pleasant experience. But I've learned from the tale and
bought better hardware for more regular backups.

Alan
PS: Note 308402 might have been a red herring. In any case I couldn't get
the patch mentioned in it from Microsoft support.

 

[Michael Stevens]

In

Allan

Just for the record this is what happened.

I couldn't follow the repair option because it wasn't offered in the
windows boot cd menu. Nothing unusual here - Michael had warned about
this.

The slipstreamed install CD for xp pro got stuck during the install
with no message or anything. The install-in-progress dots kept moving
but I suspect they're faked. After 3 hours of waiting (39 minutes was
predicted) I gave up.

Win XP pro did install properly but the installation cd's for the via
driver that came with the pc did not run unter xp pro (I guess there
were problems with versioning).

The only thing that worked was the PE Bart boot cd image which
allowed me to backup data files before finally using the oem cd to
regenerate the original disk image. This boot cd image is priceless
I did have problems later accessing the files I'd backed up
because the windows-authorization failed. However I copied them with
PE Bart boot and the copies were accessible. I guess this has
something to do with them being created by one user (the user in the
original windows installation) and accessed by 'another' user (the
user after reinstalling windows) even though the user name was
identical.

All in all not a pleasant experience. But I've learned from the tale
and bought better hardware for more regular backups.

Alan
PS: Note 308402 might have been a red herring. In any case I couldn't
get the patch mentioned in it from Microsoft support.


:

Thanks very much for the feedback, glad you retrieved your important data.
Sometimes the objective of these newsgroups gets lost by those that place
adherence to licensing as more important than loss data that cannot be
restored.
Data loss should always have a higher priority than licensing compliance.
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm