Les said:
My system is running very slowly, and I have decided to reinstall
XP Home. I have the disc, but when I run setup it kicks out and
tells me that the disc cannot reinstall XP because it is a
different version.
I assume this is because I updated the original XP to SP4, and now
the re-installation CD doesn't recognize the newer XP. How do I
get around this problem?
How are you running Setup? Did you put the XP disk in while Windows
was running? If so, that is your problem. Try booting from the XP
CD and run setup from there. By the way...I think you meant SP2,
right?
I tried it both ways. The first time I inserted the disk when XP
was running. It gave me an error message and I rebooted from the
disk. I then ran Setup and it kicked me out. And yes, I did mean
SP2.
What do you mean by "kicked me out"? Did you get the message you
wrote below (cannot reinstall because of a different version of
XP)? If not, what message did you get?
When you booted from the XP disk, what options did you choose? Did
you choose a "clean" install where you format the disk or did you
try a repair? If repair, try a clean install (I assume your data is
backed up somewhere safe).
When I booted from the XP CD, I got the same message -- Cannot
reinstall because a newer version of XP exists. I didn't choose
any options, should I have?
If you are trying to perform a CLEAN installation - your CD will work fine.
You boot from it, get to the part where it asks where you wish to install,
you delete all the partition(s) you need to (the ones with Windows on it
right now) and then create new partition(s) and install on those.
If you are *not* trying to install fresh (you don't intend on losing
everything you have not wisely backed up to an external location) - and you
are instead attempting to perform what is known as a 'repair installation' -
your installation media (CD in this case) must be the same service pack
level as the installed version - more than likely Service Pack 2. What that
means to you is that if you do not have a service pack 2 level installation
media (CD) --> you will have to INTEGRATE SP2 into the installation and make
a new CD if you intend on using said media (CD) for repairing the current
installation.
Direct Download of Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows XP
http://snipurl.com/8bqy
Creating an Integrated Installation
http://snipurl.com/el43
Integrate software updates into your Windows installation source files
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/828930
Really customize your CD..
http://unattended.msfn.org/
Produce an up-to-date XP Distribution CD
http://xpcreate.com/
AutoPatcher
http://www.autopatcher.com/
AutoStreamer
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=223562
How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341