Reinstalling Vista to cure wireless problem

[Allen Watson]

I've been having a problem with a Dell laptop running Vista; the wireless
won't connect. After two hours online with Dell support, they advised me to
"reinstall Vista."

How do I do that without entirely wiping the contents of my hard drive?
Clean install wipes everything, and when I try to use Update, it becomes
disabled, telling me it can't install an older version over a newer one
(I've updated since purchasing the computer, so the Installer DVD has the
older version). The only other option I can see is "Custom," and that says
that it will not preserve my files and applications.

Isn't there some way to perform a reinstall without having to wipe the hard
drive? (There is on Mac OS X, my other computer is a Macbook.)

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I've been having a problem with a Dell laptop running Vista; the wireless
won't connect. After two hours online with Dell support, they advised me
to
"reinstall Vista."

How do I do that without entirely wiping the contents of my hard drive?
Clean install wipes everything, and when I try to use Update, it becomes
disabled, telling me it can't install an older version over a newer one
(I've updated since purchasing the computer, so the Installer DVD has the
older version). The only other option I can see is "Custom," and that says
that it will not preserve my files and applications.

Isn't there some way to perform a reinstall without having to wipe the
hard
drive? (There is on Mac OS X, my other computer is a Macbook.)

Uninstall SP1. Navigate in Control Panel to Programs/Uninstall a Program
and click the View Installed Updates link in the left pane. Scroll the list
of updates until you see Service Pack for Microsoft Windows (it does not say
SP1) and highlight it. Click on the uninstall button at the top. You will
not see the uninstall button until and update is selected.