REPAIR Installation is no longer an option?

D

DRCray

I have a fully patched Windows XP HOME SP1 installation.
Recently something makes the computer reboot in the middle of loading the
OS. I can't bring the system up in safe mode either - it dumps 64kb then
reboots before the Windows Logo Appears. I've been able to pull up the
repair console to do a CHKDSK /P /R and the volume is now clean. The
directories appear in order. I've decided to REPAIR the installation by
booting to the XP Home CDROM and choosing the volume in installation is on
and choosing R to repair my installation. I've done this many times on
other systems. Unfortunately, I never see the screen to choose R to repair
my installation. I make my way through - but the option to press R to
Repair an existing installation never appears. Here is what happens in
order:

1. Setup displays the welcome screen, then says to press ENTER to continue
to R for the recovery console. <ENTER>
2. Setup examines the volume, and displays the license agreement which the
user must press F8 to continue. <F8>
3. Setup searches for previous versions of Windows and finds my NTFS
Partition C: and the user must press ENTER to continue or D to delete. R
for Repair does not appear, and pressing R has no effect. <ENTER>
4. Setup displays a notice that the user is trying to install XP on a
Partition that contains another Operating System, Press C to continue. <C>
5. Setup displays that it will install XP on Partition C: Partition 1 NTFS.
User chooses to leave the system
Intact without formatting and presses ENTER. <ENTER>
6. Setup displays a warning: CAUTION: A \WINDOWS folder already exists that
may contain a windows installation. If you continue, the existing
installation will be overwritten. All files, subfolders, user accounts,
applications, security, and desktop settings for that installation will be
deleted. The My Documents folder may also be deleted. Press L to continue
or F3 to Quit. <F3>

How do I do a REPAIR installation? Where did the option go? Can I manually
do a repair installation with a command or series of switches?

DRCray
 
G

Guest

You're going to far,install xp cd,boot to cd,the first
blue screen in text should have,1.install xp 2.recovery
3.exit
If you select r for recovery,theres no agreement at this
time,a password to continue(press enter key),then you
type in text.
-----Original Message-----
I have a fully patched Windows XP HOME SP1 installation.
Recently something makes the computer reboot in the middle of loading the
OS. I can't bring the system up in safe mode either - it dumps 64kb then
reboots before the Windows Logo Appears. I've been able to pull up the
repair console to do a CHKDSK /P /R and the volume is now clean. The
directories appear in order. I've decided to REPAIR the installation by
booting to the XP Home CDROM and choosing the volume in installation is on
and choosing R to repair my installation. I've done this many times on
other systems. Unfortunately, I never see the screen to choose R to repair
my installation. I make my way through - but the option to press R to
Repair an existing installation never appears. Here is what happens in
order:

1. Setup displays the welcome screen, then says to press ENTER to continue
to R for the recovery console. <ENTER>
2. Setup examines the volume, and displays the license agreement which the
user must press F8 to continue. <F8>
3. Setup searches for previous versions of Windows and finds my NTFS
Partition C: and the user must press ENTER to continue or D to delete. R
for Repair does not appear, and pressing R has no
 
D

DRCray

I'm trying to do a repair installation, not access the recovery console.
I've already done what I can in the recovery console.
-DRCray
 
M

Michael Stevens

DRCray said:
I'm trying to do a repair installation, not access the recovery
console. I've already done what I can in the recovery console.
-DRCray

Unfortunately this usually means the installation is not repairable. You can
try rebuilding the boot.ini file from recovery console with the fixboot
command.
See the links below for more information and if you do find a solution,
please post back and share the information.
Click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into the address box
if using the web based newsgroup.
Repair Install
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
Recovery Console
http://michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html#RC
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
 
T

Tegger®

Unfortunately this usually means the installation is not repairable.
You can try rebuilding the boot.ini file from recovery console with
the fixboot command.


This link:
http://www.digitalwebcast.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/cw_boot_toot.htm
worked for me in the repair of a similar situation. (This link was provided
by an MVP in an earlier Usenet message)

On this particular machine I was unable even to log on using the Recovery
Console as it would take no passwords. What I did was to temporarily
install a second hard drive, install XP on it and use that install to carry
out the file replacement steps given in the link. After that, I unplugged
the second HD and the installation on the original disk would boot to the
desktop and I could carry out my final fixes.

The situation that led to this was bad blocks on the original hard disk
which corrupted several key parts of the OS.
 
M

Michael Stevens

Tegger® said:
This link:
http://www.digitalwebcast.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/cw_boot_toot.htm
worked for me in the repair of a similar situation. (This link was
provided by an MVP in an earlier Usenet message)

On this particular machine I was unable even to log on using the
Recovery Console as it would take no passwords. What I did was to
temporarily install a second hard drive, install XP on it and use
that install to carry out the file replacement steps given in the
link. After that, I unplugged the second HD and the installation on
the original disk would boot to the desktop and I could carry out my
final fixes.

The situation that led to this was bad blocks on the original hard
disk which corrupted several key parts of the OS.

Thanks for the additional feedback, the Charlie White link you referenced is
the one from my Repair Install page. Nice work around. Check this fix for
the RC password bug.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html#RC
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
 
T

Tegger®

Thanks for the additional feedback, the Charlie White link you
referenced is the one from my Repair Install page. Nice work around.
Check this fix for the RC password bug.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html#RC


Thanks. Unfortunately, this fix requires that you enable automatic Admin
logon *before* boot problems arise, which was obviously not an option for
me.

I will implement this bug fix on all machines I administer.
 

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