Uninstall/Reinstall WinXP SP2 vs WinXP Repair Install

[Guest]

I tried to uninstall SP2 using Add or Remove Programs and then reinstall it
as a suggested remedy for a C# Express installation problem. The uninstall
hangs on the last step and I have to use Task Manager to kill the task. I
found a KB article that discusses other methods of uninstalling SP2 and was
going to try them until I came across several posts on this forum about
repair installs of XP. I am interested in getting feedback about the pros
and cons of uninstalling/reinstalling SP2 vs. an XP repair install.

Of possible interest is that I recently had to perform a manual uninstall of
VB .NET 2003 while an Add or Remove Programs uninstall of IE 7 beta 2 went
off without a hitch.

Regards,

Rich

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

I tried to uninstall SP2 using Add or Remove Programs and then reinstall it
as a suggested remedy for a C# Express installation problem. The uninstall
hangs on the last step and I have to use Task Manager to kill the task. I
found a KB article that discusses other methods of uninstalling SP2 and was
going to try them until I came across several posts on this forum about
repair installs of XP. I am interested in getting feedback about the pros
and cons of uninstalling/reinstalling SP2 vs. an XP repair install.

Rich,

if you're into it already, why not doing a Windows XP repair
installation now, then reinstall SP2. That would give you all
possible repairs, no matter whether the SP2 uninstall didn't
finish entirely.

Nobody will be able to tell you exactly and in all detail what
the difference is between an SP2 uninstall and a repair
installation, probably not even the programmers at Microsoft (if
you could get them to talk to you at all .

Hans-Georg

 

[Guest]

Hans-Georg,

Thanks for the response. I was leaning towards doing the full repair but
wasn't sure if the failed uninstall would cause problems. In the end, it
didn't. I was able to perform the repair using instructions provided by
Michael Stevens (www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm) and
everything seems to be 'normal'.

Since I used an XP disk with SP2 slipstreamed in I can no longer uninstall
SP2. This side effect is noted in other discussion group posts.

Regards,

Rich

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

Thanks for the response. I was leaning towards doing the full repair but
wasn't sure if the failed uninstall would cause problems. In the end, it
didn't. I was able to perform the repair using instructions provided by
Michael Stevens (www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm) and
everything seems to be 'normal'.

Since I used an XP disk with SP2 slipstreamed in I can no longer uninstall
SP2. This side effect is noted in other discussion group posts.

Rich,

good to hear that it worked.

As to being unable to uninstall SP2, I can't imagine why you
would want to. So that may be a tiny problem to swallow.

Hans-Georg

 

[Guest]

Hans-Georg,

In regards to SP2 uninstall, it is an odd thing to do. However, some people
in the MSDN forum are having issues with installing VS products and it turns
out they have an RC version of SP2 installed. Looking at the HAL information:

Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"

instead of 'rtm' they have 'rc' and some other version number. By
uninstalling the rc verison and reinstalling an rtm version they are able to
overcome their install problem.

Regards,

Rich

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

In regards to SP2 uninstall, it is an odd thing to do. However, some people
in the MSDN forum are having issues with installing VS products and it turns
out they have an RC version of SP2 installed. Looking at the HAL information:

Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"

instead of 'rtm' they have 'rc' and some other version number. By
uninstalling the rc verison and reinstalling an rtm version they are able to
overcome their install problem.

Rich,

ah, that I didn't know.

At least if you have the right version of SP2 installed in the
first place, the problem vanishes.

Hans-Georg