uninstalling windows xp and reinstalling it

[Guest]

i've been stupid and deleted some files involved with windows xp i think and
whenever i go on the internet and try downloading anything kind of files,
such as programs or settings for games i want to download, it won't, i get
the files download box but the process bar doesnt fill up. i will get to the
point now. i'm trying to uninstall my windows xp and install it again. i've
got a windows xp disk but when i put it in, it says that it can't install
windows because the copy on the disk is not as recent as the one already
installed please can anyone help me

thank you

 

[John John]

i've been stupid and deleted some files involved with windows xp i think and
whenever i go on the internet and try downloading anything kind of files,
such as programs or settings for games i want to download, it won't, i get
the files download box but the process bar doesnt fill up. i will get to the
point now. i'm trying to uninstall my windows xp and install it again. i've
got a windows xp disk but when i put it in, it says that it can't install
windows because the copy on the disk is not as recent as the one already
installed please can anyone help me

I think that what you want to do is a "Repair Install". You don't have
to "uninstall" the old Windows, you just reinstall atop of it. The
reason that you are getting that message is because your Windows XP
probably has SP2 and your Windows CD doesn't. You have to slipstream
SP2 into the Windows CD, in other words you have to burn a new Windows
CD with SP2 incorporated into it. It isn't difficult to do, see the
four part article here:

Combining Windows XP with Service Pack 2 for reinstallation (Part 1:
Introduction)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894947/

By the way, there are a couple of things you could try before
reinstalling, you could use System Restore and restore to a point to
just before you deleted the files or you could try running the System
File Checker utility (Sfc /Scannow):

Description of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 System File Checker
(Sfc.exe)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310747

John

 

[Guest]

thank you for this information john but i clicked on the link u gave me but
my computer will not download anything also i cannot do a system restore back
to a date before i deleted the files as i was stupid and didnt save the
settings before i deleted. so i was just thinkin of wiping the whole system
and rebooting from my disk but im unsure how to do it, the local pc repair
shop wouldn't tell me and he wants to charge me 35 pounds for him to do it so
i thought id give it ago. can u help out with any information on how to
delete my current windows xp and how i can installl from my disk thank you
once again

 

[Guest]

go to your bios and set your boot device to cd and insert the xp disk into
the cd drive
and allow it to boot, it will give you options to format and install fresh,
or repair the current install read them carefully and decide what you want to
do.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

i've been stupid and deleted some files involved with windows xp i think
and
whenever i go on the internet and try downloading anything kind of files,
such as programs or settings for games i want to download, it won't, i get
the files download box but the process bar doesnt fill up. i will get to
the
point now. i'm trying to uninstall my windows xp and install it again.
i've
got a windows xp disk but when i put it in, it says that it can't install
windows because the copy on the disk is not as recent as the one already
installed please can anyone help me

thank you

The best way to deal with this is to update your copy of the XP install CD
through a process called slipstreaming. You'll wind up with an XP SP2 CD,
and you can then do a repair install or a clean install and not have to
install SP2 as it's already there.

However, this means you need a working system with a connection able to
download a 260-meg file, the SP2 installer, and a program called
Autostreamer. Also, not all CDs allow this - if your system is a Dell, it
almost certainly won't work.

Googling "slipstream XP" will get you all the information you need.

If you're trying to wipe the drive and start fresh - first, is there any
data on the drive you wish to keep? If so, stop. Find a way to copy your
data off to another system or drive. This is actually pretty easy to do.
At worst, find a friend with an XP system with plenty of drive space.
Remove your hard disk, attach it to theirs, and just locate and copy the
data. An easy way to get all of it is with the Acronis TrueImage demo
version - this will give you two weeks to figure out what you need to keep.
This demo, however, is a 100 meg download. And when you mount the image,
you'll probably have to Take Ownership when you get "access denied"
messages:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421


If there isn't any data you want, insert the CD and restart the system,
press a key when told to and Setup will start. Choose a drive to install
to, and tell Setup to format the drive. This will completely bypass the
problem you're experiencing. Once you're done and online, go to the MS
site and download the XP SP2 Service pack as one file, and save it. Or,
download it on another system and save it to CD.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...BE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en

You can also find this by googling "XP SP2 IT" - this is the first hit.
Run it from the file and later, try to slipstream your XP CD.
Autostreamer can be obtained here:
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=223562

If there is data you want, and if you can get into Control Panel, uninstall
updates after the service pack on your CD. Look at the install CD label -
it should indicate both XP and a service pack level, often SP1. In
Control Panel, Add-Remove Programs, click "show updates", look for SP2 and
uninstall it.

Then, once your system is rolled back to a service pack level matching the
CD, you should be able to do a repair install. And that *should* maintain
your data, but it's always possible for things to go wrong.

HTH
-pk