Windows XP Repair - Invalid Computer Name

[Guest]

When using the Repair Feature of the Windows XP Pro CD Install, to repair and
existing XP installation, the process begins, and places me at a screen that
says Setup will complete in 39 minutes.

After some time, not 39 minutes, an error box is displayed, telling me that
the computer name of the machine is invalid, since it contains an underscore
in the name, and that the Setup (repair) can not continue. I am told to
change the name, yet, I can't get into windows to make that change.

I can't even get the machine to boot into Safe Mode, since the Setup
attempts to run again, and I get a message that Setup can not be run in safe
mode.

QUESTIONS
1) How can I change the computer name, using the Recovery Console, or other
methods?

2) If I can not use the Recovery Console, how can I terminate the Setup Loop
that I am in, and attempt to boot into Safe Mode, to change the Name of the
Computer and then rerun the repair feature?

Thanks

Jeff Smyrski

 

[WinGuy]

When using the Repair Feature of the Windows XP Pro CD Install, to repair
and
existing XP installation, the process begins, and places me at a screen
that
says Setup will complete in 39 minutes.

After some time, not 39 minutes, an error box is displayed, telling me
that
the computer name of the machine is invalid, since it contains an
underscore
in the name, and that the Setup (repair) can not continue. I am told to
change the name, yet, I can't get into windows to make that change.

I can't even get the machine to boot into Safe Mode, since the Setup
attempts to run again, and I get a message that Setup can not be run in
safe
mode.

QUESTIONS
1) How can I change the computer name, using the Recovery Console, or
other
methods?

2) If I can not use the Recovery Console, how can I terminate the Setup
Loop
that I am in, and attempt to boot into Safe Mode, to change the Name of
the
Computer and then rerun the repair feature?

Thanks

Jeff Smyrski

It is possible that the security section of your registry has become
corrupted. You can try this, but if it doesn't work then restore the old
filename that you change in step 2 and then do step 4 so as to (hopefully)
be back where you were to begin with. (See if anyone else has better idea in
this topic before you try this as a very last resort).

1. Boot to the Recovery Console.
2. Rename the Security file in the "C:\{windir}\system32\config" folder to
Security.old
3. Copy the Security file, from the Repair folder that is in the
"C:\{windir}" folder, to the "C:\{windir}\system32\config" folder.
4. Type Exit and press Enter to restart your computer normally.

After the install completes (if it will) then go restore the file that you
renamed in step #2 to Security.old back to just being named Security, then
reboot, change the name of the computer as you normally would, then do a new
repair install of Windows again. As I said, do all this only as a last
resort if nothing else (more safe to use) works that someone else might
suggest here.

Winguy

 

[Guest]

I will look into this, I was able to find an error in a KB that related to
the catroot2 files, that were already resident on the system.

I think the underscore is not truly the error, I found that the system was
reporting "The signature for Windows XP Professional Upgrade is Invalid" the
Error Code is 426

While this was not an upgrade, but a Repair, I found a suggestion to rename
the catroot2 folder in the Recovery Console to catold, and then rerun the
repair, so far after 1.5 hours the setup is still running, although it
reports that the process will take 39 minutes...but no errors. Unless I have
another issue.

As part of this, I also had installed SP2 TechNet Plus BETA on the March
2004 CD, and suspect that it was causing some of my original issues, in not
allowing DirectX 9.0c to be upgraded, although the program reported it did
the upgrade...

I ended up in this situation after performing a DirectX 9.0b removal and
restore to DirectX 8 that came with the XP Pro CD Rom, it asked me for the CD
and then after a reboot, I got a Stop Error (Don't ask what it was) but I
then moved to the Repair feature and started getting all this other stuff.