XP OEM

[Guest]

I have an error of missing windows etc insert disk and press r to repair.
Since this is a OEM there is no repair only reinstall. Can I purchase an XP
Home Edition and do a repair without losing any of my pictures etc on my hard
drive.

 

[Ted Zieglar]

Sure, if you want to. But I would check with the computer vendor first to
see if they have an easier way.

 

[Guest]

Yes.

 

[Donald L McDaniel]

I have an error of missing windows etc insert disk and press r to repair.
Since this is a OEM there is no repair only reinstall. Can I purchase an XP
Home Edition and do a repair without losing any of my pictures etc on my hard
drive.

NOTE that OEM disks cannot do "Upgrade" installs.
To reinstall XP without losing your file structure, you must use
either a Windows XP "Retail Upgrade" edition or a "Full Retail"
edition. If you have the installation CD from another version of
Windows, or an existing installation of Windows XP, you will be able
to get by with only purchasing a "Retail Upgrade" cd (at least $100
cheaper than a "Full Retail" cd.)

There is another way of reinstalling XP without losing your file
structure: Do a "Repair Install". If your particular OEM cd will not
allow you to do this, you must purchase either a "FULL OEM" cd or at
the very least, a "Retail Upgrade" cd. I advise anyone with an
existing "Full OEM" or "Full Retail" copy of an earlier version of
Windows to purchase a "Retail Upgrade" CD. Why give Microsoft $100
when you don't have to. They are rich enough as it is.
Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread.
If you must reply via email, remove the obvious
from my email address before sending.
=======================================================

 

[Al Romanosky]

There are two repair options that XP setup provides 1. Use of recovery
console and 2. Repair a current XP installation. Unfortunately the options
are not available until after install is selected and setup files are
loaded - after the in itial setup files are loaded the option to use the
recover console is offered - do not select this option - proceed with setup
and you will offered the option of performing repair on the current
installation (at this point setup will list the windows installations it
has found).
You can verify if your OEM CD can perform an upgrade or clean installation
only- inserting the CD and running setup will provide the message that
upgrading is not available (because WINNTUPG, WIN9xUPG, etc. are not
included in the i386 folder on the CD. There is a solution - copy the OEM
CD to a folder on the HD - find an upgrade copy of CD -open the CD - open
i386 folder and copy "WINNTUPG" to the folder on the HD containing the OEM
files.
Either c opy the folder to a CD you can run setup from the folder on the
HD.