How to fix one of two installs c:\windows and c:\windows2 ?

[Guest LoneTreeTechy]

My original Windows XP Home edition became corrupt and the blue screen kept

coming up due to bad video drivers. If I disable the blue screen, the machine

would just reboot itself over and over. I tried removing the bad drivers,

safe mode, command prompt, various Windows repair utilities...

 

Finally I just used the included OEM Windows repair CD and it let me install

a second instance of Windows on the same file system - I installed it to

c:\windows2.

 

All my files and programs are physically on the disk, but I can't run

Office, for example, nor can I seem to access my old user profiles, settings,

etc. I don't want to go through the hassle of reinstalling hundreds of

programs, so...

 

Is there a way to manually repair the first windows installation while

booted into the second installation, or merge the programs and settings?

[Guest Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Re: How to fix one of two installs c:\windows and c:\windows2 ?

 

 

"LoneTreeTechy" <LoneTreeTechy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:A4AEDEC0-925D-4901-A530-8DEF875F7494@microsoft.com...

> My original Windows XP Home edition became corrupt and the blue screen

> kept

> coming up due to bad video drivers. If I disable the blue screen, the

> machine

> would just reboot itself over and over. I tried removing the bad drivers,

> safe mode, command prompt, various Windows repair utilities...

>

> Finally I just used the included OEM Windows repair CD and it let me

> install

> a second instance of Windows on the same file system - I installed it to

> c:\windows2.

>

> All my files and programs are physically on the disk, but I can't run

> Office, for example, nor can I seem to access my old user profiles,

> settings,

> etc. I don't want to go through the hassle of reinstalling hundreds of

> programs, so...

>

> Is there a way to manually repair the first windows installation while

> booted into the second installation, or merge the programs and settings?

 

Sorry, the answer is "no" to both questions.

[Guest LoneTreeTechy]

Re: How to fix one of two installs c:\windows and c:\windows2 ?

 

 

 

"Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:

>

> "LoneTreeTechy" <LoneTreeTechy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> news:A4AEDEC0-925D-4901-A530-8DEF875F7494@microsoft.com...

> > My original Windows XP Home edition became corrupt ...

> > ... just used the included OEM Windows repair CD

> > ... All my files and programs are physically on the disk, but I can't run

> > Office, for example, ...

> > Is there a way to manually repair the first windows installation while

> > booted into the second installation, or merge the programs and settings?

>

> Sorry, the answer is "no" to both questions.

 

Well, then, how do I delete (as opposed to 'uninstall') the bad drivers? I

don't know where they are located or how they are initialized. I'm sure if I

did that, I could then successfully just boot into the original installation.

 

Thanks - for helping me on this - better than paying $59 for tech support to

tell me "No." ... lol ... ;-)

[Guest Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Re: How to fix one of two installs c:\windows and c:\windows2 ?

 

 

"LoneTreeTechy" <LoneTreeTechy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:EE06A6BC-22FD-4BE7-863B-9387E6256B8B@microsoft.com...

>

>

> "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:

>

>>

>> "LoneTreeTechy" <LoneTreeTechy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in

>> message

>> news:A4AEDEC0-925D-4901-A530-8DEF875F7494@microsoft.com...

>> > My original Windows XP Home edition became corrupt ...

>

>> > ... just used the included OEM Windows repair CD

>

>> > ... All my files and programs are physically on the disk, but I can't

>> > run

>> > Office, for example, ...

>

>> > Is there a way to manually repair the first windows installation while

>> > booted into the second installation, or merge the programs and

>> > settings?

>>

>> Sorry, the answer is "no" to both questions.

>

> Well, then, how do I delete (as opposed to 'uninstall') the bad drivers? I

> don't know where they are located or how they are initialized. I'm sure if

> I

> did that, I could then successfully just boot into the original

> installation.

>

> Thanks - for helping me on this - better than paying $59 for tech support

> to

> tell me "No." ... lol ... ;-)

 

- How long since this version became unuseable?

- Does it fix things to boot into Safe Mode of the

old version of Windows?

[Guest LoneTreeTechy]

Re: How to fix one of two installs c:\windows and c:\windows2 ?

 

 

 

"Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:

>

> "LoneTreeTechy" <LoneTreeTechy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> news:EE06A6BC-22FD-4BE7-863B-9387E6256B8B@microsoft.com...

> >

> >

> > "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:

> >

> >>

> >> "LoneTreeTechy" <LoneTreeTechy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in

> >> message

> >> news:A4AEDEC0-925D-4901-A530-8DEF875F7494@microsoft.com...

> >> > My original Windows XP Home edition became corrupt ...

> >

> >> > ... just used the included OEM Windows repair CD

> >

> >> > ... All my files and programs are physically on the disk, but I can't

> >> > run

> >> > Office, for example, ...

> >

> >> > Is there a way to manually repair the first windows installation while

> >> > booted into the second installation, or merge the programs and

> >> > settings?

> >>

> >> Sorry, the answer is "no" to both questions.

> >

> > Well, then, how do I delete (as opposed to 'uninstall') the bad drivers? I

> > don't know where they are located or how they are initialized. I'm sure if

> > I

> > did that, I could then successfully just boot into the original

> > installation.

> >

> > Thanks - for helping me on this - better than paying $59 for tech support

> > to

> > tell me "No." ... lol ... ;-)

>

> - How long since this version became unuseable?

> - Does it fix things to boot into Safe Mode of the

> old version of Windows?

>

 

The problems were on-and-off for a while a few months ago, but fairly

recently the cycle of endless reboots became unstoppable. I haven't done

anything since installing the new WINDOWS2. Safe mode doesn't help - the

video drivers (based on what I can gather) are crashing the system. I even

tried reverting to the OEM video card, but the ATI Rage drivers still

interfere. Plug-n-play doesn't seem to work in reverse.

 

If I knew how to remove all the drivers from the original configuration, I

could just boot-er-up and reinstall whatever was required from that point.

What do you think?