Guest Jim D Posted October 15, 2008 Posted October 15, 2008 Hi, can anyone help me with a backup problem. XP pro, portable hard drive, full backup, can I restore a program from a backup file. I don't have the original installation cd's for the programs any longer only a backup file. Thanks -- jim
Guest Mick Murphy Posted October 15, 2008 Posted October 15, 2008 RE: restoring programs from a xp backup Unless you want to reinstall the total image, no. The program files you see in the backup are only part of the installation of the Program. There are Registry Keys, etc, placed in various parts of the Operating System, upon each Programs install.. You require the installation Media. -- Mad Mike "Jim D" wrote: > Hi, can anyone help me with a backup problem. XP pro, portable hard drive, > full backup, can I restore a program from a backup file. I don't have the > original installation cd's for the programs any longer only a backup file. > Thanks > -- > jim
Guest ju.c Posted October 15, 2008 Posted October 15, 2008 Re: restoring programs from a xp backup Maybe. Can you extract individual files and folders, or is it just one big image file? If you can extract the program's files then the answer to your question may be yes. There are variables involved. Was the program a commercial purchase and registered? Is it a stand alone executable? What is the program's name? What kind of backup is it? ju.c "Jim D" <JimD@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:6E3FE0A8-3C03-46C4-8769-F39C21A01A41@microsoft.com... > Hi, can anyone help me with a backup problem. XP pro, portable hard drive, > full backup, can I restore a program from a backup file. I don't have the > original installation cd's for the programs any longer only a backup file. > Thanks > -- > jim
Guest Patrick Keenan Posted October 15, 2008 Posted October 15, 2008 Re: restoring programs from a xp backup "Jim D" <JimD@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:6E3FE0A8-3C03-46C4-8769-F39C21A01A41@microsoft.com... > Hi, can anyone help me with a backup problem. XP pro, portable hard drive, > full backup, can I restore a program from a backup file. I don't have the > original installation cd's for the programs any longer only a backup file. > Thanks > -- > jim What was the "full backup" made with? In many cases, the answer is no. You can try restoring the backed-up program folder to the Program Files tree or wherever, but chances are it won't run and will request a re-install. There are two reasons for this. First, you won't be restoring the (sometimes many and widely scattered) registry entries the application created during the install and requires. Second, many installs place files *outside* the Program Files folder, such as the Windows\System32 folder. You won't have restored those. This is why in many cases, "full backups" that aren't made with an imaging program, which can restore the entire system to a bootable state, are a waste of time and space. HTH -pk
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