What does reinstall Windows really mean? What about reformat computer? Some people also say fresh or clean Windows installation. To me, I think that reinstall Windows means reinstall Windows over the existing Windows without formatting the hard drive. As for reformat computer, it means wipe off everything on the partition or hard drive and install a fresh Windows. As for fresh or clean Windows installation, it might mean installing Windows on ANOTHER partition without affecting the current installed Windows.
I seldom use the term “reinstall windows” because some people might think that they have to reformat their hard drive and reinstall Windows. The better term that I always use is “Repair Windows“. Windows XP repair feature won’t delete your data, installed programs, personal information or settings. It just repairs the operating system.
Windows XP repair feature is a great feature but I ONLY use it when the operating system files are way too corrupted to fix. In another words, this is my last resort before reformatting the hard drive and doing a fresh windows installation. Here is how to reinstall or repair Windows XP.
Before you start repairing your Windows XP, please be informed that it will remove any updates you have previously installed and drivers will be reverted back to the original XP versions. Some Windows XP settings might be also be reset to their defaults. So make sure you have your drivers ready and also run Windows Update once it has completed repairing Windows XP. Oh and remember to backup your important files because you might never know what will go wrong during the process.
1. First step is to boot up the computer with the Windows XP CD. You can configure that in BIOS.
2. You will get a message “Press any key to boot from CD” on your screen. Simply hit any key on your keyboard to boot from Windows XP CD.
3. A blue screen will appear and begin loading Windows XP Setup from the CD.
4. When completed loading files, you will be presented with the following “Windows Setup” screen. You will want to select “To set up Windows XP now, press Enter.” option. Just press the ENTER key to continue. Remember, do NOT press the “R” key because that option will bring you to recovery console.
5. Next screen is to agree with Windows XP licensing agreement. Press F8 key to agree and continue.
6. Windows setup will now look for existing Windows XP installations. If it finds any, you will be asked to repair an existing XP installation, or install a fresh copy of Windows XP. Press the “R” key to start repairing Windows XP.
Now you just have to wait for it to reinstall Windows XP over the existing Windows XP. Get your Windows XP product key ready because you will need key it in again. Remember to run Windows Update once the repair has completed!
For branded computers such as HP, there are 2 CDs. One is the Recovery CD and the other is the Operating System CD. To repair Windows, you need to boot up the Operating System CD first, then it will ask you to put in the Recovery CD for verification. Once you’ve loaded the Recovery CD and verified, you will need to put back the Operating System CD. Now it will start the Windows XP repair process…
There are people that encountered problems in using Automatic Updates after repairing Windows. To solve this problem, you need to manually visit Windows Update or Microsoft Update site, download and install at least one security update or Service Pack, and it will solve the problem. If you don’t want to waste anymore time in downloading and installing hundreds of megabytes of windows updates, you can use Offline Windows Update.
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hmm… how bout i we don’t have the windows xp cd anymore?
you can use winsysclean to repair windows xp registry, it did a good job with my PC
O meu PC após ligar, inicializa-se, depois passa a BIOS e depois volta a reinicialar, e anda sempre assim á volta. Como solicionar?
Os meus agredecimentos
So far so good, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO POST THIS ARTICLE!!!!!!!! GOD BLESS YOU! :-)
Brenda
Could not get the repair utility to work despite knowing password and remembering that it assumes a US keyboard, so special characters are elsewhere. Went to installation and R in the second rount and the CD goes through to “preparing installation” but gets hung on installing windows (approx 39 minutes dots moving at the bottom of screen but nothing happens any more. F1 gives a brief flicker of disk action but then quiet again. However, do get the blurp how good XP is.
After proving everything you told, the last and usefull thing was to repair XP with the disc.
Bad luck, maybe next time…
By the way, excellent article!
HI RAYMOND,
as i start my conputer, log on to windows appear, I haven;t set any log on username and password for it was my personal computer. please help me to fix this problem. Thanks!
Thank you for the screenshots during a Windows XP repair.
I am helping someone with a repair over the phone and I needed to see what he was seeing.
A custom logon screen program failed to launch upon restart of computer. I used the windows xp profession cd to repair. During repair process computer is asking me for drivers in another window. I cannot respond or continue with repair because wireless mouse and keyboard all of a sudden don’t work. My guess is a wired mouse might work but do not have one handy. Is there a way around this or a way to get out of the repair?
hi i have big problem with my acer 4520 laptop. i was using windows 7 on it when dvd driver stoped working. so i ordered new driver after installing new driver i found that this new driver is also not working good so i planned to make dual boot with xp. i started installing xp and after installation windows started failing to start now i tried to reinstall xp but my dvd driver is not working.what options i have?
when you repair the operating system, it’s not only the drivers for your hardware you need to reinstall but also the programs you previously installed. is there a better way to fixed the OS without affecting the programs installed? yes, your files won’t be affected but makes sure you’d already made a backup of your files from the my documents to your local disk
what cd i will put the is it the motherboard cd?? or the license cd??
I have problem.when I start my computer icons are not displayed on desktop.few items in the quick launch are displayed on taskbar and few items in tray but my mouse and keyboard will not work.desktop will be inactive pl advise how to correct this.
thanks.
I have problem when I start my computer no icons are shown on the desktop.only quick launch items and few tray items are shown in taskbar but mouse and keyboard will not work.pl advise me how this problem could be solved.
thanks
can any one have directly installation cd without doing these activity means read instruction and doing fresh setup
yay ty ty ty you helped saved my computers life i thought i needed to format it
I need to do a repair on my windows xp professional yet I have a pre installed version on my ibm laptop. Is there a way that I can do a repair without the CD (as I have never had one) I remember on old versions of windows you could do this throught the options/cabs folders in windows but I cannot find a way to do this on xp pro. Please help me, I’m dreading having to reformat my hard drive, as I don’t have a windows partition and this has lots of work info on it.
instead of step 6 i get a screen that shows partitions. when i pick one it says that it will delete all info (desktop settings, my documents, etc.) how do just repair without deleteing everything
when i start the computer the first screen is showing and then its going restart. when i want to epair its but its not showing partition what is the solution.
What if eindows asks a password that I had never set on the machine
When I login to windows XP, I get blue screen and it says problem caused by following file lrito7aa7-721.sys
stop code 0X000000CE
Would you be able to help me with fixing this problem on my windows XP.
I have already removed the wireless driver and my provider sotware but still I get that error msg.
Thanks
Armineh
autopatcher is now dead dear raymond
i have one prob here.when i started the window and the all the startup come up,my pc is restart and it circle the process in a few time.so, what should i do, reformat or repair it that be my hardware broken?
[...] c) If all doesn’t work, your final choice is to reinstall or repair Windows. You can refer to this article on how to repair Windows. [...]
hi raymond, just wanted to remind you that when one chooses the repair console in XP, it asks for the admin password, which one never knows, cos its not the main password that we choose, and i have never had success with this so have always been forced to use reinstall. what do they mean by this password and where does one find it? i am a member and have been receiving your bloggs so i am on your list. also if u can offer some help with getting Vista to show the contacts in the old Outlook Express program (on the left) which is now called windows mail, that would be appreciated. kind regards….glennie, perth, western australia
I perfer to use the term “repair install windows” when I work with computers.
Dear Raymond,
I have a dualboot installed with first XP Pro and second Vista so I can choose or XP or Vista. I have for the moment some problems in Vista.
Can I repair my Vista in the same way explained as above without loosing all my programs installed in Vista ?
Thanks in advance.
Greetings
Kilu
Dear Raymond,
Yes i read that, but i assumed pressing on R in the second repair menu will also yield the same results. My mistake :(
Many thanks for the prompt reply Raymond.
Regards, BGM.
Raymond, great advise as always.
Just wanted to ask if you know how to fix a problem that i’m having these days.
The drives in my computer don’t show up at all (dvd drives in my case, unlike at some cousin of mine where only “a” and “c” drive appear). With a 3rd party utility, i can see the non-showing drives marked with a question mark infront of it, which i cannot access.
Even if i put a cd or dvd in the drive nothing pops up in the screen.
So, if you have any idea of what the problem might be and how to fix t i’d apperciate it very much. Or i can just try “repairing” or “reformatting”.
Thanks and keep up the great work
Erdi
BGM, pressing R brings you to the recovery console. That is not where you want to go when you want to repair Windows. Read the steps carefully above as I’ve explained it pretty clear about NOT to go recovery console.
I prefere to installa fresh wpndows
becaure it takes the same time
Hi Raymond,
If possible, please elaborate on the steps involved in Repairing a Windows XP installation.
In the past when i tried to repair my corrupted XP, after i pressed “R”, it went to the DOS mode and asked me the installation which i needed to logon to. As i have installed XP in my D drive, i pressed D and pressed Enter. Then it asked for the password, as i havent setup any passwords in my PC i was confused. so i just exited.
Please tell me where did i went wrong.
Thanks a lot.
Regards, Dr Binoj Mathew.
[...] Eyes East: A blog about Dalian and Northeast China » Home wrote an interesting post today!.Here’s a quick excerpt What does reinstall Windows really mean? What about reformat computer? Some people also say fresh or clean Windows installation. To me, I think that reinstall Windows means reinstall Windows over the existing Windows without formatting the hard drive. As for reformat computer, it means wipe off everything on the partition or hard drive and install a fresh Windows. As for fresh or clean Windows installation, it might mean installing Windows on ANOTHER partition without affecting the curre [...]