XP PRO Setup - Will not allow a "Repair Installation"

Due to some problem I run chkdsk on my Windows Xp computer that deleted or corrupted few system files due to which my windows topped working. So I thought to repair windows for fixing those corrupted or deleted files. Hence I borrowed an installation disk from my friend which is a slipstreamed xp sp3 CD. Followed a installation repair guide by Doug Knox on Microsoft site.

Now the problem is here. There was a step in the guide where I need to press F8 to accept user agreement. Well, I did that but after this I was not able to press R that repairs the installation. After few minutes it directly jumped to setup window where we need to create or format partition for new installation.

Well, I don’t want to do a fresh installation as there are enough data stored on my C drive. Do you guys have any idea why am not able to repair my system ?

Why dont you try from normal installation CD instead of any slipstreamed. Also it will better if you try re-installing the same from your own CD and make sure it dont have scratches (that could also be the reason why its jumping to new installation.) you should also ensure to configure your BIOS to boot off the CD-ROM drive. You can do this by going to BIOS or by hitting F12 key on boot up. Try these out and if you get any problem again, reply here with exact issue.

Yeah, that’s correct. Even I would like to say that the most probable reason could be the OEM-branded installation CD that is not allowing you to repair or repair command is missing. There are few OEM who provides the recovery or repair options for XP with their Disk but not everyone. So you might want to check with the OEM assuming your machine is of that type. I don’t think there is any problem with the guide you followed.

If you know Kelly, it is a frequent contributor to these newsgroups has also posted a fix for the problem you facing and that you need to go to Recovery console and type the following codes:

Quote:

---

cd system32\config
ren system system.old
ren system.alt systemalt.old
copy c:\windows\repair\system
copy c:\windows\repair\regback\system
exit

---

Try out these and see if it works. I haven’t tried it personally because am not yet in the situation you mentioned but it had helped man users.

I've been Googling for a while and not found an accurate applicable answer.
I've got an XP Pro CD w/SP2. I boot to the CD and am offered the option to do a Repair.

However, after using nLite (latest version at time of this writing) to make no other change except to slipstream SP3, I no longer have the option to do a repair. I can boot to the CD and install XP, but no repair option since slipstreaming SP3.

Any clues on how to make this XP CD a SP3 version and be able to boot from it to do repairs?

Thanks in advance,
Rob

I too had the same problem. After much testing and some thorough web searches I found a reference to the Unattended Mode under the General tab in the nLite Unattended install section. For Unattended Mode you must change the setting to "Prompt repair" or you won't have access to the repair console or the In Place repair/Install options.

Good Luck

As my username suggests, I ain't no "tech" tech, however, I oblige friends by making them customized PCs to be free of the bloatware of brand computers. I had the same problem as this thread states. The PSU had given up on an XP computer of mine, and in dying it had wrenched several hardware functions and screwed some windows files. I replaced the PSU, and did a chkdsk /f, and it gave me a clean bill, however, to be on the safe side, I went in for a repair installation. It repaired perfectly, gave me all the 120 updates from Microsoft site, and I thought I had done a good job. The speed of the boot up convinced me it was a good system again.

Not so fast, says Microsoft. I had to activate the new "changes". A PSU is a change? I plugged in the fields whatever was needed, but it would not accept the activation. I finally called and spoke to their robot, who gave me a new activation number. Once again, I thought I was done.

Not so fast, says Microsoft. This time around, it would not allow me to open any browser. Said it could not connect to the server. When I rebooted, it would not get into windows. After 10 tries, I decided to do another chkdsk. This time it had a hundred corrupt files and got stuck on one of them (making minor correction in file 1204), and stayed there for 30 minutes.

So, I decided to do a new chkdsk. This time, I could not get into windows logo as a "system 32 file was missing". I decided to do another repair. This time, like the thread here, it would not allow the repair, saying it could not see a previous windows installation, and it would not allow an installation as it needed a previous windows cd to allow the upgrade xp to be installed.

Fortunately for me, I have every cd of windows that I have ever bought, and so I inserted a win 98, and reformatted. I did not do a quick format, but the full one, because I did not want Big Brother's files lurking somewhere on my HDD.

Moral of the story is that when you are repairing with an xp upgrade cd, Microsoft will scuttle the Windows to force you to reinstall. It hopes you are not daft enough (like me) to still be hanging on to your win 98 cd, and will have to buy a new OS. I am not an iconoclast, but I call a spade a spade when I see one.

There is nothing wrong with your repair CD. It is Microsoft doing what it does best. Make the consumer squirm. This is the same company that gave duplicatable operating systems to install on multicomputers and Word fonts for free when Wordperfect was charging two dollars a font, and Lotus would not allow a second installation. After it took the market away from Lotus and Wordperfect, it grew...and grew...and now it is a different Microsoft.

Case closed. Thank you for your time.