Re: Last known good configuration

Egan wrote:
<snip>
> I broken up your instructions dialog above into A): , B): , C): and
> D): sections so that I can pinpoint the areas to ask you questions
> about.
>
> For the commands after B) and D) sections, do you just type one
> command at a time on one line and press Enter key?

That's exactly what the instructions say right before you divided it into
sections.
"Type the whole command in one line, and when you've finished typing that
command, hit the Enter key."

> For the instruction after C) section, does this take place after
> you boot into Windows after you execute the copy and delete
> commands after B): ?

As the part you put before the (it would be part of your section C actually)
C Section states..
"It will reboot - do NOT "Press Any Key to Boot to CD" - let it boot happily
into Windows XP."

Therefore - you have done everything in B and rebooted into Windows XP.

> Just before the beginning of C) section, if you cannot boot into
> Windows after you execute the commands after B) section, you said
> "copy what you can off ( or ghost it ) and either perform a clean
> install or get a new hard drive".

You ONLY do this if it will not boot into Windows so you can complete
Section C in your divisions. If it still will not boot into Windows and
allow you in to do section C - then you should look into other methods to
get your important data off the machine - as you would be better off getting
things copied now than trying more stuff and risking losing it.

> Where do you "copy what you can off" to the existing hard drive
> containing the corrupted Windows or to a new harddrive or to a
> CD rewritable drive?

Where ever you can. If you can make an Ultimate Boot CD and connect an
external hard drive or CD burner and burn the stuff to CD or write it to the
drive - do so. If you happen to have had a FAT32 formatted drive - a plain
Windows 98 Boot Diskette will allow you to see all of your files. If you
have access to another drive (physical drive) on the same system - copy it
there.. If you can copy over a network to another machine - copy it there.

> After you ghost it, what do you do with this information after you
> perform a clean install or get a new hard drive?

Ghosting is making an image of the hard drive or partition.. Ghost is a
term particular to "Norton/Symantec Ghost" - so IMAGE would actually be a
better term - as there are other products out there. Again - the imaging is
an alternative to copying all of the individual
files/folders/favorites/pictures/contacts/etc off manually someplace off the
defunct install.. It is a safety for you - so you do not lose anything you
care about off the drive. The only reason I would say that imaging is a
better alternative than just copying is that you are less likely to miss
something if you take an image of the whole drive/partition than if you
manually picked and chose what to copy.. You can do either copying or
imaging or both - whatever makes you most comfortable - and you only have to
do one of those *if* you cannot continue into Step C and only *if* you are
actually worried about losing stuff off your hard drive.

> When you say clean install, do you mean reformat the C drive
> and reinstall Windows XP Home Edition> operating system
> on the C drive?

Yes - a clean install is wiping everything off the hard drive and installing
everything anew - Windows XP, Office - all other programs and patches, etc.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html


.

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