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re: Repair Xp Monday, March 23, 2009 at 7:42 am Posted by Dan Sarandrea, MCSE (7132 messages posted) A: Maybe If you want a better answer, provide more info! [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Repair Xp Monday, March 23, 2009 at 7:48 am Posted by John (2 messages posted) There is no Xp CD with this PC. I recall there was a repair option using my 2000 CD for windows2000. If this option exists and having no CD for XP can any Xp CD be used, if I can borrow one? [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Repair Xp Monday, March 23, 2009 at 9:05 am Posted by C K (6910 messages posted) No, just any CD can not be used. If it is a big manufacturer PC with a preinstalled system, chances are highly likely that you have to use the options/recovery media that they would have provided, otherwise you can have issues and also issues with activation, which shouldn't/wouldn't be needed with a big OEM machine. If a geniune MS CD was used (retail, OEM, HOME and PRO, full install, upgrade etc), then you need the same flavor that is installed on the machine, plus the key that was used. There are keyfinders on the net, and you will need to get the key before you start a repair, if there isn't a COA isn't mounted on the case anywhere with the key number. You also need to have the same SP on the disk, otherwise, sometimes the repair can fail, or at the very least, you will be repairing back to whatever the disc is that you are using. (which can cause some issues in my experience, ie with some installed software that may require a different SP). The keys are not interchangable between flavors of XP. W2K didn't have the HOME/PRO flavor, but did have the retail, OEM, full install, upgrade flavors, and you did have to use the same disc as the install, with perferably the same SP (service pack) especially where you had installed a large HDD and had enabled 48 bit LBA with an SP that supported large disks. The key is also different for each version. If you went backward in the SP version, then you could corrupt a large HDD (greater than 137 MB). [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Repair Xp Monday, March 23, 2009 at 9:13 am Posted by Dan Sarandrea, MCSE (7132 messages posted) Major manufacturer PCs that did not come with recovery or reinstallation CDs usually have a recovery partition on the hard disk drive. Most of the time but not always, the recovery will erase the user portion of the hard disk and reimage it back to factory fresh, destroying all your files in the process. Some of the time, though, the recovery program will offer you a way to save your files. If you have no CD available, then hope that the computer has the latter recovery option. You can use a genuine Microsoft hologrammed CD to do a repair reinstallation provided: 1. The CD matches the installed XP (Home has to be repaired with Home, Pro with Pro, etc) 2. The CD is of the same distribution channel (if the exsiting installation is an OEM installation then the CD has to be an OEM CD, if the existing installation is a full retail then the CD has to be full retail) 3. The CD is the same or higher Service Pack level that the installation 4. When using a systembuilder/OEM CD to repair a major manufacturer OEM installation, you use the Product Key on the repaired computer's Certificate of Authenticity (CoA) and DO NOT use the Product Key that came with the CD 5. When using a systembuilder/OEM CD to repair a major manufacturer OEM installation, you DO NOT attempt to activate automatically online; instead choose the Telephonic Activation option in the Activation Wizard. If the challenge and response activation is denied, choose the option to speak with a live activation representative. Explain you are repairing a computer that did not come with a CD so you are using a systembuilder?OEM CD plus the PK on the repaired computer's CoA. Whatever you do, DON'T use a downloaded ISO of a Microsoft installation CD. These are chock full of rootkits, spyware, keyloggers and crap they don't even have a name for yet. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Repair Xp Monday, March 23, 2009 at 6:15 pm Posted by triplate (20834 messages posted) Yes..you can..you have a 50/50 chance of success. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Repair Xp Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 5:39 pm Posted by Jacob6601 (2174 messages posted) You may want to spend ten minutes telling us what, exactly, the problem is. A repair install is the last option. [Reply or follow-up to this message] Tip: Use one of the [Reply or follow-up to this message] links above to add a message to this thread Search this forum Start a new thread on a different subject Report abuse of the forum Return to the Windows XP Discussion Forum