How to repair/reinstall windows XP without losing any software or settings
Start your PC with the setup CD in a drive, and hit a key when you see the following screen:
Screen One
Boot from your XP setup CD to gain access to the no-reformat reinstall option.
Screen Two
Let the CD boot proceed normally and automatically through
“Setup is inspecting your computer’s hardware…”
to the “Windows Setup” screen.
Screen Three
The “Starting Windows” screen is a bit of an overstatement; it’s just the setup process getting going.
Windows, as we normally think of it, isn’t running yet, and no changes have been made to your PC.
Screen Four
The “Welcome to Setup” screen is poorly worded; the “Repair” option we want
isn’t the one explicitly offered here. In fact, the repair option we want isn’t shown at all. So press Enter here.
Screen Five
The licensing screen gives no indication that this is a Repair
and not a brand-new, from-scratch installation. But don’t be alarmed.
You’re on the right track.
Screen Six
Our intent is to repair the same version of Windows as is on the setup CD,
but another poorly worded screen makes it seem like you’re upgrading a previous version
of Windows or installing one a new. But don’t let the bad wording alarm you;
we’re still on track for a nondestructive reinstall.
Screen Seven
At long last, Setup begins to refer to a Repair option. Here, Setup should have found
your damaged XP setup, which you can select and then press R to start
the nondestructive repair.
Screen Eight
The Repair operation replaces all potentially damaged system files
with fresh copies from the CD.
Screen Nine
There’s no fanfare, but this is one of the nicer parts of the Repair process:
Setup retains what it can in the current Registry so that already-installed hardware
and software will remain installed.
Screen Ten
With the system files freshly copied and the Registry ready for rebuilding,
the system needs to reboot. Remove the CD from the drive so that the PC will boot
to the hard drive instead of to the CD.
Screen Eleven
When Setup resumes, it will appear that you’re performing a full, from-scratch setup.
But don’t worry–you’re still indeed repairing your existing version of XP.
Screen Twelve
When Setup resumes, it will appear that you’re performing a full, from-scratch setup.
But don’t worry–you’re still indeed repairing your existing version of XP.
Screen Thirteen
The Repair version of the setup process skips or shortens many steps because it already
has the information it needs from the existing setup. For example, Repair’s “installing devices”
and the network setup steps are both much faster and require less user input
than a new setup does.
Screen Fourteen
Just as with “installing devices,” the network setup proceeds rapidly because Setup
can reuse many of the configuration details from the current installation.
In fact, a Repair setup takes far less time than the installation progress bar indicates.
Screen Fifteen
The “completing installation” screen means most of the heavy lifting is done,
and you’re just minutes away from finishing the repair operation.
Screen Sixteen
With the bulk of the repair work done, your PC needs to reboot once more
and will do so automatically. The reboot will take a bit longer than a standard boot,
but this is normal.
Screen Seventeen
The Repair process ends with still more screens borrowed from the full setup.
Screen Eighteen
The final steps in the Repair process pass very quickly, and you’ll soon reach
the last screen in the Repair operation, a “thank you.”
Screen Nineteen
With a final, fully normal reboot, you’re done. Your copy of XP should be as good as new,
but with all your previously installed hardware, software, and user configuration data undamaged!
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