I'm trying to "repair" a Windows machine, without actually wiping it clean.

It has totally up-to-date WinXP-Pro.sp3 on it, and it all boots up normally until the point where it tries to login the default user (not normally any "login" screen on this single-user home system).

At that point, it flickers rapidly between these three messages on the otherwise blank GUI:

Loading your personal settings
Saving your settings
Logging off

Over and over and over and over and over and over..
Even in a "safe mode" boot.

How can I break it loose from this mess?
Is there a "personal settings" object somewhere that I can delete ?

??

Okay, I found a ridiculously complex procedure for doing a manual System Restore.

But.. barf..

So I've booted from an Ubuntu LiveCD, mounted the NTFS partition R/w, and done what I think is the equivalent, but much simpler:

Code:

1. Backed-up files from /WINDOWS/system32/ to /old_config/

2. Did manual registry restore to the most recent restore point:

cd /System Volume Information/_restore{0F35CCEB-9975-48E3-8E59-CC599DCDBAC7}/RP102/snapshot
cp _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM /WINDOWS/system32/config/SAM
cp _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY  /WINDOWS/system32/config/SECURITY
cp _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE /WINDOWS/system32/config/software
cp _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM /WINDOWS/system32/config/system
cp _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT /WINDOWS/system32/config/default

Does that look about right?

Going to reboot and try it shortly here..

I had to fix a friend's machine before that had that exact same issue. It turned out to be because of BlazeFind.

See here:

http://www.winxptutor.com/wsaremove.htm
or
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/peboot.htm

Okay, did that. This time it flashed some useless blurs about a couple of "corrupted" files.

So I'm going to boot from WinXP Install media and see what the options there are. Maybe reinstall over top of existing, without reformatting?

-ml

Reinstalling without formatting has never worked for me from what I can remember. Though, I guess it's worth trying.

What are you trying to save from the existing install ? Maybe you could just plug the drive into a working computer and get what you need to save off it.

I have done a reinstall without a format but I have always got what I needed off the machine then done a wipe and reinstall. Stuff always gets messed up.

Mark, you can do a non-destructive re-install, but you have to use the same version of XP that was originally installed. OEM vs. Retail, and Home vs. Pro.

It's toast. Something in WinXP destroyed the filesystem completely after the registry "restore".

Time to re-install totally from scratch.
Starting with original WinXP, then applying SP1, SP2, and SP3.
Then all of the apps.. assuming we can find the registration info for them..

What a wretched way of life.
I am soooo glad I don't have to use any of this on a daily basis.

-ml

Mark,

The type of error you experienced (corrupt registry) and this last comment makes me think of a bad disk. Have you checked that? If not, I suggest you do so before going thorugh a full reinstall. Also, you just need SP3, as it includes all previous ones.

I've also seen viruses/malware that can cause this sort of behavior. The nuke should fix that.

There's still a good chance that a non-destructive re-install could work. Steps to do it here.

I believe, taym, that if you start with vanilla XP and upgrade through Windows Update, you end up installing all or at least a couple of the service packs and then a couple hundred security fixes. Bleh.

The partition doesn't exist now.. something wiped it good.
No viruses on that machine, either. Heh.. nothing on it now.


I'm not wealthy enough to pay additional money for unnecessary software. So it'll be from the SP0 original CD that came with the box many years ago, and then upgrading tediously through each service pack to the present.

Cheers

Shouldn't you just be able to download SP3 and it will include the fixes from 1 and 2 ?

Yep, SP3 includes all the earlier fixes.

I've seen this before, it's a virus that is not identified by AVG.

I spent a day hacking at it before I gave up and just nuked and repaved.

I'd definitely say it was a virus. I've run into the exact same issue twice before, a virus was the cause, and the only solution is to get the data off and nuke it.


I'm confused...you seem to be implying that you aren't wealthy enough for free service packs...


Is the original disc really devoid of service packs? Wouldn't that make the computer something like over eight years old? Is it really worth working on at this point?

I have a pre service pack 1 xp disk that I use. It's not the same computer as when I bought it though.

Last time I just let windows update do all the updates and it took days. It downloaded a bunch of updated then SP1 then SP2 then SP3 instead of just getting SP3.

You can download the service pack as a file and install it later. I keep a copy of sp3 so I don't have to download it thru winders update each time.

As others said, you don't have to, Mark. Install WinXP, whatever version you have.
Then either download SP3 "stand-alone" (aka for network installs or for redistribution), a sw package of few hundred megs, and install it (and possibly keep it somewhere for future use), or simply go through Microsoft Update website and follow instructions. SP1 and SP2 are not needed. They will let you chose if you wish to install SP3 or individual updares; chose the first option.
After applying SP3, go to microsoft updates to make sure you also install later hotfixes, and install alla critical ones.

The above is all free.

Also, I would say that registry corruption is caused by either virus or bad disk. In my personal experience, it is 99% bad disk. So I would still check it, if I were you, just to rule it out and avoid future issues.

If that is a daily occurrence, you are doing it wrong.

I knew some people out there were going through hard times, but unable to be wealthy enough to afford a network download? Ouch Mark... :-)

As others have said, just go right to SP3. Even better, slipstream SP3 into the install media at the cost of a little time and one CD-R. Also, make sure the pre SP3 box never touches the internet directly. Still a lot of nasty malware floating around pinging everyone capable of infecting a stock Windows XP machine in minutes.

*edit* For the really easy slipstream route, grab nLite.

I've had trouble with slipstreamed installs. I can't remember now what they were, but they were weird.

Well, I had assumed that machine you were having problems with wasn't the only Windows machine in existence. Should be able to follow the process in a Windows VM, or a friends system, or any other Windows machine.


Service pack slipstreams, or other hotfixes? If the slipstream creation processes is done right, the end result will be the same as a retail XP disk with SP3 integrated. I have seen issues as well trying to slipstream other pieces in, but never with the bare service packs.

Maybe other stuff was included, too. Or maybe it was using nLite (or some similar third party tool) to slipstream only a service pack instead of using the MS-provided tool.

Either way, I've gotten gun-shy.

Thanks for the tips, guys. I'll probably do the slipstream thing to build a modern XP install disc for next time, after I get things working again this time.

Cheers

Okay, this is hilarious.

My RTM copy of WinXP-Pro predates the motherboard it needs to be installed on. So it cannot see the (10) SATA interfaces.

Okay.. no probo.. driver disks.. on floppy. Tried those, still fails.

Next, use a SATA-disk-to-IDE-cable dongle and plug it into the mobo IDE port -- the install disk should be able to use that, since it boots and runs the CD from that same port.

Nope.

Next ? maybe I'll reassemble an ancient mobo and do the install there, and then just move the drive to the new one afterward.

Good fun with old stuff.

Thus far, no time wasted.. since I'm baby-sitting a horrible SLES11 system (slow as all get out) that I'm testing driver stuff on.

Cheers

What error message do you get? How did you provide the drivers? Did you follow the procedure at install, when it tells you to press a specific key to install drivers? That's a simple feature which "just works" on all sorts of different workstations and servers. Admittedly, I never had to deal with Home Premium in my life, but I doubt it can be different from any other Windows XP / Server flavor...

Odd. That should work. I guess you can't "slipstream" SP3 into the install media as you need a working Windows install for that...


Windows isn't Linux unfortunately and it will be deeply unhappy with you if you do this even before all the online activation crap.

It actully really depends on how different the two machines are from the hardware perspective, but can be done. Still, probably quicker to look for updated/good drivers, as I am really surprised the ones Mark has are not working. That's such a basic procedure that I doubt the problem can be anywhere else but in the drivers.

I've swapped motherboards before with the same brand, model and settings and Windows decided to redetect all of the motherboard devices and then complain that the activation was no longer valid. This was back with XP.

Oh, yes.
Sorry, I was thinking merely of the drivers/install point of view.
I personally never dealt with XP activation much as I've been using the corporate version of it most times. However, those times when I was asked to reactivate at home due to significant hardware upgrades, it took me just a phone call to MS toll free nr.
Of course, I'd been happier not to do that, but it was not a big problem.

I have used the same install key on totally different computers and not had any problems with activation. I had it installed on my SB51G then replaced that with a ST20G5 and used the same key.

Thus far, all attempts still end with either a BSOD, or a "Setup cannot access this disk" complaint.

The destination mobo's manual suggests WinXP-SP2 as a minimum for installation. So.. the question:

If I go to the expense (time) and effort of slipstreaming SP3 onto my RTM installer, will that include modern (circa 2005) device drivers as well? Or do I still need to find a way to get those in place?

Thanks

I usually get installation CDs from Microsoft via my Technet account, and Windows XP SP3 does include updated drivers.
I see that Windows XP Home SP3 ISO is dated 2009.

I would assume that a SP3-slipstreamed install CD will have updated drivers as well, but I can't guarantee.

BSOD is an indicator or "wrong" drivers, be it not for xp, not for your hardware, damaged, or whatever. Have you tried to download latest drivers from the MB producer?

Also, you've got mail.

No problems in that it didn't need you to call or no problems that they allowed you to reactivate? You have to really go crazy with reactivations for Microsoft to not allow it. If its a short period of time between activations then you'll need to call the telephone number but if its a long period then it should let you activate over the internet.

No. But the drivers are good (they've been used before), just too complex for pre-SP2, I suspect.

I'm now trying the SATA-to-ancient-IDE adapter gizmos on old mobos, but no joy so far there either.

I think this may come down to "install on a really ancient IDE hard drive", then bit-copy to a modern SATA drive (after updating drivers etc..).

Ugly, but it will work.

I didn't have to call. I just remember hearing when XP came out that they would not let you activate it on a different machine but I have not ever had to call them.

If I have a legit XP license, it's one of the few times I have no moral issues with downloading WinXP SP3 via bitorrent. As far as I'm concerned it's the same thing as getting a replacement installation media, which Microsoft themselves will supply.

But that's just me. Seems easier than all this craziness.

It is legitimate, as far as I know MS license agreement. As long as you have a legitimate licese and SN - which I understand Mark has -, then you can get the media wherever you want, including downloading from wherever. Of course, it is in your own interest to get it from some safe source to be sure it has not been tampered with. So, I think you're right in not having any moral issue there.

Okay, I just discovered that.. at some point during the various configurations attempted.. the hard drive effectively "died". Which means I'm now repeating some of the attempts with a different, good, hard drive..

Joy.

Okay, trying this now on a different system.

It keeps giving file-copy errors of various kinds when performing the first step pre-nLite: copy everything from the original install disc to a directory. I suppose I can probably get around that by using Linux to do the copy..

EDIT: Yup, that worked (using Linux to do the copy).

Mmm.. nLite thinks my WinXP-Pro disc is XP-Home-sp2.
This doesn't look like any good will come of it.

Heh.. got the CDs mixed up. Recopying now.

Unless nLite is buggy, it shouldn't do that. The XP install disc isn't special and it doesn't have any braindead copy "protection" mechanisms. I've dragged and dropped the contents of an XP CD many times.

If you're transferring from a PATA to SATA drive then be aware that some SATA controller drivers will appear as a SCSI controller instead of a regular ATA controller. This will cause any existing activation to fail and require reactivation so remember to do all of the driver updates first.

If you try to activate again soon after a previous activation then it will make you call their activation call center otherwise it will just do it over the internet. For legitimate users then at most you just say you're reinstalling your PC and they'll give you the activation code. They do allow you to do multiple activations though. Not sure where you heard that they didn't.

If you're calling up every day then they're going to ask what you're doing and refuse to give you the activation code. It just weeds out the really blatant violations like somebody using a single key for an entire office or somebody posting the key online somewhere.

It thinks it is now installing, to the SATA disk, on the modern hardware, from the slipstreamed SP3 CD I just made.

I wonder if this is actually going to work? Should know soon-ish.. unless XP is one of the reboot-hell versions (I don't think so, but my memory isn't reliable on such things).

EDIT: One reboot so far, from the initial installer to the main installer. I've only had to hit the enter key once, to select the installation target drive, at the beginning.

Say.. I should have stuck in my Z-Drive (multi-100's of GB of SSD goodness) as the install target, just for fun.. oh well.

Cheers

It finished installing, and gave a functional desktop at the end. With no network card (despite the installer using it earlier..).

So now I'm installing the mobo drivers.

EDIT: that worked, seems to have gotten the machine online. Now Windows Update beckons, with hundreds of patches since 2008.

But first, I'm going to redo the base install on the real (new) target drive: a "WD Black 1TB", in place of the scrap drive I used for testing the install.

Later.. much.

Thanks again, guys!

Ok. As expected. That explains the registry corruption issue, to begin with.

Yup. That was drive number two, of a set of four Hitachi drives I got for testing / implementing certain features with.

One of the 750GB units died a couple of years ago, and this 500GB unit, with only 32 hours uptime, died just these past few days.

So, despite new owners, the DeathStar lives on!

FWIW, other than creating a boot CD, the SP3 executable provides slipstream support itself.

Just copy the original CD to a hard drive, then run "SP3.EXE /integrate:C:\path_to_cd_copy"

I kinda distrust nLite after that weird slipstream experience I had.

At one point there used to be an issue if you used Vista to slipstream an XP CD because the installer would pick up something from Vista instead of the XP media. nLite and the others worked around it or you could try getting the SP3 executable to run in XP compatibility mode.

So.. now that I have a shiny old fresh install of WinXP + SP3 + 96 updates + drivers.. is there an easy way to use that system to create a new install_cd with all of the updates and drivers on it?

Thanks

Mmm.. rebooting now after Windows Update:

ie4uinit.exe - Entry Point Not Found
The procedure entry point RunSetupCommandW could not be located in the dynamic link library ADVPACK.dll.

(twice)

???

Clicked on Windows Update again, and it popped up this:

The requested lookup key was not found in any active activation context.

Useful, that. ???
Just as useful as this one:

This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator.

Nuke and repave (again) time..

Or maybe not? I removed IE8 and rebooted the machine.
It's functional again, but with IE6.

Windows Update is now installing the next batch of 49 updates. Hopefully IE7 is in there somewhere.

Yup. Third time around the update treadmill, and it offered IE7 after I declined IE8. Two more rounds after that, and the system is up-to-date.

Now installing Firefox, so I can securely hunt for the rest of the apps.

Never a dull moment!

In theory, nLite can do this, or you can walk through manually downloading and integrating every hotfix via slipstreaming. In practice though, not every hotfix is properly set up to slipstream, and odds are it will be more effort then it's worth.

The alternative is to use sysprep (MS link, and another tutorial) to prepare the install to be cloned. Once done, you should just be able to use your favorite linux tool of choice to dump the hard drive to an image file for later restore.

I personally wish Microsoft would move to a much more rapid pace of service pack releases, since they do present a solid point in time where a machine can be patched to near modern levels. Every 12 months would be the maximum time I'd want to see between service packs, which would put XP at least at SP9 level today.

I realised last night that, in different tabs in the same browser, I was on the one hand spawn-camping ftp.gnome.org waiting for Gnome 2.32 to come out, and on the other hand scouring the internet for a laptop that still comes with Windows XP (to be used with its Windows 2000 theme). I suppose the difference between those two rather distinct attitudes to software novelty is about whom I expect to make things better in each release, and whom I expect to make things worse in each release.

Peter

Sounds like cat to me, right?
But it also sounds like the hard drives have to match in size, and the image file is probably the entire (1TB here) drive?

Not necessarily. We use Ghost to clone system partitions with proper opions set. The image will be usable in hdd of different sizes. So, that really depends on what cloning tool you use, and how you tell it to clone what. I am sure there's something in Linux that can do exactly the same.

I was informed by Dell recently that Microsoft has stopped shipping Windows XP. I assume that this is across the board and not just to Dell. However, some licenses of Windows 7 allow downgrades to Windows XP. (Why that information had to be inside a Word doc, I don't know.)