Repair a Windows XP installation

If I choose the "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R" option with my Windows re-installation CD, will that wipe out ALL of the data on my hard drive?

What exactly does this option do?

Thanks

 

No it wont wipe out your data such as files or folders, pictures, music and whatever else you have built up but it will wipe out any changes you have made to your OS. You will forfeit all MS Updates.

It basicly restores your Windows install to the original state.

When you see the following message displayed on the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER: To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

At this point an option to press R to enter the Recovery Console is displayed.
Do not select this option.

On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8 to agree to the license agreement. Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected in the box, and then press the R key to repair Windows XP. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Setup.

 

Pressing 'R' for the Recovery Console will drop you into a DOS-like environment with a C:> prompt and allows you to copy files from the XP CD or a floppy to the C: drive. To really repair Windows, press Enter (or Esc, I can't remember, but DON'T press R) and then at the next screen where R is again an option, press it then... this will remove and replace your system files but not any documents, programs, shortcuts, etc... any Microsoft/Windows updates WILL be removed and will have to be re-installed....

hopperdave2000

 

Dave is correct for a repair install see

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=116231

The repair console you ask about is not capable of changing you data as you are restricted to accessing the system and a few other files, you can't access the entire disk this way, which is a real nuisance as you can't therefore use it to copy your data to a safe place before reinstallation.:banghead Microsoft!

Please tell us what you want to do or are you just eenquiring from interest?

Studio T

 

Dave is correct for a repair install see

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=116231

The repair console you ask about is not capable of changing you data as you are restricted to accessing the system and a few other files, you can't access the entire disk this way, which is a real nuisance as you can't therefore use it to copy your data to a safe place before reinstallation.:banghead Microsoft!

Please tell us what you want to do or are you just eenquiring from interest?

Studio T

Sorry folks, how did this happen -- Computers who'd have em?

 

The repair is merely an upgrade process from outside of WIndows, which can be handy, in the event that you cannot boot.

What a repair does speicifically:

It takes the current registry, no matter how damaged, and replaces the registry hive backups on the machine with the updated version. It removes all Windows updates and program updates provided for Windows and replaces them with default versions. The Sytem Volume Information folder is stripped of all system restore points. All drivers for all hardware are replaced with the default, original driver. This can also mean that no driver will be installed, if there wasnt one present on first install of XP. No personal files are harmed, however if a repair errors out, there is always risk for data loss.