XP Home OEM repair

Hi I have to repair my windows xp home hard drive because I installed a new mobo and gfx card.

I only have an XP pro cd so that didn't give me the option of repairing the partition obviously (only delete or install), but the xp home cd I have is OEM and I get the same options as the pro cd (only delete the partition or install)

Any ideas? Is a retail xp home cd going to make a difference (aka allow the repair option)?

 

Insert the Windows CD and restart the PC.
Choose the press enter to set up Windows XP now option.
Press F8 to skip through the EULA.
Now press R to begin a repair installation.
Your system will go through the entire XP install process, but will not attempt to replace any of your existing data. It will simply reinstall the system files and redetect all hardware.
Once the process has completed, your computer will reboot and you need to reactivate the OS copy with MS.

 

the option to press "R" isn't there.

 

OK, from the top with the XP Pro CD.

Set CD or DVD drive to 1st boot in bios menu.
A message to press any key to boot from CD will appear. Do so.
Set up will now inspect your computer hardware and configuration.
Setup now prepares your computer for install.
You will get a blue screen with Welcome to Setup at the top.
Press Enter (Not R) to begin repair install.
Read license agreement and press F8 to accept.
I asks to select OS to repair.
As there should just be one, just press r to continue.
Setup will now make some checks and prepare files that need to be copied.
System will now initialize your XP configuration.
It will now reboot, when it does do not push a button to boot from CD.
Just let it run and do it's thing and don't select boot from CD again.
It will eventually go through the standard install menu and you will need to follow instructions about reactivating your copy of XP.

 

That's what I mean, it shows the partition with the drive and how much free space there is but I can't press R, only Enter to Install and F3 to delete ...

Either way I'm going to go buy a new HDD and use the old one for storage, is that going to work? I'm going to buy a 400 gb SATA drive install xp pro on it (the old HDD is xp home and IDE does that matter?) will I be able to access the old drives files once I have reinstalled windows on the new SATA drive?

 

There is no repair option after the license agreement?
No repair option means that your settings and document folder will disappear if you continue.


If you go with the new drive make sure this one is disconnected while you install and set up the new one.
It will help to avoid problems.
Then get your stuff off this drive and format it for storage.

 

Might it not be that you are trying to repair an XP Home system with an XP Pro CD?
I don't believe that such a repair is possible

 

OK I got my other computer with XP pro working. Can I hook up the XP home hard drive as a slave and remove the drivers that are conflicting with my repair?

if not can I transfer files from it onto the xp pro computer and then just reformat?

I need to get the CD key off that hard drive before i reformat it tho

 

The final answer to this thread is:

If you are building a new system and have to many discrepancies with your old drivers and devices on your HDD you won't get an option to repair windows. I uninstalled all the drivers and devices from the HDD and it did not help. Ultimately, you must buy a new HDD and apply a fresh copy of windows to it then slave your old HDD to have access to your old files. Just make sure you use
www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/ to get your cd key off your old HDD for the re-install unless you plan on buying a whole new copy of windows.

Thanks to everyone who tried to help, very much appreciated.

 

I have an OEM that came with my PC and there is no repair option it is format and install only (thats OEMs)

i bought XP Pro and no longer have a problem.