Need help with XP reinstall

I ran a registry cleaner a few months ago that created more problems that it solved. Lost sound and DVD drive and had lots of warnings about missing .dll and .exe files. This weekend I reinstalled XP. I created a new Windows folder called Windows2. Now I have two Windows folders. My question is; how do I get all my old data into the new Windows install? All the old user folders (documents, desktop, etc) are still there. Can I just drag all my old desktop stuff to the new desktop? I tried to reinstall some software but it says that it already exists. Also, can I boot from either Windows folder? Thanks for your help!

Bob

 

Welcome to MGs

I am not an expert on this and no doubt better qualified than me will give you advice but what i did when i reinstalled i used Acronis to save all my programs to an external drive and after the re-format i again used it to reinstall everything.

ps after you save everything be sure to load Acronis to a separate folder s that you can reinstall it first to use it for the backup.

 

Generally speaking, you can do a repair install of Windows and it will keep all your personal files and settings as they were. In your case however, you said you created a new Windows folder called Windows2, and that may be why your desktop is different and why none of your software is working correctly. I've done many, many Windows repair installs, and 98% of them have gone very smoothly and when finished, all the software and shortcuts and documents are all there and working, and this is by just reloading Windows "over the top" of itself and replacing just the critical system files and folders. By renaming the old Windows (or the new Windows) to Windows2, you essentially created a new install so none of your file associations and shortcuts are going to work. You can try to drag and drop (or copy-n-paste) a few files/folders/shortcuts just to see if it'll work, but (I hate to say it) it probably won't Just be patient, and hang around for a bit and I'm sure someone else will come along with some more encouraging information. I could be wrong; I'm basing my 'diagnosis' on several years of experience, but I'm by no means an 'expert'....

Oh, Welcome to Major Geeks! :major