XP SP3 Restore Windows.0

Pulled out an HP DC7700 I had in the basement where it probably froze over the winter, and it wouldn't boot. I went into my boot rescue disk and ran a chkdsk /f /x which found some problems and repaired them. Still the PC wouldn't boot, so I decided to run the repair option from the installation disk. The disk I have had no option to repair, so I went ahead and installed XP SP3 over the top using the non-destructive installation. That installed XP SP3 and placed the old installation in a folder called Windows.0 (I think that's it). I am running chkdsk /r on the drive right now to see if I can get chkdsk to mark the bad clusters and then I hope to use the Windows.0 folder (contents) to make the drive once again bootable.

Is anyone familiar with this situation. How do I get from the Windows "old" folder to a bootable drive using the contents of the folder?

Thanks for any help. Even if the drive won't boot, I think I might be able to replace the missing/damaged files using the rescue disk I have.

BTW. When I boot, Windows gives me two options. One is to boot to the new installation and the other one is to boot to the old installation. The boot for the old installation fails as expected, so I suppose I could try to replace damaged files in that directory, I don't know. When the boot fails, I do get an error message about some file missing (path/system or something) which I can write down once the chkdsk I am running is finished...

 

nm...

After the chkdsk /r, the PC now boots into either OS installation. Question now is how do I get rid of the new installation of Windows?

Thanks for any help.

 

Hi AltBo,

I had a similar issue. Three Windows XP installations! Bottom line is you can't remove/uninstall the ones not needed. I deleted all the unwanted files (including Windows). But, after copying the files that was needed, I reformatted, and re-installed Windows XP. There's nothing to beat a fresh install! :dancer

 

Eldon...

Thanks for looking over this issue.

Just wondering. What would stop me from successfully using a rescue disk like puppy linux or something to rename the Windows.0 installation to Windows and then delete the other Windows folder and its contents?

I guess I don't have anything to lose. I have an image of the drive in its current state, so I might give this a try. :eek

 

That's it. It's official. Imaging is unfair.

Deleting the new installation Windows folder and replacing with the old one didn't work (should have listened to you Eldon), but restoring the image did, so back to 2 Windows folders. I actually did get to the welcome screen before Windows stopped loading.

It's actually not such a bad situation. The new Windows folder is 7+ GB, and the old one is only 1.2 GB (looks like most of it got moved over to the new one), so it's not like a whole ton of drive space is being abused. I think XP with SP3 and all the updates requires like 10+ GB. Perhaps this installation is lower, because I boxed the PC before all the updates were out.

One strange thing about this is that there are two installations of Windows showing up during boot, where I have to choose one, but then there is only one partition. I can't figure out why that makes sense. Both installations work...:confused

Looks like you are correct Eldon. The only cure for too many installations of Windows is another installation of Windows...:-D Well, I'm too wrangled with the whole thing to even reinstall at this point. As long as it boots I guess I am happy...

 

For anyone interested in this topic, it is possible to fix a broken installation of Windows XP with a non-destructive installation. This is the choice during the installation routine to install over the present copy of Windows (DO NOT format).

Instructions:
If Windows XP won't start, reinstall the using the non-destructive installation and then reboot. You will get a choice of which installation to boot into, so choose the new one. Once inside schedule a chkdsk /r and then reboot to run the utility. Run chkdsk /r how ever many times it still finds problems. Hopefully, that will enable you to boot to the original installation. I ran 2 chkdsk /r routines and then was able to boot into the old installation.

You will see a Windows.0 folder there next to the Windows folder, which can be removed using these instructions:

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/888023?wa=wsignin1.0

This really does work as long as chkdsk /r can fix the problem on the old installation enough for a boot into it to work.

This is only if you have more than one installation of Windows on one partition.

 

Sorry for my late reply.
According to Microsoft, one should not install 2 instances of Windows on 1 partition but, as you have seen, it is possible. After installing my copy of Windows XP on a non-booting PC, I was suprised to see a total of 3 Windows XP installations. All on 1 partition! I doubt it's possible with different versions of Windows. I deleted the old installations and kept the new one. I think there was just 1 Program Files folder but about 6 User Account folders.

This is how to repair a Windows XP installation if you have the original Windows XP CD. Some years ago, I read it's possible to use another disc as long as you type in your Product Key. However, I can't vouch for it.

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/topic/138-how-to-repair-windows-xp/