reinstalling xp pro

[dracken1]

is it poss to reinstall xp pro without having to reformat the hd.
if so........how?
also which keys do i depress at the logon screen to access the admin account.....i've forgotten.

thanks all...

 

[Moonacres]

to access the admin account hit the control-alt-delete keys twice

Not sure about re-installing over xp, I have always formatted the hd and started with a clean install.

HTH
Sean

 

[sboulema]

it is poss to install that way.

During install choose the option, "Install windows XP leaving file system intact". This option will not format the disc and install XP.

But a clean install is always better

 

[Womble]

With 98, I could reinstall and my settings would remain the same (shortcuts, favourites, progams etc.), but with XP, it rebuilt the registry from scratch, so I had to reinstall everything anyway.

Does checking the "Install windows XP leaving file system intact" achieve this ? I can't remember seeing this option.

 

[sboulema]

If you boot your computer from the Xp install cd, you will get the setup screen and after a few screens the option will be there. A list of options like:

- format to ntfs
- format to fat32
- format to file system you already had
- and also the options I was talking about, "don't format"

 

[Geffy]

you can also get to the Admin account by entering safemode. You get to safemode by pressing F8 while it is booting at some time. Best to keep pressing it after the main BIOS screen is gone. So when it displays your PCI IRQ settings then press F8. You can also get to this while the PC is coming out of Hibernation, there is an option to Press F( to see Advanced Startup Options

 

[Womble]

OK, I understand what your talking about now.
That's merely to do with formatting the HD.

So I guess that XP will always trash your registry anyway.

 

[Geffy]

backup your registry and then reimport it after the installation.