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Repair Windows

Repair Windows - How to Repair MS Windows XP & 2000

If your computer system is running Windows XP or Windows 2000 and you are not able to boot up properly, even in safe mode, you may be able to fix your system's operating system without having to do a complete re-install. This can be made possible by utilizing the “system repair” function that is part of your Windows XP/2000 installation discs.

If a hardware failure, like a bad hard drive, corrupt memory or CPU is the reason for your computer not booting up properly,  you have a more serious issue then this article addresses. The system repair feature of Windows XP/2000 is built to recover the software, not to fix hardware problems. To be on the safe side, run a disk check utility on your hard drive prior to using System Repair in conjunction with a memory test utility.

Once you have ruled out hardware problems, try running System Repair. System Repair will fix your Windows operating system yet keep all of your data and personalized settings. It is wise to note that System Repair will remove all system updates to your operating system, and regress drivers as well as some network and performance settings back to their original default settings. After repair, it might be a good idea to reactivate your Windows operating system product.

To start the repair process, you will need to boot from the original Windows operating system installation discs. The Windows XP or 2000 CD will have to match what is presently installed on your computer;  you do not want to mix and match. In other words, if you are running Windows XP Home version, but also have a Windows XP Pro cd , it is imperative to use the XP Home version.

As the CD is loading, an option will be presented asking if you want to boot from operating system CD by hitting any key. Press any key as this is the desired choice. Shortly thereafter, a blue screen will load up and show the XP or 2000 windows setup on the screen.

Unless you are a RAID, SCSI or un-supported UDMA, one can let the setup screen load on its own. If you do have a RAID, SCSI or not supported UDMA controllers, you will want to press F6 to initiate the installation of those drivers and you would want  those drivers handy on a disk or cd. If you are not sure, allow the Windows setup screen load and do not hit the f6 key.

The setup screen will show you three alternatives:

• To start up Windows now, press enter
• To fix a Windows installation with the Recovery Console, hit "R"
• To quit set up without installing Windows, press "F3"

While it appears unintuitive, make sure and choose the 1st  choice and NOT the recovery console choice. The Windows operating system setup program will automatically detect a prior installation of  the Windows operating system and then offer to fix it.

Hit the F8 key to accept to the MS Windows license agreement.  Windows set up then looks for versions of  Windows XP & 2000 installations and offers to fix it or replace with a new installation. However, in this instance, you want to fix it, thus hit "R" as instructed to initiate the repair process.

Windows setup will then look like it is installing the software program for the 1st time while, in actually, it is only replacing 'broken' system components, actually not over-writing itself. The information and other programs and settings will remain as they were before.

It is important to note, to have your CD key available as it is an important part of this process. One may want to reactivate the copy of MS Windows proceeding the repair procedure. Remember to download updates of the version of the  Windows operating system you are running as all of the prior updates would have been eliminated.

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