From Www.FreeNerd.net

This guide is provided for informational purposes only. If you choose to use this guide for anything more than information, you do so "At Your Own Risk".

Contents 1 Data Loss - READ THIS 2 Overview 3 Configuration used for this guide 4 Boot with your XP CD and run the Repair 5 First boot up once the repair is complete 6 Restore Results 7 Final Notes

Data Loss - READ THIS

• This process is designed to complete a repair without data loss, however data loss is possible if things go wrong, so backup all important data to a CD, Thumb drive, or external drive.
• If you cannot log into your computer and there are critical files on there you cannot afford to lose, either slave the drive in another computer and extract them or take your PC to a shop and pay to get the files. If data is lost during this repair it's gone for good unless you can afford the high priced recovery processes that are not guaranteed to work.
• You should regularly backup all important data.
• All hard drives fail!! It's a matter of when, not if. Relying on a single hard drive for protection of your critical data is setting a date with disaster
• Files in the All Users, Default User, and Shared documents folders may be lost in this process. Microsoft has patches and suggested fixes for this, but it's easier to backup the data from these profiles before you run the recovery and restore only what you need from them. Click the link below for more details on this from Microsoft.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/312368

• As with any process, things may go horribly wrong and if they do you are probably looking at a fresh install with complete data loss of all data not backed up to a CD, thumb, or external drive. If it seems like I am trying to preach doom and gloom here, I am. I have done this many times successfully but the process is not without risk and I want to be clear that if you choose to try this, there is risk.

Overview

• This guide requires that you have legally purchased XP software with a serial number that can be re-entered upon it's completion.
• This guide is useful If your Windows XP computer is continually blue screening or performing poorly due to spy ware and viruses and you want to regain that freshly installed XP performance without losing all of your data or performing a clean install.
• If you are not having performance or spyware / virus issues with the blue screens, I recommend you Run checkdisk from Windows XP CD before performing a non destructive Windows XP repair. If the check disk does not work then move on to the repair.
• This non destructive repair should restore Windows XP to a near factory state, with your data and programs still in tact.
• This guide can also be used to migrate your existing XP install to new hardware. If you move your hard drive or apply an image of your hard drive to a new computer it will blue screen and become non functional if the chip sets are too dissimilar. This process should clear out old drivers and allow XP to re-configure to new hardware. Changing hardware can result in software activation failing. You may have to call Microsoft to re-activate your serial number if you change hardware. The best practice is to freshly install on new hardware, you'll be happier with your new PC on a fresh install.

Configuration used for this guide

Windows XP SP3 virtual machine running on VMWare ESXi 4
Added several favorites pictured below
Created several desktop shortcuts also pictured below
Installed AVG Free Edition anti virus
Install Crimson editor
Installed imgburn
I copied the installation folders of imgburn and crimson editor into the My Documents folder.  
The downloaded installation files are also in the folder
When the restore is complete, the desktop shortcuts, favorites, and data in the MyDocuments folder will be in tact.

• These screenshots show the favorites, desktop, and my documents of this computer before the restore. These should be very similar to the screen shots we'll take when done.

Boot with your XP CD and run the Repair

• Insert your Windows XP cd into the drive, boot up your computer and press any key when prompted to boot from CD.
• DO NOT select Repair from the first screen. This is not the correct place to initiate the non destructive repair from.
• Press enter to proceed past this screen

• Press F8 to accept the agreement and proceed

• Notice on this screen that Repair is listed again.
• Select your XP installation and press R for repair.

• Once the repair is started there will be 3 phases auto completed.
• Phase 1 it examines your disks

• Phase 2 it will copy files

• Phase 3 your PC will reboot

First boot up once the repair is complete

• It will appear as if you are booting up Windows for the first time, don't panic. Windows is replacing select system files and must complete this process to clear out the files that may be damaged or corrupted.

• Click next to pass the first screen

• Re-enter your product key and click next

• Allow Windows setup to complete. Your PC will reboot when this is done.

• The first boot up after a restore may take much longer than normal, DO NOT reset your PC and try again, allow the reboot to finish.

• Welcome to Microsoft Windows! This is a good sign, click next.
• If you blue screen again before this step completes you may have a more serious hardware problem

• Select if you want to enable auto updates or not. I click no here and use the custom options when the OS is loaded, but select whatever you want to and click Next

• Select if you would like to register with Microsoft or not and click Next. I click no to save time.

• Thank you! Click Finish

• Your restore is now complete! Windows will finish loading and you can log in and check to see how well your PC did with the restore.

Restore Results

• Here are the results of the restore from my test setup.
• Data was intact, below are the post restore screen shots.
• Notice that the favorites are still there, however IE has gone from Version 7 to Version 6.
• Data is on the PC, desktop shortcuts still exist, files in My Documents
• Note - AVG free edition lost it's serial number and prompted me to re-enter. A simple uninstall / re-install should resolve this issue.

Final Notes

• If your PC is hosed and you don't want to start over with a clean build this is a nice alternative, however some applications experience issues after a restore and require re-installation.
• I would consider archiving all of your data and performing a clean install if possible as an alternate to this repair. The repair replaces many system files but it does not wipe everything like a clean install will. There is still the risk that the problems you were having might survive the restore, however this risk is low.