Repair Windows

If you're faced with the ugly prospect of reinstalling Windows XP take a look at this article first because you can actually repair Windows XP in many cases so long as the errors you are having are software related and not a hardware issue such as a bad power supply, memory, CPU or hard drive failure.

Repairing your Windows XP installation is an option you may not have heard about. Why would you want to repair Windows any way? For one thing, it's an alternative to performing a reinstall. With a reinstall, are starting from scratch. Even if you have backups of your data and all your programs, you will need to reinstall every program you use, restore your data and reconfigure all of your settings. That's a big job.

But with a Windows repair, you are only repairing and replacing bad components, registry settings and system files not overwriting everything. This saves your data, programs and other settings bringing your OS back to life yet retaining everything else.

In order to repair Windows XP, you must have your Windows XP installation discs as well as the CD key. Be forewarned that all Windows updates will be discarded leaving your system vulnerable until you are able to re-update. Remember to turn on the Windows Firewall as soon as you complete your repair and before going online. Update your system ASAP.

To begin, place your Windows XP CD in your CD-Rom drive and press a key to boot up directly from the CD. If you can't boot from CD, the BIOS setup utility should be run and the boot order changed. This process varies from computer to computer but is oftentimes accessed by hitting the delete key while the computer boots up. Usually, the boot up screen will give instructions on how to enter BIOS setup.

Also, if you have a RAID, SCSI or an unsupported UDMA device, you should press F6 when prompted to load the appropriate drivers. You should have your drivers on a floppy disk. If you are unsure, skip hitting F6 and allow the setup program to continue.

The blue Windows setup screen opens once the startup process begins. You will be given three options from here. You can either press "enter" to setup windows, hit "R" for the Recovery Console (don't do it), or hit "F3" to exit. Even though the "Recovery Console" sounds like the logical choice, choose to "set up Windows" instead. The setup procedure will detect your prior installation and give you the option to repair it automatically. This is a much easier option requiring less technical steps.

Next, the Windows EULA (end user license agreement) screen appears. Hit the F8 key to accept and continue. The setup program will now detect any Windows installations and give you two choices: repair the existing Windows XP installation or install a fresh copy of Windows XP. Because we want to repair it, choose the repair option by pressing "R".

Now the setup program will begin its repair process which looks very similar to a complete installation. Don't worry, you didn't hit the wrong key, it just looks this way. The program will replace any damaged or missing system files but it will leave your valuable data and programs alone.

You may need to enter your CD key and reactivate your product. Don't forget to turn on Windows Firewall right away and update your system.

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