XP's No-Reformat, Nondestructive Total-Rebuild Option
It's one of those software design decisions that makes you scratch your head
and wonder, "What were they thinking?"
The "it" in this case is XP's most powerful rebuild/repair option; and yet
Microsoft chose to hide it behind seeming dead ends, red herrings, and a
recycled interface that makes it hard to find and (at first) somewhat confusing
to use.
But it's worth exploring because this option lets you completely and
nondestructively rebuild, repair or refresh an existing XP installation while
leaving already-installed software alone (no reinstallation needed!). It also
leaves user accounts, names, and passwords untouched; and also takes only a
fraction of the time a full, from-scratch reinstall does. And unlike a
traditional full reinstall, this option doesn't leave you with two copies of XP
on your hard drive. Instead, you end up with just the original installation, but
repaired, refreshed, and ready to go.
We've saved this technique for last in our discussion of the various XP's
repair/rebuild options because the fixes we've previously discussed are like
first aid--- the things you try first. For instance, see this discussion on
removing limitations on XP's Recovery Console (
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=187000225
), turning it into a more complete repair tool; or this discussion on the
Recovery Console's little known boot data "Rebuild" command (
http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=185301251 ) that
can cure many boot-related problems. (There's also lots more on the Recovery
Console here:
http://tinyurl.com/p7fnr )
But when the Recovery Console techniques don't work and you're facing the
prospects of a total reformat/reinstall, STOP! Try this no-reformat reinstall
technique, and you just may get your XP setup back running in a fraction of the
time and with a fraction of the hassle of a grand mal wipe-and-restore.
You'll find complete, step-by-step instructions with abundant screen
shots waiting for you here:
http://www.informationweek.com/windows/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=189400897
With this information, you should almost never have to face a dreaded start-over, from-scratch reformat/reinstall of XP!
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