I recently had Windows XP Home Edition..but something went wrong and the Explorer.exe file got corrupted. I got hold of Windows XP Professional Edition and I installed that instead of reloading theHome Edition. Now, I have two Hard Drives, one of which I used to back up music and photos and other important stuff from my documents and other users documents as well (there are 5 user accounts on my PC). Now the new Version of Windows is installed, I'm seeing the user documents from the PREVIOUS version as well as the user documents for the current version when I open the Documents and Settings Folder. The problem is: I can't access my own folder, nor the folder that I backed up to the second hard drive and I'm guessing it's because I was the only user that had a password when the files were backed up. I get an "access denied" message.
2006-09-05 06:51:58 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Software
You need to do a clean install to be 100% sure....
Insert your XP Professional disk into the CD drive and reboot your machine. Allow the computer to boot from the CD (sometimes it asks you to press a key if you want to do this). Now, go through the setup and completely delete the entire hard drive partition, reformat it and reinstall Windows - its pretty automatic and should take no more than about an hour or 2 at the most.
Its the only way to be sure I'm afraid.
2006-09-05 06:55:48 · answer #1 · answered by gromitski 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Use xp disk as you would to do a normal install at the instalation screen pick repair windows leave file system as it is this will re install windows but leave your files as they are on the computer
all that will not be available are any updates that you installed due to your windows being back to its original install DONOT pick the change file system or your drive will be auto formatted that is a clean install that destoys all on the hard drive you will still need your serial number to re install
2006-09-05 15:49:08 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
my god what did you do what a mix up lol
listen i think you have made a right mix up here its best if you do it this way back up all the files you want to keep then format that hard drive that your going to put windows on and reinstall the windows xp version you want on the pc dont install one version then try to install the other one over that your be back to the crazy mix up again just install windows xp home or windows xp Professional make sure you back up your files& work you want to keep then just format the hard drive and set up 1 windows xp not 2 ... you can have all this done in about 1hour or 2 hours max
all the best
2006-09-05 07:01:59 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
wow thats a tuff one. I think you would need somone to look at your computer. Sounds like more then a simple answer question. I would bring your computer to somone who knows what they are doing and could help you. A college perhaps
2006-09-05 06:57:07 · answer #4 · answered by john 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Reformat the HD.
2006-09-05 06:55:58 · answer #5 · answered by jgordon0505 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would reformat both hard drives and reinstall whichever version you want.
2006-09-05 06:53:57 · answer #6 · answered by rchilly2000 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
YOU WILL HAVE TO REBUILD YOUR COMPUTER TO GET WHAT YOU DONT WANT ON THERE OFF. SAVE EVERYTHING TO A DISK THAT YOU WANT TO KEEP AND REFRAG IT OR WHATEVER. IT TAKES LIKE 3-4 HOURS THOUGH.
2006-09-05 06:53:56 · answer #7 · answered by ~K~ 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
FORMAT C:
2006-09-05 06:53:43 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋