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reinstalling XP
- Thread starter colombo3
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2001
- Location
- fort drum NY
im not sure where the problem is. can you elaborate on the situation?
- Thread Starter
- #3
Sure Phantom,
I originally had Win98 SE installed. Created a dual boot with XP (it installed itself on first part of a new extended partition). Then I added Partition Magic. Moved my CD rom, CD RW and DVD to drives letters X,Y,& Z in both XP and 98. From inside Xp created extra partitions with PM.
When XP installed itself it assigned itself the drive letter G: Since C: was 98 OS, D:CD ROM, E:CD-RW, and F
VD. This doesn't match the drive lettering in 98, where 98 OS is C:, D:Win XP OS, E, F,G,H, etc are my new partitions for programs, music etc.
For the life of me, I can't figure out how to change the drive letters so they match in both operating systems (would be much easier to remember what is where that way). Only thing I can figure is to maybe uninstall, then reinstall XP now that 98 sees my CD ROMS, etc, with the new drive lettersX,Y,&Z. But still not sure if XP is going to bounce them back to D,E, &F!
Looking in MS support site, and article Q316941 looks like it might be of some help with reinstalling it correctly, but first I have to figure out how to uninstall it! They have instructions for uninstalling from an upgrade, but this was a clean install to a sep. partition. Do I just reformat the partition it was on and start anew? what about the MBR?
I originally had Win98 SE installed. Created a dual boot with XP (it installed itself on first part of a new extended partition). Then I added Partition Magic. Moved my CD rom, CD RW and DVD to drives letters X,Y,& Z in both XP and 98. From inside Xp created extra partitions with PM.
When XP installed itself it assigned itself the drive letter G: Since C: was 98 OS, D:CD ROM, E:CD-RW, and F
VD. This doesn't match the drive lettering in 98, where 98 OS is C:, D:Win XP OS, E, F,G,H, etc are my new partitions for programs, music etc.For the life of me, I can't figure out how to change the drive letters so they match in both operating systems (would be much easier to remember what is where that way). Only thing I can figure is to maybe uninstall, then reinstall XP now that 98 sees my CD ROMS, etc, with the new drive lettersX,Y,&Z. But still not sure if XP is going to bounce them back to D,E, &F!
Looking in MS support site, and article Q316941 looks like it might be of some help with reinstalling it correctly, but first I have to figure out how to uninstall it! They have instructions for uninstalling from an upgrade, but this was a clean install to a sep. partition. Do I just reformat the partition it was on and start anew? what about the MBR?
In XP (pro at least) you can change drive letters by going to the control panel, performance & maint., admin. tools, computer management and disk management. You can right click the drive partition in the bottom right side and select something like "change drive letters".
I am not sure if XP home is the same or not.
I am not sure if XP home is the same or not.
- Thread Starter
- #7
TBW,
I reinstalled XP . It seems the trick was to have made the partition for it before actually installing it. Then I was able to choose to install to D: where I wanted it. Foolish of me to think that I should let XP make it's own partition! That's when it put itself on G:
I should note that the install DID still change my Cd-Rom letters again (now they are I,J, &K), but those are easy enough to change.
This is a great site someone just referred me to for XP tips:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_abc.htm
And they have this trick for reactivation:
Activation - Workaround (Ronnie Vernon MVP)
If you are reinstalling XP on the same hardware, you can back up the activation status and then restore it after you reinstall the OS.
To save the activation status, back up the wpa.dbl file from the %systemroot%\system32 folder to a floppy disk.
After you reinstall the OS, start in Minimal Safe mode. Open the \%systemroot%\system32 folder. Rename wpa.dbl to wpa.noact. Copy the backed up wpa.dbl file to the system32 folder. Reboot your system.
This isn't a hack to avoid activating installations and will work only on the same hardware for an XP installation that you've already activated.
Off now to see if it actually works!
Thanks again for your assistance!
-Eve
I reinstalled XP . It seems the trick was to have made the partition for it before actually installing it. Then I was able to choose to install to D: where I wanted it. Foolish of me to think that I should let XP make it's own partition! That's when it put itself on G:
I should note that the install DID still change my Cd-Rom letters again (now they are I,J, &K), but those are easy enough to change.
This is a great site someone just referred me to for XP tips:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_abc.htm
And they have this trick for reactivation:
Activation - Workaround (Ronnie Vernon MVP)
If you are reinstalling XP on the same hardware, you can back up the activation status and then restore it after you reinstall the OS.
To save the activation status, back up the wpa.dbl file from the %systemroot%\system32 folder to a floppy disk.
After you reinstall the OS, start in Minimal Safe mode. Open the \%systemroot%\system32 folder. Rename wpa.dbl to wpa.noact. Copy the backed up wpa.dbl file to the system32 folder. Reboot your system.
This isn't a hack to avoid activating installations and will work only on the same hardware for an XP installation that you've already activated.
Off now to see if it actually works!
Thanks again for your assistance!
-Eve
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