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files no longer work?

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HaTE

Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2002
Location
SLC, Utah, USA
i backed up all my files to cds and then formated my hdd, then reinstalled windows xp, then copyed the files back to the hdd and now 16 exe programs no longer work, when i try and run them a dos window pops up and then closes. dose anyone know why they would just stop working?
 
Most programs have registry entries. You need to reinstall the programs from their original installers. Windows is not like Mac, cuz you cant simply copy and paste programs and expect them to work.
 
Right... Some programs can be copied, pasted, and ran. Most need to be properly installed - this is why programs come with setup files, instead of just being distributed within folders. There are a lot of associations and settings that reside in the windows registry that tell the program and windows how to behave... Without that information, things get very confusing.
 
opps, should have been more clear, these weren't installed programs, they were the program installers.
 
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