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- gamemaster357, on 10/12/2007, -3/+43this is a dupe from a while ago.....heres the simplified instructions if u need them
There's an easy fix for "Missing HAL.DLL," "Invalid Boot.Ini," and several other fatal startup errors.
Start your PC with the XP Setup CD in the drive. When you see the "Press any key to boot from CD..." prompt, do so and let the CD-based boot process begin.
When the Recovery Console option is offered ("Press R to start the Recovery Console"), do so. You may be asked which Windows installation to enter, in which case type the number of the Windows installation you wish to work on (usually "1").
When prompted, enter the Administrator's password for that Windows installation.
At the command prompt, type "Bootcfg /Rebuild" (without the quotes) and hit enter. Windows will then scan the hard drive, looking for valid Windows installs and startup information.
The exact verbiage will depend on your setup, but after a few moments you'll see a prompt that says something like:
Total Identified Windows Installs: 1
[1] C:Windows
Add Installation To Boot List?
Assuming the information you see is correct, enter "Y" for yes, and Bootcfg will start the process of rebuilding the boot list to include the indicated Windows installation. Along the way, it will repair most "Missing or corrupt HAL.DLL," "Invalid Boot.Ini," "Windows could not start...," and similar errors.
After a moment, you'll be asked to "Enter Load Identifier." This is the name of the operating system that will appear in boot menus. For consistency with the standard nomenclature used by Microsoft, enter "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" or "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" without the quotes and hit enter.
Next you'll be asked to "Enter OS Load Options." For normal installations, enter "/Fastdetect" (without the quotes) and hit enter.
In most cases, that's all it will take. You can type "Exit" to leave the Recovery Console and reboot the PC, which should then start normally.
But if you wish, or in cases where you suspect a problem with the boot sectors on the hard drive (as with problems in a dual- or multi-boot system that's become unstable, or where a third-party boot manager may have run amok), you can run Fixboot from the command line (without any parameters) prior to exiting the Recovery Console. This will write a new partition boot sector to the default drive, undoing any changes caused by dual-, multi-, or third-party boot processes. (You can reactivate those alternate boot methods later if you wish, but running Fixboot now simplifies the boot process and removes nonessential boot variables, which in turn helps ensure that the repaired XP installation will have the best chance of successful booting.)
After running Fixboot, type "Exit" to leave the Recovery Console and reboot the PC, which should then start normally. - RichyFreeway, on 10/12/2007, -9/+37Incorrect. I do a lot of these repair installs every week. If the registry is ***** when the install is finished then it was probably ***** before.
- Whitey04, on 10/12/2007, -6/+34So what is the point of this? Half the time the problem with a win install was a bad program screwed the registry, dll's, etc. Not to mention poorly written installer/un-installers. These problems don't get fixed.
I've used it, and it is handy. But it is NOT a replacement for a full wipe. - BloodJunkie, on 10/12/2007, -11/+35http://www.duggmirror.com/software/XP_s_No-Reformat,_Nondestructive_Total-Rebuild_Option/
- KnightCrawler, on 10/12/2007, -6/+27I've used this quite of few times since XP came out back in 2001. Nice feature and should be include when you press F8.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+21You should still backup all your data . . . though this can work 90% of the time (hell even 99% of the time), not worth taking the risk of losing all your documents, pictures, and more importantly pr0n. Seriously though, backup anything and everything important before making a huge change like this to your windows install.
- mlwarrior, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15As the windows fixit guy for UW Madison, I can say this is very handy. This sometimes isn't an option when boot.ini/boot sector is corrupt. Before doing this, remove the attribs from boot.ini, bootcfg /rebuild, fixboot and then fixmbr. Always do a chkdsk /r before running a repair install.
- timdorr, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15I used it when I swapped out my motherboard and the drivers were so badly screwed up, that I couldn't boot. Works like a charm.
- ohsoserial, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15It's really fun when you try to do a repair installation from your original release build of XP after installing SP2, then watching your computer implode upon itself.
This works great in some situations, as in changing hardware, without having to format. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11For those that don't want to read the five-page article, it's basically telling you to press ENTER when the first setup screen comes up ("To set up Windows XP now, press ENTER"), then press R on the next screen (instead of pressing R on the first screen to bring up the recovery console).
- adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -7/+14Well you know you could back up your registry, jesus it takes like a minute and you avoid all that pain....
- MioTheGreat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Windows NT 4 had a 'repair' install....Not sure about NT3 or 3.5.....But NT4 is like...Ancient....It's 10th birthday is coming up in about a month....
- oorschot8513, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10This does help with some of the problems that occur during normal windows operation. But does not fix all errors since only the windows core files are replaced with those from the CD. All updates must be reinstalled again, but usually that isn't a big deal. I must say that I have also lost information in the past by using the repair option. Microsoft confirms this here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/312369/en-us
- dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -6/+12Three weeks too late for me, but bookmarked for future use. Amazing I'm still learning new stuff about a 7 year old OS.
- KJay, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Isn't the number one reason for wiping a windows computer to eliminate elusive malware? This would leave all of those intact...
- chrisgeleven, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5This is a good trick for those of you who want to put a HD into another computer or had to replace the motherboard. A repair install will allow Windows to boot on the new hardware. While you will probably need to install the proper drivers unless your really lucky, you will at least have your programs and files intact.
- detroitsux, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10What is up with your "fork" obsession?
- abenton, on 10/12/2007, -9/+14And here I was backing up gigs and gigs of data to reformat today, thanks
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5fyi, since the page is loading slowly - it is destructive occasionaly depending on how you installed windows - and it ALWAYS reverts your service packs and hotfixes (eg. repair install with a Win XP SP1 cd on top of a SP2 installation, you will need to install SP2 again)
(I tried to paste this into original comment, it errored)
but man, I thought _everyone_ knew about this feature by now. - balls187, on 10/12/2007, -7/+11Why the heck are you bringing up Linux? It's about a feature in Windows. Go back to slashdot please.
- ArcaneDevice, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5ah thanks, that saves me waiting to read it when the article goes back online. I've been doing that for years.
Unfortunately it doesn't help when you have such a major system crash that it doesn't even give you the repair option. Which is what happened to me this morning. - Magistrate, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7Obviously not. I don't know how this was "little-known". If you look at "Screen Seven" in the article, it says at the bottom...
"R=Repair F3=Don't Repair"
When you have these two options, how do you not choose Repair!?? - anonatron, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7Yes but if you RTFA, it mentions that a slipstreamed xp disk would be ideal
- WarpFox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3actually one of the things i love most about XP (and if i remember correctly, also 2000) is that it came loaded with drivers that will work with 90% of the hardware i've ever used, the exceptions being mostly off-brand NIC's that came with prefab machines. Granted you will probobly want to go get the latest manufacturer's drivers for the hardware, but installing XP on a machine and immidately being able to use your sound and video card (in something other than 640x480, 256 colors) without first having to install drivers is pretty damn nice, in my opinion.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8any tech working with XP that doesn't know about repair install? oh man, I pity that fool.
- dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@zzz(whatever):
Given XP is just a modified version of Win 2000, we're both wrong, but I'm more right. Win 2000 was released on Feb. 17, 2000 (which is actually a few months shy of their intended release year 1999). Not to pick at semantics, but when I say *****, I try not to be wrong. - nights0223, on 10/12/2007, -6/+8Talk about irony.
- Drizzit, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Anyone else sick of duggmirror. They're stealing traffic from digg and promoting other digg like sites.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I'm not trying to knock the article but this isn't exactly "news." We've known about this feature for years.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This is a fix for when your xp crashes, but not due to viruses. Obviously the best solution for a virus is a fill wipe. But just incase you delete something you werent supposed to from the windows folder, then this is the faster way to do it instead of a full os load.
- millixaw, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Running though the above steps, and using the "Fixmbr" command, you can remove GRUB or LILO from your MBR if you wish to remove Linux and such.
- BassJunkie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Whoah, XP comes with drivers for most hardware! Amazing, especially considering how fragile it is if something is changed! Swap a motherboard over and watch XP fall over whilst booting (in which case this article is helpful!)
If you then compare this to Linux which has drivers for about 99% (hence 1 *nix LiveCD will work on ANY PC) of the hardware you'll encounter on a PC and doesn't require a "rebuild" just becase you swapped the mobo it doesn't seem that impressive, especially considering how much you are charged for the OS if you buy it!
Anyhow good article, imformative and i'll probably need to use this as I hope to replace a motherboard/CPU in one of my PC's soon! - johnnybravoh, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2This is relatively old stuff. Very useful though. Particularly when you're swapping out hardware like a motherboard. If you *do* swap out a motherboard and you *don't* do this, you *will* get a BSOD. Guaranteed.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2dclowd9901:
It's less than five years old. XP came out in 01. - KMehthas, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I like to spoon the code... forking just pisses her off...
- master_of_fm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i always tell people that it is the second repair, not the first one
- ryderstep, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3It's not exactly like it was in Win98... in 98 you actually installed a second windows in a different directory (eg WINDOWS1). The process described in this article replaces all the origional files in your current installation of windows XP, without making multiple versions of windows installed
By the way, this option is not foolproof (I do computer repair, and I use it a lot). But it leaves virus infected files, various malware/spyware, and is NOT a replacment for a full Format/Reinstall - IHaveIssues, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6What would 90% of average computer users do with the source code? Not everyone cares to learn programming in order to use their computers.
- hypnotiq, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You can order a disk from Microsoft. I believe it's
- J03L, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Can you do this if your setup is from a pre-installed partition instead of an actual setup-cd? I haven't been able to find any kind of option like that when I re-install.
- theGrue, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Hmm... Question for anyone really familiar with this: My laptop recently stopped getting along with the drivers for it's onboard sound (VIA AC'97), and now whenever I use the official VIA drivers, playback is sped up, but if I use the Windows provided ones, the sound is at the correct speed but has some annoying lag. I think some switch somewhere must have gotten flipped and even a driver uninstall/reinstall doesn't touch it. Would going through this process maybe help with that?
- looksliketrent, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@ mlwarrior
You ever used TestDisk? I've used it a couple times to recover/restore corrupt filesystems, damaged boot records, etc. I was able to restore previous partitioning after a format. Powerful utility.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk - warcry, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Problem is nowadays when you get a new computer you hardly ever get the xp disc. I got a crappy Norton Ghost disc to restore my system from Gateway.
- TylerDurden0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Who is "they?" I have one.
- spectre_25gt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This was probably a reply to the wrong thread. Digg has a bug that causes this from time to time.
- TylerDurden0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Perhaps, among the windows updates, a better (improved) driver released for your integrated sound. This is now what is being used.
I could be wrong but I have seen it before. - trunkster, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I thought this was something new and cool but it's just the freaking repair installation option. I really hope all the Windows users knew this existed... anyway I wouldn't suggest this if you are looking to "refresh" your system and get it running faster again (new registery etc.). You can't beat a clean installation.
- drgori, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I know it'll never happen, but I wish we didn't get these kinds of responses every time an article comes up proposing a solution to a problem with a particular OS, programming language, program, etc. "I know how to solve all your Windows/Java/Office problems. Don't use them!"
Not only are you answering a question that wasn't asked, you're not being a persuasive ambassador for whatever alternative you're promoting. You just perpetuate the impression that all of us people who use Linux (or whatever) on a daily basis are self-righteous twits who think everyone who doesn't do things our way is an idiot.
If someone asked you, "Could you recommend a good restaurant in Atlanta? I'm going there next week," you'd probably respond, "If you're looking for a meal, you really should go to San Francisco instead." Yeah, thanks for that. Very helpful.
I found this article useful. I look forward to applying the info when I do a reinstall of XP on my crusty old backup machine. - cisox, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I of course read this a day after I reinstall Windows XP :) Thanks for the info!
- DrHerbaceous, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I'm actually a bit surprised this is unknown to so many people. I agree with a lot of you that this article is a bit of a misnomer. This is by no means a substitute for reinstall. The only thing it really does is replace all the various system files. This will most probably fix your problem if your Windows installation won't boot. However, for most other problems it would be worthless.
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