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Reinstalling the system on one hard drive but backing up the registry and user info to avoid having to reinstall the programs

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Okay, I’m looking to back up all the following files:

-Windows registry of my QUANTUM FIREBALL LM15 HD with the Western digital one as the master and the
QUANTUM FIREBALLLM15 as a slave.

-The Users Info (my docs, and so on)

-Basically, anything that would be erased if I reinstall the system without deleting the other non system-related
files.

Okay so I have a program called WinRescue 2000, but it seems to me like If I back up the registry it is going
to back up the registry on my Western Digital HD when what I want is for it to back up thee other one. If I
install the WinRescue onto the Quantum Fireball LM15 HD will it back up that hard drive’s registry or is it
restricted to that of the Hard drive currently running the OS.

If that program doesn’t work, can I export all of my registry using the regedit built-in export option, will that allow all the programs(which are quite numerous) that I have installed on my hard drive to run once I reinstall the OS on it?

Also, Is it possible, once I reinstall the OS to Take the backed up registry and replace the new one I created, with it?

Refer to the first post for info on which file seemed to have a problem and was stopping my computer from booting off the Quantum Fireball LM15.

I think it is clear what I am looking for, if notm let me summarize:
1. I need to backup all that I have on my Hard drive that has anything to do with the system, all the other things should remain there when I reinstall the system (without formatting mind you).

The goal is to reinstall the problematic “system” on the Quantum Fireball LM15, but keep the system preferences I currently have such as the administrator user and others, as well as the registry, so that I won’t have to reinstall all of the programs that I have on there.

Topic

Reply To: Reinstalling the system on one hard drive but backing up the registry and user info to avoid having to reinstall the programs

In reply to Reinstalling the system on one hard drive but backing up the registry and user info to avoid having to reinstall the programs

In a word, it won’t work.

Yes, you can back up and restore the registry.

You can even back up user profiles and folders.

However, when you install XP fresh, you will:

Still have files missing.

May not be able to simply recover the user profiles.

Aside from registry keys and the program files folder for an application, most add system files to the Windows folders.

Unless you also capture ALL of the systems files your applications require, they will not run.

Second, I all but guarantee that XP will install some hardware with different settings. Therefore, when you restore the saved registry, some inf and vxd files for hardware will be in conflict with related registry keys.

As to user profiles, XP creates a unique system ID each time it installs. The system ID and the ID tags in the user profiles will not match. This will cause the profiles to not open.

What to do?

Ghost the system, or use backup software and restore from the backup.

One backup option is Cobian backup.

Chas

Reply To: Reinstalling the system on one hard drive but backing up the registry and user info to avoid having to reinstall the programs

In reply to Reinstalling the system on one hard drive but backing up the registry and user info to avoid having to reinstall the programs

Alright, well in case you ever look at this post again chas, I’m using windows 2000 pro, just to let you know.
I might just end up researching it, but in case you get to me first, If I ghost the system does it create an image that I can send to the other hard drive? because All I’m trying to do is not lose all the user stuff that I set up, and not have to reinstall each and every program that I had on there(tedious process of rebooting repetitively)If I ghost the system does that allow me to pick up from where I left off. The problem was when I tried to boot up from that HD, there was an error message saying Win2k could not start because following file is missing or corrupt: \WINNT\SYSTEM32\Config\System .
So if ghosting my system will save the state my system is in now, and I can reinstall the system and then restore it as it was from the ghost, then I’m willing to give it a try
(I’ll try anything to avoid the long tedious process of reinstalling everything.)

Reply To: Reinstalling the system on one hard drive but backing up the registry and user info to avoid having to reinstall the programs

In reply to Reinstalling the system on one hard drive but backing up the registry and user info to avoid having to reinstall the programs

Alright, well in case you ever look at this post again chas, I’m using windows 2000 pro, just to let you know.
I might just end up researching it, but in case you get to me first, If I ghost the system does it create an image that I can send to the other hard drive? because All I’m trying to do is not lose all the user stuff that I set up, and not have to reinstall each and every program that I had on there(tedious process of rebooting repetitively)If I ghost the system does that allow me to pick up from where I left off. The problem was when I tried to boot up from that HD, there was an error message saying Win2k could not start because following file is missing or corrupt: \WINNT\SYSTEM32\Config\System .
So if ghosting my system will save the state my system is in now, and I can reinstall the system and then restore it as it was from the ghost, then I’m willing to give it a try
(I’ll try anything to avoid the long tedious process of reinstalling everything.)

Reply To: Reinstalling the system on one hard drive but backing up the registry and user info to avoid having to reinstall the programs

In reply to Reinstalling the system on one hard drive but backing up the registry and user info to avoid having to reinstall the programs

Alright, let’s say I reinstall all the programs. Can I still keep the different user profiles that were created?
because I don’t want to have to do that all over again.
I’m going to back up my docs, the other user’s my docs, and take a list of all the programs on there and then make sure that I have installers for each one. I’ll just redo it with backups. I guess…
Thanks for you confirmation that It wouldnt work though.

Reply To: Reinstalling the system on one hard drive but backing up the registry and user info to avoid having to reinstall the programs

In reply to Reinstalling the system on one hard drive but backing up the registry and user info to avoid having to reinstall the programs

Have you taken a look at the Microsoft Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. I just used it to set up a new PC with all of the settings from the old. It grabs every file in the My Docs folder, all of the desktop items, and everything else on the system that isn’t Windows related and transfers the lot to the new PC; including all user and registry settings. I did have to reinstall any non-Microsoft software, but all in all it saved me a bundle of time.

Reply To: Reinstalling the system on one hard drive but backing up the registry and user info to avoid having to reinstall the programs

In reply to Reinstalling the system on one hard drive but backing up the registry and user info to avoid having to reinstall the programs

Well, I have reinstalled all the software that I deem necessary. It took me my entire saturday…what a drag. See, that is what I was talking about trying to avoid. But your post was useful, I’ll keep that in mind next time.
Yeah, I also encountered a whole bunch of strange problems that I attributed to a virus/worm. I lost the use of my task manager without having done ANYTHING. every time I exited Zone alarm without booting it up for example, the whole computer got screwed up, and I had to reboot. I’m also now having a problem. When I do reboot or shutdown, it does all the saving stuff and then the screen turns black, but it doesn’t shut off…Anyone have a solution??? Help.
I got a regfix for the task manager problem, and it worked perfectly. When I find the site I got it from I’ll post the link here for anyone who might encounter the same problem. Also, after fixing that. I installed some Direct X update and then rebooted the computer, and when It came on again, All my resolution abilities were screwed up. It said something about missing drivers I guess DirX and ATI drivers were conflicting (though why I have no idea…) luckily I was able to reinstall the ATI drivers and I got my resolution back. Man, microsoft updates really don’t do it for me…

Hello

In reply to Reinstalling the system on one hard drive but backing up the registry and user info to avoid having to reinstall the programs

To backup your registry you can use a good free software called http://www.dmailer.com/dmailer-backup.html and store the backup online on their servers ( you have up to 3gb as a free member ) and then recover it after you finished reinstalling . But don’t know really if you wont get errors as you bakup the registry you should backup the softwares too.

[Author]

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