Reinstall Windows with FD-ISR?

[silver0066]

Can you reinstall WinXP SP2 over itself with FD-ISR installed? Do you have to uninstall it first?

I have a problem with ActiveSync only connecting as a Guest and someone said that the best way to cure it is to do a repair install of Windows.

Many thanks for any help.

[wilbertnl]

silver0066,

I suggest that you first create an empty snapshot and then boot into that snapshot.
You will see an error message that reads like NTLOADER not found.
After that (it is important that you see that error message on your screen, since FD_ISR switches snapshots after the pre-OS screen) you boot again from your Windows installation CD.

Concerning the filesystem, make sure that you select 'leave alone', in order to keep the other snapshots. Don't format!
In case you have set up anchored data: you will find that available right away in your fresh installed Windows.

If you want to install over an existing Windows, that would be the same, you don't format. (and maybe you want to copy the snapshot first, just for the heck of it)

Success!

[silver0066]

I do not want to do a fresh install. I want to do a repair install. That is, install Windows over itself. I have a archived snapshot on my external drive if the repair install does not fix the problem. I made the mistake of not keeping old ATI backups and did not discovere the problem with ActiveSync after refreshing all of my snapshots.

[wilbertnl]

I have no experience with that, but I don't see why not.
Try it in a copy of that snapshot.

[silver0066]

Thanks, I will give it a try.

I'm not sure if it will solve your problem but you can try an Upgrade installation, Just insert your XP CD and choose to upgrade. Remember to install all windows updates afterwards. (I have done this recently)

[Acadia]

On their website, Raxco gives very exact instructions on just how to do a fresh install of Windows in a new Snapshot:

http://www.raxco.com/support/windows...sr_faqs.cfm#14

Acadia

[wilbertnl]

Originally Posted by betauser2

I'm not sure if it will solve your problem

That is my reason to suggest to copy/archive the snapshot first.

[ErikAlbert]

High time for me to try empty snapshots in FDISR, one of the few functions I didn't test yet. Thanks guys for all the info and yes I will do a backup with ATI first.

[silver0066]

Thank you everyone.

For your information, yes, you can do a repair install of Windows without removing FD-ISR. I was under the impression that a repair install of Windows would overwrite the MBR, but it did not.

I also keep an archived copy of a fresh install from an empty snapshot from which to build specific application snapshots for quicker response times in video editing, etc.

For your information, yes, you can do a repair install of Windows without removing FD-ISR.

You can also do an upgrade installation og XP

High time for me to try empty snapshots in FDISR, one of the few functions I didn't test yet. Thanks guys for all the info and yes I will do a backup with ATI first.

It's exactly like a normal XP installation. You'll see the other snapshots after you install FD-ISR. You got nothing to worry about

[ErikAlbert]

Originally Posted by betauser2

It's exactly like a normal XP installation. You'll see the other snapshots after you install FD-ISR. You got nothing to worry about

Theoretically, I don't see a problem either in repairing Windows of a specific snapshot. After all the Windows CD asks you each time if you want a complete re-install or a repair.