Continuing Reinstall XP Problems

Okay, let's start with a warning. Was having trouble getting IE7 to install on XP Home SP2. Found some info suggesting how to edit registry to correct controls that had become "unwritable ". Was careful enough to backup registry before editing. Tried to edit registry and be sure all files flagged in the error log were corrected. For the most part, nothing worked; all the flagged locations refused to allow me (primary Admin) to change permissions. After a hour or so, I closed the registry but did not restore.

Next time we booted, XP started but there were no account links on the sign-in screen, so we couldn't get in. Therefore, can't run backup program to restore registry. So, I recommend NOT doing what I did.

Anyhow, since I had not planned to do a complete reinstall, I had not backed up most current files. Have been trying to do a reinstall over the existing. Hit a road block with the "viaapg1.sys ". Found info on that and downloaded it; but I can't run it from the recovery panel. So I tried copying the .ini and .sys files to System32\Drivers. Last attempt to restall, Windows did find the viaagp1.sys file and reinstall continued to run for another minute or so. Then a warning window with "rundll32" in the title bar pops up telling me that "This" function is not associated with any program and that I have to set the association in Control Panel.

There's a big help, huh? If one is in the process of installing the OS, how is one to access the Control Panel? So I'm wondering if this warning window is referring to rundll32 (how could that be?) or to the "viaagp1" (since it wasn't actually installed, naturally the association wouldn't be registered). But the progress bar for Drivers had reached it's end and disappeard before the warning came up; why the delayed reaction?

I would certainly welcome any suggestions -- other than the obvious clean install. I did finally pickup an external drive to try to salvage our files just in case. But Documents and Settings won't allow me access and it appears that xCopy and/or wildcard copying is not permitted in the recovery panel. Any suggests related to that would also be welcome.

Thanks so much...

 

See if this helps recovering your data.

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP

Instead of a reinstall try a repair.

WinXP Repair Install

 

Have you tried booting to safe mode? If you're lucky, the Administrator account will still be available and you'll be able to log onto it there. You could then try to straighten out the user mess from there.

 

Sorry for the the using the wrong word. Repair is the process I'm trying, not reinstall.

The 'Taking Ownership...' article requires that I be running Windows, which I can't do until the repair is successful. I'm trying to do backups from the recovery panel. I'll try the MVP repair; but most of these tend to progress with no problems or warning. Wouldn't that be nice?

Yes, I tried all the options of the OS selection menu, including safe mode.

 

I fixed a similar prob by taking an extra HDD loading WIN XP then slaving the old HDD to access the docs needed. Did a repair install of the original HDD after making sure I had all docs needed before repair install.

Hope this helps you out!