Resolved Repair and transfer XP installation

I have an XP installation (with SP3) that appears to have become corrupt. .inf files cannot be found, error messages appear during boot [and vanish before I can read them], .dll files have failed to be found, etc.

So I want to repair the installation while keeping my settings and installed applications. I have tried many things that have not worked (for example, I cannot get into the recovery console because the system hangs at the "press any key to boot from CD" message), but perhaps simplest would be to work from the last 2 things I tried.

1. Control Panel - Add or Remove Programs - Add/Remove Windows Components:
[Error dialog - Windows XP Setup: Setup was unable to open information file setupqry.inf
... error code is 0x2 at line 0
[OK] X The application could not be initialized. [OK]

2. Start/Run "sfc /scannow" [a tip from another site] - that gives:
[Error dialog - Windows File Protection - Files that are required for Windows to run properly must be copied to the DLL Cache.

Insert your Windows XP Home Edition CD-ROM now

[Retry] [More Information] [Cancel]

and when I do that and click Retry I keep getting the same dialog - it hangs here. Cancel gives me more error messages and more popup windows - I cannot even stop these popups in Windows Task Manager by "End Task ". I'm going to have to restart.


Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Update - After I closed other programs, I was able to stop windows file protection via Cancel.
Update - My C:\windows\inf has no setupqry.inf
Update - I have reached the same point as the thread http://www.windowsbbs.com/windows-x...file-setupqry-inf.html?highlight=setupqry.dll

setup was unable to open information file setupqry.inf gwkelly 26th November 2007,

That is: setup keeps asking for more files,

except that I have a windows disk. So this looks like a dead end.

I'm going to see if I can delete this post and start over with a better, more concise one, so if you see this, please ignore the thread.

 

Great Information; Thanks

I don't really think it's a hard drive problem, but it's great to have the links for all the HDD tools in one place, and especially the info about slipstreaming service pack parity.

 

Thank you.

I downloaded and ran the Disk Diagnostic Software. The drive passed the advanced/full scan test. The system has 2 fairly new DVD/CD drives and the problems are the same on both.

You say:

To perform a Repair of XP you do not require the Recovery Console - you must proceed to the second 'R' option....

"Second 'R' option "? I can't find any such thing. I enter "R" at the install/repair/exit menu. Next I am asked to select an installation and "R" is not a valid choice. Then I'm asked for administrator password and again "R" is not valid. Then I'm in the recovery console at the "c:\windows> "prompt and "help" shows no command that looks as if it might be a general repair function.

Best wishes,

Robert

 

Follow this set of instructions.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

 

Thank you for your help. I appreciate it very much. I still can't repair my XP installation, though. Here's what I am trying to do, what I've done since getting your advice and what the problem now is.

I want to repair my installation and move it to a different drive. I used Easeus Partition Master to clone my current boot partition (call it c: on H6) to a new partition, e: on H3. I used Windows Disk Management to set E: active.

Then I unplugged all drives but H3 and ran the repair installation from the Xp CD. I decided it would be simpler to install Service Pack 3 after the system was up and running than to slipstream a CD.

The installation seemed to go OK except for complaining about not finding a couple of files, and I know how to deal with those. Otherwise it was smooth sailing through the product key and up to where the setup program said (roughly) "Installing Windows ... will complete in about 25 minutes ", where it stalled. The progress animation kept moving and the tips kept changing but the 25 would not go down - I gave it 20 minutes before pulling the plug.

Do you have any idea what could cause this?

 

PeteC said:
>>Had you read the URL I posted re. repairing XP you would not have ended up in the Recovery Console....

Yes. Very bad on my part. I'm sorry.

 

Try again and wait for it to finish.

Do you have SATA hard drives.

Your original installation has some corruption in its file system have you considered that it might be infected.

 

Yes. Your suspicion is right.

Thanks.

I've done the ISO & the integration. On to Nero.

 

Abandoning Windows Repair

I have abandoned the project

I certainly appreciate your help and your patience.

But I have had it with windows repair, since apart from the bugs, I would have to reinstall most of my programs anyway (I won't go into what has forced me to this conclusion, but I do not reach it lightly). I am going to do now what I should have done to begin with, a clean install. That would have saved me probably 30 hours. Below the fold is the post I wrote before I decided to abandon the repair utility (or function), in case anyone is interested. It describes the steps I took to reach this point and the results.

But this has been a useful learning experience, and I do have the SP3 CD.

I think the Windows BBS is a great resource. I plan to continue to visit regularly, and if I post again, I will try not to waste your time, as I have pretty much done in this thread.


Thanks and best wishes,

Robert Leeper


Well, I don't know whether I have made worthwhile progress or not.

The repair appeared to complete OK, except that settings were not preserved, eg it wanted me to fill in a "who will use" form. And now it hangs, asking for a "Tray App Disk ".

Here's how I got here:

1. I prepared a Service Pack 3 CD following the instructions at

http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/Slipstreaming_Windows_XP_Service_Pack_3.html

which you kindly provided and which I glossed over before.

2. I unplugged all hard drives but the one containing the copy of my old boot partition prepared with Easeus Partition Master and ran the repair installation using the SP3 disk as above.

3. The repair proceeded poorly, I thought, but eventually completed. The problems were: a) It asked for Nvidia drivers - this is no problem, I assume, since I have the drivers (but not in a form acceptable to setup) and can update after the repair, b) It hung for about 7 minutes installing devices saying (roughly) "will complete in about 34 minutes, c) It hung for about 22 minutes installing devices saying (roughly) "will complete in about 25 minutes.

4. It did not preserve my settings, but wanted to "spend a few minutes setting up your computer ". I made what now seems a mistake by asking it to turn on automatic upgrades, since it then hung for about 7 minutes. From then on I just clicked next and that got me to my desktop - the icons seemed all or mostly there, but the placements were lost.

5. Now, however, I got a Windows Installer popup dialog asking for the "Tray App Disk ", which would not go away, necessitating a power off. I found online what promised to be a solution, and it did get rid of the "Tray App Disk" request, but then I started getting "c: drive invalid ".

6. So I have had it [continued as above]

 

Do I understand correctly that you made a slipstreamed Windows XP SP3 disc.

If yes, did you use a retail XP+SP2 disc to make it.

It does state in the link that PeteC gave you that this slipstreamed CD can only be done using an XP disc which already has SP2 on it or it can cause a problem when validating the installation with MS.

Strange though that in this link, with only minor diferences, it does the same slipstreaming with an XP disc that has no SP's included.

http://www.howtohaven.com/system/slipstream-xp-service-pack-3.shtml

Now I'm confused or do the additional actions in this guide overcome the validation problem

 

>>Kaving re-read the thread I am a little confused as to why you were attempting to repair a clone copy of the installation rather than the original installation. I have a feeling that the cloning operation did not go well.

2 reasons 1) move 25g boot partition on 250g HDD to single partition on 80g HDD, 2) keep original to go back to in the easies possible way (that I could think of).

I had no indications of a problem w/ the clone - except that the clone would not boot. I discovered later that this was to be expected.

 

>>Do I understand correctly that you made a slipstreamed Windows XP SP3 disc.

>>If yes, did you use a retail XP+SP2 disc to make it.

Yes to both. Or so I thought. Now that you ask, I can't be sure the disk had SP2.

But now I am pretty sure. SP2 was released Aug., 2004 and I bought the disk Dec., 2004.

 

.

If the XP disc has SP2 included it will be written on it.

If you think your cloned copy is OK (no reason why it should not be) and the only problem is that it will not boot all you have to do is repair the boot record.

Follow this to repair the boot record.

http://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/fix-mbr-xp-vista/

P.S. If you want to copy and paste quotes from previous posts into your message, once you have pasted it in to the massage highlight it and then click on the small yellow box in the message toolbar and it will wrap the quote in a box, like the ones in this post. Just makes it a little easier to read.

 

I'm using a copy. I'll probably find the original a few days after it become obsolete.

I tried fixmbr in the recovery console w/ no effect (while I was trying to follow one of PeteC's instructions).

OK

 

So, you made the slipstreamed SP3 with a previously copied disc without knowing what SP it has on it. Where did this copy come from, was it made from a genuine disc and do you know for sure what version of XP it is.

It is hard to figure out exactly what has gone wrong here. My advise would be to borrow a genuine XP disc that matches your version of XP and make another slipstreamed SP3 disc with it.

Then use that to do a repair install on the cloned drive.