re-associating programs in XP

The winnt directory did not hold any of your programs.
you need to check the "Program Files" directory to see if
they are in there. but is kind of sounds like you did a
clean install.

>-----Original Message-----
>I had to reinstall XP on my system. Originally it was
>installed to a "winnt" directory, but when I reinstalled
>it, it installed to a "windows" directory. Now none of

my

>programs that were installed show up. Is there a way to
>re-associate these programs to the new installation? I
>still have the winnt directory, but cannot get it to boot
>to it.
>.
>

Yes, all the programs are in Program Files, but not when I
go to Start, Programs. Also, they are not listed under
Add/Remove Programs and they are no file associations
listed for them under Folder Options. Is there a way to
make them appear again on the start button without
reinstalling them all from disk? I had 40-50 different
programs installed and it would take a long time to
reinstall them all, if I still even have all the install
cd's. Thanks.

>-----Original Message-----
>The winnt directory did not hold any of your programs.
>you need to check the "Program Files" directory to see if
>they are in there. but is kind of sounds like you did a
>clean install.
>

>my

boot

>.
>

Hi, Marcia.

When WinXP is installed, its "boot folder" is named \Windows, by default,
EXCEPT when we UPGRADE from a previous Windows version, such as Win2K or
WinNT. In those cases, the boot folder inherits the prior name, usually
\WinNT. That's what happened when I upgraded from Win2K to WinXP.

When you reinstalled WinXP, you must have told it to do a "clean install",
rather than an upgrade; that's why you got the new \Windows folder. Your
opening menu should give you the choice between the two copies of WinXP, but
they probably look identical unless you've edited C:\boot.ini. You haven't
installed any applications yet in the second copy, so you can't run those
programs from there; even though all the program files are in place, the
required entries have not been made in the Registry under \Windows.

However, the Registry under \WinNT should still be intact; if you can boot
to that copy of WinXP, all should be as before. Is your WinNT folder still
intact? It should have many subfolders and files, totaling at least 1.5 GB.
If so, then you should be able to recover fully by following these steps.

First, go to System Properties | Advanced | Startup and Recovery Settings.
Under System startup, click the Edit button. This will load C:\boot.ini
into Notepad so that you can edit it. Look under [operating systems].
There should be a line for each copy of WinXP you have installed. They
should be almost identical, but one should show \WINNT=, the other
\WINDOWS=. Keep the line with \WINNT; delete the other one. Save the
edited file. Reselect the Default operating system (only one choice should
be available now) and OK your way all the way out and reboot.

This SHOULD boot you into your original WinXP (in \WinNT), with all your
applications intact. If so, you are almost done. Just delete the \Windows
folder - and all its GB or so of contents. (If you are actually booted into
\Windows, WinXP will not let you delete it.)

If the boot.ini file is not as I expected, please paste the contents of
boot.ini into your next post.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@corridor.net
Microsoft Windows MVP

"Marcia Sarellana" <msarellana@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:033e01c35ac0$3e5367e0$a401280a@phx.gbl...

> I had to reinstall XP on my system. Originally it was
> installed to a "winnt" directory, but when I reinstalled
> it, it installed to a "windows" directory. Now none of my
> programs that were installed show up. Is there a way to
> re-associate these programs to the new installation? I
> still have the winnt directory, but cannot get it to boot
> to it.

On Mon, 4 Aug 2003 12:40:22 -0700, Marcia Sarellana wrote:

> I had to reinstall XP on my system. Originally it was
> installed to a "winnt" directory, but when I reinstalled
> it, it installed to a "windows" directory. Now none of my
> programs that were installed show up. Is there a way to
> re-associate these programs to the new installation? I
> still have the winnt directory, but cannot get it to boot
> to it.

The programs are not installed in your new XP installation; that's why they
don't show up in the start menu. All of the records for them are in the
registry of the old XP setup.

You'll need to reinstall the programs to get them up to speed in the new
installation.

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP/ Windows XP - Shell/User

R.C
Thanks for your help; you are very clear and concise.
Yes, I still have the WinNT folder, but when I try to boot
to it, I get a message that says:
Windows XP could not start because the following files
were missing or corrupted:

WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows
setup from original floppies or boot from CD-ROM.
Select 'r' at first screen to repair

Normally this message also contains a phrase that says
NTLDR MISSING, but not in this instance. I have read the
Knowledge Base article 315233 concerning using the fixboot
command through the Recovery Console, but when I do this,
it says it fixed it, but I still get the same message.
Can I copy Ntldr and Ntdetect.com from the Windows
installation into the WinNT installation and where do they
go? The root of C drive or in the WinNT folder? I looked
on my XP installation CD for these files, but I couldn't
find them in the I386 folder. Maybe I am just reading
this article wrong.

>-----Original Message-----
>Hi, Marcia.
>
>When WinXP is installed, its "boot folder" is named

\Windows, by default,

>EXCEPT when we UPGRADE from a previous Windows version,

such as Win2K or

>WinNT. In those cases, the boot folder inherits the

prior name, usually

>\WinNT. That's what happened when I upgraded from Win2K

to WinXP.

>
>When you reinstalled WinXP, you must have told it to do

a "clean install",

>rather than an upgrade; that's why you got the new

\Windows folder. Your

>opening menu should give you the choice between the two

copies of WinXP, but

>they probably look identical unless you've edited

C:\boot.ini. You haven't

>installed any applications yet in the second copy, so you

can't run those

>programs from there; even though all the program files

are in place, the

>required entries have not been made in the Registry under

\Windows.

>
>However, the Registry under \WinNT should still be

intact; if you can boot

>to that copy of WinXP, all should be as before. Is your

WinNT folder still

>intact? It should have many subfolders and files,

totaling at least 1.5 GB.

>If so, then you should be able to recover fully by

following these steps.

>
>First, go to System Properties | Advanced | Startup and

Recovery Settings.

>Under System startup, click the Edit button. This will

load C:\boot.ini

>into Notepad so that you can edit it. Look under

[operating systems].

>There should be a line for each copy of WinXP you have

installed. They

>should be almost identical, but one should show \WINNT=,

the other

>\WINDOWS=. Keep the line with \WINNT; delete the other

one. Save the

>edited file. Reselect the Default operating system (only

one choice should

>be available now) and OK your way all the way out and

reboot.

>
>This SHOULD boot you into your original WinXP (in

\WinNT), with all your

>applications intact. If so, you are almost done. Just

delete the \Windows

>folder - and all its GB or so of contents. (If you are

actually booted into

>\Windows, WinXP will not let you delete it.)
>
>If the boot.ini file is not as I expected, please paste

the contents of

>boot.ini into your next post.
>
>RC
>--
>R. C. White, CPA
>San Marcos, TX
>rc@corridor.net
>Microsoft Windows MVP
>
>"Marcia Sarellana" <msarellana@earthlink.net> wrote in

message

>news:033e01c35ac0$3e5367e0$a401280a@phx.gbl...

my

boot

>
>
>.
>

Hi, Marcia.

You may have a dozen or more copies of ntldr, ntdetect.com and boot.ini
scattered around your HDs, but the only ones that count are the ones in the
Root of the System Partition (the first primary partition on the first HD
the BIOS finds when it boots up - almost always labeled Drive C.

When the computer starts to boot, it's pretty dumb. About all it knows is
to read the first physical sector of the first HD, which contains the MBR,
including the partition table that tells where each partition starts and
which one of them is currently Active (bootable). The MBR knows just enough
to read the "boot sector" of this bootable partition (C and to run the few
bytes of code it finds there. These few bytes don't know about drive
letters yet, or about multiple HDs, or even about subdirectories. All they
know is to look in the Root directory of that system partition for a file
called ntldr, load it, and run it. Ntldr looks for C:\boot.ini; it doesn't
look all over the drives, just in C:\, the Root of the system partition.
C:\boot.ini contains that opening menu that asks which copy of Windows you
want to boot this time. When you choose (or default), C:\ntdetect.com and
C:\ntldr use C:\boot.ini to determine which HD, which partition, and which
folder contain the rest of Windows, and that version gets booted. As you
can see, C:\boot.ini points to drives and partitions by NUMBER, not by drive
letter. If your drive/partition lineup changes after boot.ini is written,
ntldr and ntdetect.com will be looking in the wrong place for
\WinNT\ntoskrnl.exe and the other files. Something will be found, but it
will not look like what ntldr is expecting, so the process will halt with an
error. It will complain that the files are missing or corrupted, but it
probably is just looking in the wrong place.

> WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

This is a major component of the Windows Registry. There should be a
complete Registry in \WinNT and another complete one in \Windows, as you
have described your installation so far. When you get THIS version of the
message, ntldr is obviously looking in the \Windows boot folder, which is
for your later installation. If it were looking for your original WinXP
installation, it would be looking in \WinNT\system32.

So, as I asked before,

> the contents of

Please post the contents of C:\boot.ini into your next post. You can easily
do this by loading it into Notepad (by using the Edit button in System
Properties | Advanced | Startup and Recovery Settings, for example), then
<Ctrl>+A to select it all, <Ctrl>+C to copy it, then <Ctrl>+V to paste it
into your Compose window.

Also, please tell us how many HDs you have, how they are partitioned, which
physical drive and which partition holds \WinNT and which holds \Windows.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@corridor.net
Microsoft Windows MVP

"Marcia" <msarellana@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:00e301c35b6d$9eb1ef50$a301280a@phx.gbl...

> R.C
> Thanks for your help; you are very clear and concise.
> Yes, I still have the WinNT folder, but when I try to boot
> to it, I get a message that says:
> Windows XP could not start because the following files
> were missing or corrupted:
>
> WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
> You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows
> setup from original floppies or boot from CD-ROM.
> Select 'r' at first screen to repair
>
> Normally this message also contains a phrase that says
> NTLDR MISSING, but not in this instance. I have read the
> Knowledge Base article 315233 concerning using the fixboot
> command through the Recovery Console, but when I do this,
> it says it fixed it, but I still get the same message.
> Can I copy Ntldr and Ntdetect.com from the Windows
> installation into the WinNT installation and where do they
> go? The root of C drive or in the WinNT folder? I looked
> on my XP installation CD for these files, but I couldn't
> find them in the I386 folder. Maybe I am just reading
> this article wrong.
>

> \Windows, by default,

> such as Win2K or

> prior name, usually

> to WinXP.

> a "clean install",

> \Windows folder. Your

> copies of WinXP, but

> C:\boot.ini. You haven't

> can't run those

> are in place, the

> \Windows.

> intact; if you can boot

> WinNT folder still

> totaling at least 1.5 GB.

> following these steps.

> Recovery Settings.

> load C:\boot.ini

> [operating systems].

> installed. They

> the other

> one. Save the

> one choice should

> reboot.

> \WinNT), with all your

> delete the \Windows

> actually booted into

> the contents of

> message

> my

> boot