Repairing Windows XP in Eight Commands

Ivan · May 2010

primesuspect · Jul 2010

Gyro Gearloose said:
Some Command Line Interpreters
might need
"aattrib -r -s -h" (without the quotes)
instead of
"attrib -rsh" (without the quotes)
to clear all the flags. This is true in Windows 2000. YMMV

You're gonna wanna watch those typos.

Gyro Gearloose · Jul 2010

aatrib

=ouch!=

I stand corrected.

Gyro Gearloose · Jul 2010

All joking aside:

Killing your boot.ini and doing a sanity check
might work, provided the user is not in
multiboot environment.

That said: it is NEVER a good idea to delete or modify ANY system file without first backing up the original version.

A typical multi-boot setup, using ntldr to chainload to grub, might look like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=12
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="XP Pro" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

c:\bolin="CentOS"

C:\="WIN 98"

c:\bodos="DOS622" /win95dos

c:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Recovery Console" /CMDCONS

Should this get deleted or overwritten, it would be nice to have a copy, to manually reconstruct from, if nothing else.

Summarily blowing away the boot.ini is not a swell idea, in any event.

MrTRiot · Jul 2010

As far as a "multiboot environment" that's going to be pretty rare considering any PC, no matter what it is will always run better with a single OS rather then 2 or more....

The people adding multi boot sequences should be tech-savvy enough to figure out the problem on there own or at least be able to google until they find an answer....

"Searching google for long enough will solve all life's problems"

Tushon · Jul 2010

Mr TRiot said:
As far as a "multiboot environment" that's going to be pretty rare considering any PC, no matter what it is will always run better with a single OS rather then 2 or more...

Ehhh I dont know how valid this is. Maybe partially true, as in the "inner" OSs, those farther in on the disk, will be "slower" but that is only marginally so and if you are using a SSD, I would think that there would be zero performance degradation.

MrTRiot · Jul 2010

Tushon said:
Ehhh I dont know how valid this is. Maybe partially true, as in the "inner" OSs, those farther in on the disk, will be "slower" but that is only marginally so and if you are using a SSD, I would think that there would be zero performance degradation.

I don't see the point in running multi OS's on one system unless it's a server. Such as one linux based OS for placing product orders and one OS for a work station environment. Even still that's just lazy on the part of the company for not wanting to dish out more $$ for a workstation

I ran Vista/Ubuntu on my comp for awhile and it just slowed up my boot speed to minutes (typical is 20 seconds or so) and was just generally not as fast as it should of been. I rearranged all files to be as close to the center of the disc to try to improve boot speed and the time it takes for switching OS's. I got maybe a 5% speed increase? Barely worth the effort...

My opinion stands. Unless you're in a work environment or wanting to "try" a new OS (such as Ubuntu) it's always better to use a single OS rather then two. It'll also save you gigs of space to boot...

gabe luna · Jul 2010

I'm trying the steps outlined above, but I dont remember ever setting a Admin pasword, can anyone help

MarkyO · Jul 2010

When you're using XP Home, there will be no password for the Administrator's account. Simply press ENTER.

If you're using XP Pro and you have forgotten your admin password, you could reset it. Simply google for "Offline NT Password & Registry Editor"

Thrax · Jul 2010

Mr TRiot said:
I don't see the point in running multi OS's on one system unless it's a server. Such as one linux based OS for placing product orders and one OS for a work station environment. Even still that's just lazy on the part of the company for not wanting to dish out more $$ for a workstation

I ran Vista/Ubuntu on my comp for awhile and it just slowed up my boot speed to minutes (typical is 20 seconds or so) and was just generally not as fast as it should of been. I rearranged all files to be as close to the center of the disc to try to improve boot speed and the time it takes for switching OS's. I got maybe a 5% speed increase? Barely worth the effort...

My opinion stands. Unless you're in a work environment or wanting to "try" a new OS (such as Ubuntu) it's always better to use a single OS rather then two. It'll also save you gigs of space to boot...

That's not really true, I'm afraid. A boot sector is a boot sector. Adding another OS shouldn't slow down the OS in the slightest.

Also, the center of the disk is not the fastest.

Tushon · Jul 2010

Thrax said:
That's not really true, I'm afraid. A boot sector is a boot sector. Adding another OS shouldn't slow down the OS in the slightest.

Also, the center of the disk is not the fastest.

The mighty cat has spoken.

I think he had the right motive, wrong idea.

ardichoke · Jul 2010

Thrax said:
That's not really true, I'm afraid. A boot sector is a boot sector. Adding another OS shouldn't slow down the OS in the slightest.

Also, the center of the disk is not the fastest.

While adding a second OS won't slow down the operation of the OS at all, it can slow boot times down, especially if you wait for the timeout on your bootloader screen instead of hitting enter. Of course this is just being nitpicky (which I excel at).

louise · Aug 2010

Thank You sooooooo Much , that helped 100% .
God Bless .

LOUISE

Panda · Aug 2010

Didn't anyone see 8Man 's post?

> CHKDSK /? does not list a /F as a valid parameter

there is no F switch. what is the reason behind this? I am on XP SP3 Home Premium

//combined:

Okay, after due diligence, I must report that outside sources indicate that the switch F is implied with the R switch, and that F is only applicable in a DOS shell within an active Windows session.

Dave

//combined:

Okay, after due diligence, I must report that outside sources indicate that the switch F is implied with the R switch, and that /F is only applicable in a DOS shell within an active Windows session.

Dave

Ankit Moradiya · Sep 2010

Thank You So Much.....

Dan · Sep 2010

I changed two exe files as instructed by microsoft tech and after that my computer would not restart it was looking for those two files. I used my operating system cd to get it to started back. It came back on but it partition my hard drive. I have a back up file on my C drive. Can I change those two files back and restore it or is there anything else I can do to restore my computer back the way it was?

Tushon · Sep 2010

If your windows CD matches the service pack on the computer you can run

sfc /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\windows /scannow

from the repair console (you boot from the CD and press r for repair mode [XP] or choose command prompt [vista or later]

2CooL_ZA · Sep 2010

Thanks you very much.
Saved on of my client's Production server on Windows NT.

ØªÙ„ÙÙ† Ú¯ÙˆÛŒØ§ · Sep 2010

Thank you.
this solved my problem

Matt · Sep 2010

thanks so much for the post. when i tried to CHKDSK was told that there are irrecoverable problems. is there anything else i can do?

ardichoke · Sep 2010

If chkdsk is reporting irrecoverable problems you probably have a hard drive that is physically dying. I'd suggest hooking you disk up to another system (using a USB enclosure is the easiest way to do it), back up any data you can pull off it and replace the disk.

The Swede · Oct 2010

I cannot reach the "Welcome to Setup" screen. The blue screen appears before I can get so far.

emilio arteaga · Oct 2010

Thanks very much.Your solution works fine for me.
It is clear and easy to learn.
You deserved a 10 !

Melinda P · Oct 2010

These instructions didn't do anything for me, except give me multiple load identifiers.

However, FIXMBR did help.

I'm not posting this to slam the article - I loved it! It sent me looking in the right direction and taught me way more about Recovery Console than I ever knew.

I just wanted to mention what worked for me, to offer hope to any who enter here & leave despairing (at least temporarily).

Yazid Masa · Oct 2010

Thank you, This worked for me 2

Daryl G · Oct 2010

Great article and i don't mean to slam it but as posted above, a lot of inconsistences. I love the part where it states "Neither of these procedures are cheap in the realm of commercial PC repair, nor do they inspire a tremendous level of confidence in the technician or the hopeful client.", well all I can say is unless you are 100% computer illiterate you would never have taken it to GeekSquad in the first place and pay over-priced service charges from under qualified "technicians", and as Melinda said above, you you truely know the error and what you are doing, FIXMBR has worked perfectly for the errors that need it more times in my career (which is probably twice as long as the average aged tech at Geeksquad) than I care to mention. Also as already stated and a BIG MUST, BACK UP ANY FILE FIRST BEFORE YOU DELETE IT. But thanks geeksquad, because if it wasn't for you guys i wouldn't be so busy fixing the problems you either couldn't or caused.

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