Reinstall Windows XP Without Formatting Your Hard Drive

Sometimes, it is desirable to reinstall Windows XP without formatting your entire hard drive. While simply installing over an old installation may help, folders such as \Windows and \Program Files will become cluttered. This guide explains how to simply delete these folders.

Steps

  1. Get an XP CD, preferably the one you wish to reinstall.
  2. Reboot and configure your computer to boot from the CD, then enter Windows Setup.
  3. When all the drivers (including any you might need to specify yourself) have loaded, you should be at the main Windows Setup screen. Note that if you are using a Trial Copy CD, there will be a screen explaining that the copy is a trial, BEFORE the main Setup screen.
  4. Press "R" to start the Windows Recovery Console.
  5. Select the partition and Windows installation you wish to modify.
  6. The Recovery Console will then prompt you for your Administrator password. If you don't have one, or don't know what it is, see the related wikiHows.
  7. You should now be at a command line. Just like in DOS or the Command Line in Windows, you can use commands to modify, delete, move, etc. files and folders. Back up what you want to save into a folder with a unique name in the root directory, for simplicity, this article calls that folder "save". Enter the "save" directory (chdir C:\save) and copy the files you want to save. If you wish to save everything in the "Documents and settings", enter the save directory and type (without the dashes) -copy C:\Documents and Settings- or -copy C:\Docume~1-. Don't worry about unnecessary hidden folders like Local Settings and Application Data, when you copy the files back into the documents and settings after reinstall, they stay right where they are. Delete this folder after re-installation.
  8. If you wish to completely start from scratch, delete the following (with Windows XP). To delete, type -del "path"-, without the dashes. BE ABSOLUTELY SURE you have saved the files you want to save out of Documents and Settings!
    • \WINDOWS
    • \Program Files
    • \Documents and Settings\username\Application Data
    • \Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings
    • \Documents and Settings\username\NTUSER.DAT
    • \Documents and Settings\username\ntuser.ini
    • \Documents and Settings\username\ntuser.dat.LOG
  9. When this is done, reboot the computer and install a fresh copy of Windows!

Tips

  • You can do much more with the Recovery Console than described here, so look into it. Using the Recovery Console in some situations might be a better alternative to reinstalling Windows completely.

Warnings

  • Do not delete anything other than what is told, or anything in the root drive.

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