Al Lowe

Yup, tried that numerous times, no luck. Had to install over the current installation. Found out part of the problem afterwards. My user account directory is wiped out. I know this isn't normal because my wife's old user account directory is still intact, and I've been able to recover some/most of her items and move them to the new directory (Document and Settings). Of course I've had to reinstall most things. Most of them pick up the old info after being reinstalled, only a few have not. Right now I don't know what is wrong with my old user account. Windows says it has 0 files and 0 subfolders, it's apparently locked, I can't get into it, nor can I delete it. The "Read only" status appears to be permanent, even though I've tried altering it in safe mode as the administrator. What a pain in the butt. Oh well, thanks for all the suggestions, even if they didn't work.

I seem to recall a method where a file was either deleted or renamed, then the install would be run, and while it treated it like a fresh install, it saved user setups and such. Does anyone recall anything like that??

Unfortunately, I've tried that numerous times. While it does run without any trouble, it doesn't seem to do any good. I still have the same problem after it's finished.

I finally got Restore to run, unfortunately, there are no restore points! Does anyone know how to reinstall and not lose anything, or am I beyond that at this point?? I did try creating another profile, but it crapped out too.

Sorry to say, that didn't work.

I can do that. I'll try it when I get home and see what happens. Thanks,

The problem I have is this, Windows XP (Home Edition) does not completely load the desktop. Essentially, it loads the wallpaper, and that's it. It does this in both normal and safe mode for the two user (with admin properties) profiles, but it eventually loads the administrator profile in safe mode. I've tried repair installation and winnt32 /unattend as well. Neither solution has fixed the problem. Does ANYONE have any ideas other than reformating? (Which I'm starting to seriously consider at this time.) I'd really like to keep my current settings if possible. I vaguely recall some decent instructions on a re-install that did not lose my settings, that I did about 4 months ago. Problem is, I can't find them!! Thank you.