[Question] sp1 fixboot and fixmbr for sp2 system?

[masahiro]

Suppose:

-- I have a Windows XP Pro CD, at SP1.

-- a dual-boot system; one of the OSs is XP Pro SP2

-- I want to use fixboot and fixmbr to restore the system to XP Pro SP2 only

Can I use my SP1 CD to run fixboot and fixmbr to "fix" the SP2 system? Does anybody know for a fact whether that will work? Or is it possible that I might come across some errors?

(Yes, I know that I could just create a "slipstreamed" CD, updated to SP2 -- problem is I can't do this with my copy of the XP SP1 CD, as it's an OEM CD.)

If I can't use the SP1 CD to run fixboot and fixmbr to "fix" my SP2 system, what's a good alternative approach? Would it be a bad idea to uninstall SP2, run fixboot and fixmbr from the SP1 CD, and then reinstall SP2?

Any advice you all can offer would be greatly appreciated!!

[cluberti]

Fixmbr would work, but not sure about fixboot. Fixmbr simply clears the MBR and reloads it with Microsoft goo, but fixboot does attempt to replace system files and check things like boot.ini, so I'd do this with an SP2 CD if at all possible. If you do fixboot with an SP1 CD, I'd suggest running sfc /scannow as soon as you get back into the machine.

[masahiro]

Well, I tried running fixmbr from my SP1 CD today. Got the "nonstandard" / "invalid" table warning, so I cancelled the request. Does anybody have any idea: (1) why that warning is appearing, (2) whether it will be a bad idea to run fixmbr anyway, or (3) what a good solution would be to restore my system to just XP?

FYI: the other OS on my system is Fedora Core 2 (I like it, but I don't like having a dual-boot system anymore -- prefer having separate machines with one OS on each machine), with the GRUB boot loader.

[Nakatomi2010]

Why not slipstream SP2 into your XP CD?

[nmX.Memnoch]

(Yes, I know that I could just create a "slipstreamed" CD, updated to SP2 -- problem is I can't do this with my copy of the XP SP1 CD, as it's an OEM CD.)

What does it being an OEM CD have to do with slipstreaming SP2?

[masahiro]

What does it being an OEM CD have to do with slipstreaming SP2?

I get an error message when I try to slipstream -- the guides I've looked at suggest that this is common occurrence with OEM CDs. E.g., the following is from this guide:

This type of CD's will usually be from larger OEM suppliers (like Dell, HP, or others) .... You cannot use this type of CD to create a slipstreamed SP2 install.

However, I just came across what might be a possible solution to that problem -- so I'll try and see if that works.

[masahiro]

Well, I managed to create a slipstreamed SP2 CD by deleting some files from the SP1 CD. Unfortunately however, I can't seem to use it to access "Repair" -- when I hit "r," the computer just restarts. So, probably I did something bad when I was trying to create the slipstreamed CD.

FYI: the files (folder) I deleted were, from the I386 folder -- SP1.CAT, SP1.CAB, SVCPACK.INF, and [sVCPACK]. I also deleted the folder [sBSI], as it was taking up a great deal of space, and appears to only be an instructional folder (?).

IN ANY CASE: I suspect that the warning message I encountered (see my second post above) would still occur even if I used a SP2 CD (unless anybody feels otherwise?). So: the question remains -- how can I properly restore my computer to SP2 only? Should I run 'fixmbr' despite the warning? Should I just reinstall Windows? Etc...

[masahiro]

Well, I did some more Google searching, and found a discussion on a forum that suggested that it would be perfectly OK to run 'fixmbr' despite the warning message. Apparently the warning does appear bc it detects the Linux OS as a problem. (?)

SO: I ran 'fixmbr' on my computer, crossing my fingers and praying hard, and lo-and-behold IT WORKED! *whew* No more boot menu, and everything seems to be fully operational so far.

Thanks for the insight, cluberti!