Manual repair install...

[Nakatomi2010]

So, my theory is that there's got to be a quicker way to do a repair install of Windows, and I found a list of the files that XP deletes when it's doing an upgrade. Running under the assumption that the Repair Install is in fact an "In Place Upgrade", as Microsoft calls it, then I should be able to just delete those files and then copy over the replacements. I'm not actually looking for a way to go through the install process, most of the time my reasons for having to do repair installs are due to damaged and/or missing files.

So, I want to take the list of files in the txtsetup.sif file and then see what happens when they are deleted and then replaced, and I want it to be able to run from within a PE. (Let's say I Ghost bad hard drive A to good hard drive B then reboot and discover I now have to repair Windows, well using this tool I could just quickly go through replacing files...

So, how hard would it be to make a tool which would ask what version of Windows you're trying to repair, get a list of files and directories for that version, and proceed to delete them, and then ask for the location of the replacement files.

Example:

What version of Windows? Home OEM

<Deleting Home OEM upgrade files>

Where are your source files? X:\setup\xp\xho\

<Copying replacement files>

Done.

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Where <Deleting Home OEM Upgrade files> Would be the list of files to be deleted on upgrade, and <Copying replacement files> would be the same list being copied from the CD.

Probably not the best example, but you get the general idea... If someone could help me in what the best method in creating such a utility is, and how to go about making it I'd appreciate it.. Assuming it doesn't already exist...

My hope is that using a tool like this would save me from calling Microsoft after a repair install, or even backing up the WPA stuff...

Edited July 24, 2006 by Nakatomi2010

[allen2]

You 'd also need to check for service pack version and updates if you don't want to replace all files and the drivers might also cause problems.

The work isn't worth doing it. A ghost is a lot faster.

[Nakatomi2010]

I'm a technician who fixes alot of computers, I look for cheap shots at trying to solve issues... Repair installs are also a great way of circumventing Service pack 2 install issues...

For me while the utility may be alot of work the actual pay off would be better than a ghost as it would be used on multiple machines, where ghost can only be used on one machine.

For ME a utility like this would pretty much be worth the effort, in some cases....