Will New Install OverWrite Documents and Settings

[Spinman]

Hi -

I am using two distinct hard drives for my system (not partitions)

Drive C:\Windows

Drive C:\Program Files

et al

I've previsouly used:

[GuiUnattended]

ProfilesDir="D:\Documents and Settings"

to locate the documents and settings on drive d:

If I do a new install using my unattended installation cd - will I lose all the data contained in the shared documents files and the userspecific my document files - or will the install safely overlay the new directories onto the existing directories?

If the users are not specified during the install - I would assume that their specific files are safe until the user accounts are created.

***************

When doing a new install on top of an existing setup (no automatic format) - the existing windows directory is swaped with a new directory to ensure there is no "cross mingling" between the two.

Is there any way to rename or swap out the existing "program files" directory so I can tell which are valid installations and which are bogus because they are no longer referenced in the registry?

Thanks for any thoughts -

[amirali_esh]

No it will not replace them. When setup finds that the username that you have specified already has a directory in Documents and Settings it will create a different directory. Say that there is a already a directory called MyName in the Documents and Settings. When you enter the MyName is Post Setup screen as a user account setup will create something like MyName.MachineName or MyName1 and so on. So you don't have to worry. Personally I would like this behavious so before installing Windows XP I move my required data to a directory called Backup and then delete Documents and Settings and after installation I move back my data to my home directory.

Regards,

Amir A. Eshghi

[Spinman]

One clarification...

So in my case, I have:

d:\documents and settings\administrator

d:\documents and settings\all users

d:\documents and settings\default user

d:\documents and settings\spinman

When the new install is executed - I would now have a fifth directory:

d:\documents and settings\spinman1

I could then transfer all the various folders and files from spinman to spinman1 and manually delete spinman.

What happens to administrator, all users, and default user - do they also get renamed to administrator1, all users1 and default user1?

or do they keep the original names?

[i have 40g of data files in the shared documents subfolders under all users - and want to ensure that they would also remain safe and intact...]

(yes I do have a backup for emergencies)

[amirali_esh]

If you have :

d:\documents and settings\administrator

d:\documents and settings\all users

d:\documents and settings\default user

d:\documents and settings\spinman

then set up will generate :

d:\documents and settings\administrator.computername

d:\documents and settings\all users.computername

d:\documents and settings\default user.computername

d:\documents and settings\spinman.computername

But be carefull. Be certain that your documents and settings and any subfolder of it isn't crypted or have any special permissions (on NTFS drivers) or you will not be able to access them after your new installation.

[Limerick]

Hello all,

I'd like to know if it is possible, after the new install, to easily go back to

d:\documents and settings\administrator

instead of

d:\documents and settings\administrator.computername

Is it possible to rename administrator.computername by administrator ? And so on for all the other users.

[VSFreak]

that's something i'd like to know aswell

[jbarnes007]

I don't think u can. I will put it this way, I've never done it on an Unattended but I've done it on a machine already with an OS on it. You can rename it but as soon as you log in again the next time, it will create another profile with an extension on it.

[Nanaki]

Yes, you can. But you have to adjust _every_ registrykey referring to it. I don't advice it.