save/export all Windows personalizations and settings?

Hello y'all!

I am having problems with WMP, something about codecs, and with IE, it loses keystrokes in Webforms. So, I wanted to reinstall/repair them. Apparently, the only way to do this is with a Windows Repair Install. I know there was a disclosure at the beginning of this tutorial about all the things that would be lost by doing this, but surely, there must be a way to export all of your personal Windows settings??? These, to me, include Theme - Wallpaper, personal cursors, Taskbar Settings, Windows login screen changes, Personal User Icons, etc., Internet Explorer preferences, such as Homepage and behavior on opening tabs, etc., all customizations! Can these not be saved in a file(s) before doing a repair install? Can you not "repair" Windows the same way you "repair" Office or other program installs? After all these are just apps...

FWIW, I do have a separate data partition on my HD, but having just created it, none of the images I created in Macrium want to work, so I cannot just go back to my original image of a Windows Stable Install after Customizations.

Will I lose anything if I do an sfc /scannow? What about uninstalling and reinstalling WMP from the Media Components as described elsewhere on this forum?

I will await your replies. In the meantime, I think I will now run a Macrium image so I will at least have my sort of working system to go back to instead of 'square one'.

Thanks you guys!

juanantoniod said:

Hello y'all!

I am having problems with WMP, something about codecs, and with IE, it loses keystrokes in Webforms. So, I wanted to reinstall/repair them. Apparently, the only way to do this is with a Windows Repair Install. I know there was a disclosure at the beginning of this tutorial about all the things that would be lost by doing this, but surely, there must be a way to export all of your personal Windows settings??? These, to me, include Theme - Wallpaper, personal cursors, Taskbar Settings, Windows login screen changes, Personal User Icons, etc., Internet Explorer preferences, such as Homepage and behavior on opening tabs, etc., all customizations! Can these not be saved in a file(s) before doing a repair install? Can you not "repair" Windows the same way you "repair" Office or other program installs? After all these are just apps...

FWIW, I do have a separate data partition on my HD, but having just created it, none of the images I created in Macrium want to work, so I cannot just go back to my original image of a Windows Stable Install after Customizations.

Will I lose anything if I do an sfc /scannow? What about uninstalling and reinstalling WMP from the Media Components as described elsewhere on this forum?

I will await your replies. In the meantime, I think I will now run a Macrium image so I will at least have my sort of working system to go back to instead of 'square one'.

Thanks you guys!

Question 1: the closest they have come to making a program that does that is the Easy Transfer Tool.

Question 2: SFC will not touch non-system files.

Question 3: Go ahead and try uninstalling/reinstalling WMP. At worst, it just won't hurt anything.

I ended up figuring out how to restore my clean, sleek, Macrium image that was made shortly after install. So I will still use your valuable help, but I also need some resources on the steps I am going to follow. Please see below:

Well, I finally figured out how to get my system to recognize the Macrium Images I previously made, so I am going to restore to a clean system restore I made before I started having problems, then re-do making the Data partition, and moving the files appropriately. So, I am good to go. There are a couple of things that would still help though:

1. A Windows 7 OS save settings/export settings tool which would save the customizations I have made since the clean, stable install;

2. An Outlook settings transfer tool, which would transfer or export the email setups, as well as all of the Outlook Options I have personally configured; and

3. A way to determine what changes I have made to my system since the Macrium Image was created. That way, I can pick and choose which apps I want to reinstall and which ones I do not. I tried going in to the System Restore settings, and it turns out that, when I created the Data partition and moved the files, it turned off the System Restore. Nevertheless, there were many changes made before that, which may have created restore points that I could use to identify the changes that need to be re-made. If there is a 'back door' into the System Restore log, or another system change log, it would be very advantageous to have.

So, if anyone can help me with any of these, I would have the utmost gratitude. Bill2 was kind and diligent enough to locate a superb tool for exporting my Internet Explorer settings, so that will prove most helpful. If I had such a tool for Outlook [2010], and Windows 7 OS settings, I would be ecstatic!

Thanks to all who contributed to my dilemma. I cannot express in words how grateful I am for you sharing your knowledge and insights with me. I will be "awarding rep" later today, after things settle out and I find out which posts I can give the rep to. This forum kind of limits the rep I can spread around, but I will try to give as much credit where it is due.

With utmost appreciation,