How to reinstall windows.old (win7) after installing win7 for 2nd time

[ajansson]

Thanks to the stellar customer service at Dell I have had to recently reinstall windows 7. I was running windows 7 prior to this installation and therefore those files have been moved to windows old. How do I reinstall this file? I'm assuming the process is the same as for other versions but being as I'm not that technically savvy I don't know how to change the command scripts to suit my situation. Can someone help me?

 

[Brink]

Hello Ajansson. and welcome to Seven Forums.

It depends on what you wanted to restore/reinstall. If you just wanted files back from the Windows.old folder, then you could just copy and paste them back into your new installation. Programs and drivers must be reinstalled though.

If you wanted to restore your system back to the previous Windows 7 installation that is now in the Windows.old folder, then the tutorial below should be able to help with that.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/16282-windows-old-folder-restore-into-new-installation.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[ajansson]

I did look at that link prior to posting my question. My problem is that is refers to Windows Vista. My old file is Windows 7. I'm not sure how to change the script to suit my purpose.
When i insert my disk it automatically goes to set up and does not give the option to repair.

 

[Brink]

Ajansson,

It doesn't matter what the previous installation was for the Windows.old folder. You can use the tutorial exactly for Windows 7 as well.

What type of Windows 7 installation disc do you have? For example: retail, retail OEM, factory OEM (came with computer), student, anytime upgrade, etc......

 

[ajansson]

Its the Alienware disc that came with the computer

 

[Brink]

Ah, that would be why then. That is a OEM factory recovery disc, and it can only be used to do a clean reinstall with it.

How to Use Alienware Respawn to Restore a Computer Back to Its Original Factory Configuration - KB Article - 350137 | Dell

You could create and use a system repair disc, then boot from it to a command prompt and restore the previous installation from the Windows.old folder though.

 

[ajansson]

Thank you for your help so far. I think I'm one step closer to getting everything back the way it was.

I was able to get in to the command prompt. I have entered in all of the moves but am stuck on:

"9) Now we need to restore the boot sector of the previous installation.NOTE: D: represents the DVD drive in the following commands. If the DVD drive on the computer is represented by a different letter, such as E:, use that letter in the command."

It gives 1 option for server 2003, 2000 and xp and another one for vista.

What should I do here?

If I understand correctly I do not need to do #10.

 

[Brink]

Audrey,

Yes, you would not need to do step 10. For Windows 7, follow the one for Vista since it's the same in Windows 7 as well.

 

[ajansson]

Didn't work. I'm still in my recent version of windows.
Doesn't appear as though anything moved either.
Any suggestions?

 

[gregrocker]

I'm missing why you are wanting to roll back your Win7 Custom install to what it was. Perhaps if you provide this piece of the puzzle we can better help you with options.

One reason it requires clarification is I don't recall anyone ever asking us before how to "reinstall" their Win7 by running the windows.old folder. It makes me wonder if you're being correctly understood.

If the problem is that you have a reinstall you're dissatisfied with, consider backing up your files (as should be done first anyway - never rely on windows.old for that), boot the Reinstall DVD and follow these steps to get a perfect reinstall based on thousands done here: Reinstalling Windows 7

 

[ajansson]

I had phoned Dell to get help with a video card issue. They decided to make some changes to my computer ( and no a back up was not done first). Unfortunately this individual did not know what they were doing and my computer would no longer load windows not even from a boot disk. After much playing around we were able to get windows reinstalled however everything had moved to windows old. I was hoping to bring back the windows old so that I would not have to reinstall everything. I spent all day yesterday reinstalling all of my drivers and today am working on installing office. A simple question has become a nightmare - one that I have spent over 14 hours on so far.

 

[gregrocker]

I see. Dismal. In that case I can understand why you might have wanted to roll back windows.old to have your old install back - especially because reinstall should be the last resort during troubleshooting of a display issue. Did they have you reinstall the card driver, then the card? We have experts here who know video cards well enough they could have you sorted quickly.

What I can reassure you is that a clean reinstall is better than getting a new computer today with all of the pre-installed bloatware, providing you used a Reinstallation DVD and not the bloated Recovery Disks. If you take the time now to get it right then save a Backup Image you'll never have to reinstall again - just reimage from the stored image in 20 minutes if Win7 ever becomes irreparable again, ideally after giving us a chance to help you repair it.

Again here are steps to get a perfect reinstall which might also help with your setup and maintenance: Reinstalling Windows 7

In case that was a factory recovery disk you used, here are steps to Clean up factory bloatware to get best performance.

And here are basic troubleshooting steps to save if you need them. Feel free to post up any other related issues here, or start a new thread at any time for others.

 

[ajansson]

Okay. Here's my new question. I can access an older back up however if I try to restore it will not go to my new account. I can transfer some items but cant access other eg. outlook.pst file. I now have to sets of user files but only one user account. Urrgghhh! How can I fix this mess?
Audrey

 

[gregrocker]

What kind of backup is it? Image backup or file backup? Which app did you use?

Easiest method for backing up files is dragging active User folders along with mail backup,etc. to external manually, without the extra layers of potential failure with a transfer or backup program.