Reinstalled Win7 Ultimate from CD now want to go back

[easternshore]

I reinstalled Win7 Ultimate from the CD and now want to use windows.old to go back. I reinstalled because I thought it may have been corrupted because of power outages while I was online. I apparently did not do it right because all of my documents, pictures, installed programs, and data such as AutoCad drawings, etc. are not in the new install. I have looked for many hours on how to do this buy find the instructions confusing and sometimes contradictory.

Where are the latest correct instructions?

 

[mrjimphelps]

You didn't happen to back up your hard drive before doing the reinstall, did you?

What kind of reinstall did you do? Did you overwrite only what was in the Windows folder? If that's what you did, then everything outside of the Windows folder should still be there. Make sure you are logged in with Administrator rights when you are searching on your hard drive for the docs, pictures, etc.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi easternshore, welcome to Seven Forums,

In addition to mrjimphelps answer, these might help you:

What is in Windows.old Folder?

What does Windows.old folder contain?

I hope this helps!

 

[SIW2]

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/971760/how-to-restore-a-windows-7-based-computer-to-a-previous-windows-instal

If you want to do it visually instead of using the commands in the above link , you can use this boot media. You will be able to see what you are doing.

64 bit boot media
17514x64-v5.iso

32 bit boot media
A23x86.iso



It is quite easy -I have done it several times.

 

[Ranger4]

Easternshore. This Forum tutorial might help you.

Windows.old folder - Restore into a new installation - Windows 7 Help Forums

If the above does not work you will have to reinstall Windows again from the Windows DVD. However, when you do a fresh install you will lose all your documents, pictures & data files & any installed software programs, which will have to be reinstalled. So you do need to keep this in mind, so perhaps you can now see why a regular back up image of computer is virtually essential.

It seems that SIW2 & I have much the same suggestion, so you pick which one you can try.

 

[SIW2]

1. Boot into the media I provided above.

2. From within that booted media, create an empty folder on your Windows partition and give it a name e.g. win7

3. MOVE the following folders from your windows partition INTO the win7 folder you just created:

Windows
Users
Program Files
Program Files (x86)
ProgramData

4. MOVE the following folders FROM Windows.Old folder onto your Windows partition:

Windows
Users
Program Files
Program Files (x86)
ProgramData

 

[easternshore]

I need some specific instructions on 1. "Boot into the media I provided above." It seems to be an iso file, which if I execute I'm not sure what it's purpose is or what it does.

 

[SIW2]

You can burn the iso as an image to a cd/dvd. Then restart the machine and select cdrom /dvdrom as the boot device.

Or you can extract the iso to usb using rufus or this:
View attachment Usb7ice.zip

The restart the machine and select usb as the boot device.

You must know how to boot from cdrom or usb because you installed win7.

 

[easternshore]

Why do I have to boot from the A23x86.isofile? Why cant I just move those files without doing that? i apologize here, please forgive my ignorance.

 

[SIW2]

You can't move those system files from within windows.

 

[easternshore]

Ah, gotcha. Will try that this morning. Thanks.

 

[easternshore]

Oh, I guess the "rolleyes" means that was a stupid question. Again, I apologize for my ignorance.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi easternshore,

Oh, I guess the "rolleyes" means that was a stupid question. Again, I apologize for my ignorance.

No apologies necessary.

There are no stupid questions. Everyone has a different degree of knowledge when it comes to computers. We all have to start somewhere and we all ask questions in order to expand our knowledge and experience, hopefully to be able to help other people in the future.

I hope this helps!

 

[easternshore]

Unfortunately, that didn't work for me. After rebooting got a message about the User Profile was illegal and could not be loaded.
I have backup files on external drives that are 3 or 4 months old. I will restore the latest one and try to move missing files individually. I copied the "Windows.old" folder to the external drive earlier as insurance.
Thanks SIW2 and Paul Black for your time and help.

 

[RolandJS]

I believe the rolling eyes were aimed at Microsoft. Recovering your documents, spreadsheets, and all other created data will be a very geek-filled possibly long process. Whatever you do in the meantime, it is best to not write on the media such things were stored on until a full-fledged full-blown data recovery is attempted.
Question for the others because I do not know the answer: are we sure windows.old will contain OP's documents, data, etc? I thought under certain conditions, windows install or reinstall will not save data within windows.old - am I incorrect?

 

[SIW2]

You might have set a different username when you did your fresh install, so the path to the users will be different after restoring from Windows.Old.

The easy way to fix that:
1. boot into the media again
2.delete Documents and Settings link from the Windows partition
3.move the original Documents and Settings link from Windows.Old onto your windows partition.