Windows.old folder - Restore into a new installation

ursuchascene said:

Hi Lordbob,

No i didn't. I just did a custom install w.o formatting the other drives.

Thanks for the reply.

Other drives? Did you install Windows 7 to a new drive, or over your old installation?

~Lordbob

Oh I see. Well, you can't do an upgrade, you have to do a clean install over it, especially if you have a corrupted install.

Also, this will not save your programs, merely your data. You will have to reinstall them anyways.

~Lordbob

Just one important point I noticed when restoring XP using Windows.old:

Step 7 in tutorial, four first commands are correct. But Documents and Settings in Seven is a junction point, which, correct me if I'm wrong, can not be renamed. It can only be removed, therefore the last command shown in step 7 should be:

Code:

rmdir "C:\Documents and Settings"

Other than that, these instructions are perfect. I have now tested on two different computers, both had XP Pro SP3 before installing Seven. I have now successfully restored XP on both rigs, following these instructions with the mentioned change.

After restoring SP, everything works perfectly, XP being exactly what it was before installing Seven. All previously installed applications and software like Office 2003, old games and so on. All settings were restored, from desktop wallpaper and icon placing to Outlook rules.

Here's a screenshot of commands needed, the same than in original tutorial with that one change:



Kari

Thanks Kari. Does my change look correct to you? I didn't have a chance to check it with XP.

~Lordbob

Yes, it's OK.

Without removing the junction point, you get Access denied error when trying to move XP's Document and Settings from Windows.old to root. I spent weekend "practicing" all possible upgrade and "revert back to old OS" scenarios, doing several in-place upgrades, normal upgrades, clean and custom installs, and every time trying to revert Seven back to XP got this error. Somehow my small brain refused to understand why i couldn't rename it, until I got it. You just can not rename a junction point with built-in tools. But because it's just a junction point, there's nothing to loose removing it completely, you can always use mklink /J to recreate it if needed, so removing it is the simplest solution.

I have to say it one more time: Absolutely perfect solution to those who don't want to keep Seven. In my tests at least, everything went perfectly. Every single program worked as before, all files and settings intact.

It's very good to know this really works!

Kari

Thanks for testing that out Kari! Appreciated very much. Too bad I can't rep you...

~Lordbob