Repair Install

maxseven said:

DonGateley said:

That a repair can't be done from booting it is just plain perverse. I haven't actually verified that is the case because I'm afraid to try it to see because it could wipe everything out by accident.

Well, I don't get this either--I thought a Repair Install should boot-and-repair regardless of what is (or is not) in the existing installation. The fact that it's so ugly (and I believe too "could wipe everything out by accident") is THE reason I never tried it, relying instead on image backups.

There is a "Repair" that you can get to from the first installation disk boot screen but it is the same as what you get from most system's F8 boot selection screen or a "Windows Repair Disk" which does nothing more than try to fix things to the point where it will boot. What, apparently, you can't do from an installation boot, but can do if you are lucky enough that it run from setup.exe in a booted system, is what used to be called an over-install which left everything but the OS and a few settings alone.

Since I have this screwed up installation backed up and know I can restore it exactly I just might see what happens if I attempt an over-install from an installation disk. I don't even know if the option is presented.

The final option is to use PCmover from Laplink to export the application configuration and see if I can import it to a clean install. I used PCmover once a couple of years ago to upgrade a loaded Win 7 laptop to a virgin new one and it worked amazingly well.

DonGateley said:

To me that's the most unbelievably stupid thing. That for Win 7 Microsoft requires you to have a well running installation in order to repair a broken installation. Unbelievable. That a repair can't be done from booting it is just plain perverse. I haven't actually verified that is the case because I'm afraid to try it to see because it could wipe everything out by accident. I'll take Blink's word that it doesn't work instead.

Hello Don,

You must remember that this "repair install" is technically only a workaround using an in-place upgrade used to attempt to repair your installation without having to do a clean install.

Of course, an in-place upgrade (repair install) can only be done from within Windows, and not at boot. This I can verify 100%.

Only what is mentioned at the top of the tutorial will be affected in your installation. As usual, you should always keep backups of anything that you do not want to lose since anything could happen. :)

Brink said:

You must remember that this "repair install" is technically only a workaround using an in-place upgrade used to attempt to repair your installation without having to do a clean install.

In lieu of Microsoft providing a real way to repair. Heavy sigh.

Of course, an in-place upgrade (repair install) can only be done from within Windows, and not at boot. This I can verify 100%.

It occurred to me that they might inhibit repair (upgrade) install from a boot disk for security, to keep someone with such a disk from hijacking a password protected machine. There are better ways to accomplish that but preventing it at all would seem to be the easiest.

Sorry I called you Blink up there. Srip of the finger.

Hello Richard,

If you Windows installation has all of it's Windows Updates installed, then you would need to download and use the latest Windows 7 SP1 Media Refresh (SP1 U) ISO file instead. :)

Repair installation of Win 7 SP1 would require a 7 w/SP1 disk.

Glad we could help Richard.

If you used you original DVD, the repair install would fail since it the installed Windows is a newer version than the DVD is for.