Help with XP cd and formatting.

[TokerxP]

I've messed up a few things trying to add new themes and such to my computer and I wanted to format it. I don't have my XP cd and people say you can make them with the i386 folder. I did a search and found that I have 13 different i386 folders so which one do I use??

List:
 C:\d02c807920125f790f
 C:\WINDOWS\Driver Cache
 C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles
 C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\ServicePackCache
 C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\lib
 C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\XPSEP
 C:\WINDOWS\System32\ReinstallBackups\0000\DriverFiles
 C:\WINDOWS\System32\ReinstallBackups\0001\DriverFiles
 C:\WINDOWS\System32\ReinstallBackups\0003\DriverFiles
 C:\WINDOWS\System32\ReinstallBackups\0004\DriverFiles
 C:\WINDOWS\System32\ReinstallBackups\0005\DriverFiles
 C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\XPSEP\i386
 C:\ProgramFiles\CommonFiles\Adobe\CS4ServiceManager\jre\lib

Those are all of them. Some of them obviously aren't the one to use put I posted all of them anyways. Thank you for reading
 

[patio]

This is certain to fail...

[Allan]

You have 13 different i386 folders? Time to format and reinstall the OS.

[Dusty]

TokerxP - HowToHaven shows instructions on how to create an XP Install disk using the C:\I386 folder which does not appear in your list, search again after bulleting "Show hidden files and folders".  The instructions probably only apply to an XP system which was pre-installed by the vendor (Dell, HP etc), you don't give any info about your hardware.  Please read the instructions carefully especially the Prerequisites and Important Note.

I have not had occasion to use these instructions.

Good luck

[patio]

This is certain to fail...

[Dusty]

Those who do not try will always fail.

[Salmon Trout]

Those who do not try will always fail.

Many of those who try will also fail, especially if their knowledge is incomplete.

[Dusty]

Many of those who try will also fail, especially if their knowledge is incomplete.

That could be said about our foremost research scientists in any field.  But having tried and failed their knowledge level goes up a notch or two.  It's almost as important to know that something tried will fail as it is to know it will lead to success.  The essential is to try.

[Salmon Trout]

It's almost as important to know that something tried will fail as it is to know it will lead to success.  The essential is to try.

That is right, as far as it goes. I read recently (I think it was on Slashdot) that some scientists have said that one reason for humanity's evolutionary success was the fact that we make mistakes. [Edit] It was in Kathryn Schulz's book Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error. "The more scientists understand about cognitive functioning, the more it becomes clear that our capacity to make mistakes is utterly inextricable from what makes the human brain so swift, adaptable, and intelligent."

http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/06/20/1722255/Why-Being-Wrong-Makes-Humans-So-Smart

However, it would be trivially foolish to suppose, because of that, that every attempt, however misguided, is a noble one that deserves to be made. This exchange started because Patio said that a certain specified method of system restoration was "bound to fail". (This is capable of verification). Then you remarked that "those who do not try will always fail". The language is paradoxical. An unmade attempt, cannot, by definition, "fail" or "succeed". However that is a proverb type "wise" saying with stuff implied that roughly means, if I have it right, "those who do not [ever] try [anything] will always fail [to be successful in life]". It would be nonsense to say that someone "fails" to fix their computer if they don't actually try a half-assed method. This isn't cutting-edge research or trying a new design of spear. It's fixing a computer.

[patio]

The main reason i stated what i did was because i noticed that in fact he does NOT have a legitimate i386 folder which in the process described is actually pretty much important for the procedure to work properly.....

I'll stick with my original assessment....

[Dusty]

The main reason i stated what i did was because i noticed that in fact he does NOT have a legitimate i386 folder which in the process described is actually pretty much important for the procedure to work properly.....

Snap!!

TokerxP - HowToHaven shows instructions on how to create an XP Install disk using the C:\I386 folder which does not appear in your list, search again after bulleting "Show hidden files and folders"

But enough of this points-scoring exercise.   I have not tried the HowToHaven instructions for creating an XP install disk so cannot judge if it is a practical answer, or a half-assed one, to the OP's query but urge him to at least try it as no other possible solution except to format and re-install the OS (which he cannot do due to lack of a bootable install cd) has been offered.

Sayonara - exit.