Windows Installation Disks from companies

[Briguy]

I have run across this with some computer manufactures, that the restoration disk to load windows with does not have the repair option and only allows you to do a clean install of windows. This can be troublesome when I want to do a repair install of Windows. I have a question would it be ok to use a oem version of the operating system to do a repair install? I'm worried that it might not have all the drivers for the motherboards out there ect. If that's true could I then use the original restore disk from the company to install the drivers?

Would that work?

[patio]

No
OEM discs are designed to do one thing and one thing only:
Wipe your data and take the machine back to Day One status.

Describe your machine and what you want to accomplish in more detail and we'll go from there...

[Briguy]

No
OEM discs are designed to do one thing and one thing only:
Wipe your data and take the machine back to Day One status.

Describe your machine and what you want to accomplish in more detail and we'll go from there...

I've used OEM Installation CD's to do a repair install.

I've run into this problem a few times on dell machines and others with their installation cd.

Someone said this: You can download the XP or Vista boot disks from MS and boot off them, then boot into recovery console or pick to repair and it may work off your restore CD. Not sure if it will or not.

[patio]

How have you facilitated a Repair install from an OEM CD ? ?
These instructions would be valuable.

[Briguy]

How have you facilitated a Repair install from an OEM CD ? ?
These instructions would be valuable.

It wasn't on Dell machines or companies like that. They were on custom machines. And the OEM cd would let me do a repair install on them.


My problem is on some Dell machines and other name brand computers their recovery cd does not have the option to do a repair (or refresh) installation of Windows all it says is would you like toinstall on this parttion. It does not show a previous windows install at all. There must be some way around it. Surely Dell and other comapnies wouldn't be that stupid to not allow a refresh or reapair install.

[Dias de verano]

I always thought an OEM disk was another name for a generic "install onto anything" full Windows install disk, as opposed to those manufacturer's disks which merely contain a Ghost-type image of a Windows installation, but maybe it's the other way around?

[Briguy]

Is there a way of using the Recovery Console and doing a repair install?

[patio]

How have you facilitated a Repair install from an OEM CD ? ?
These instructions would be valuable.

[BC_Programmer]

I always thought an OEM disk was another name for a generic "install onto anything" full Windows install disk, as opposed to those manufacturer's disks which merely contain a Ghost-type image of a Windows installation, but maybe it's the other way around?

I think that might be what has sparked the confusion.


As an example most 98 disks sold at retail were "upgrade" discs- only the more expensive "OEM" disc was bootable and installable without a pre-existing version of windows.

a Manufacturers CD/DVD provide no way to run an actual windows install- they merely write a disc image to the hard drive- after rebooting a small setup program changes some of the settings to conform to the individual model of machine (in general the same image is given for multiple machine models) and the user is "good to go" so to speak.

[Briguy]

Yes but no one has answered my question, can you use the recovery console to to a repair install of windows?

[patio]

The Recovery Console does not contain the files neccessary to do a Repair Install.
As far as running a repair install from it there would be no reason...to start a Repair install you need to boot to a Windows CD so it detects existing installations of the OS.
Repair Install of XP

As far as the CD's as long as the version and installed Service Packs match any Windows CD will work. In other words if you have XPPro with SP2 installed that is the CD needed.

A Dell HP etc. will not offer this choice on booting to it which is why they can't be used.

There is a method of creating a bootable CD from the image on an OEM CD but that is a totally different procedure...

[Briguy]

The Recovery Console does not contain the files neccessary to do a Repair Install.
As far as running a repair install from it there would be no reason...to start a Repair install you need to boot to a Windows CD so it detects existing installations of the OS.
Repair Install of XP

As far as the CD's as long as the version and installed Service Packs match any Windows CD will work. In other words if you have XPPro with SP2 installed that is the CD needed.

A Dell HP etc. will not offer this choice on booting to it which is why they can't be used.

There is a method of creating a bootable CD from the image on an OEM CD but that is a totally different procedure...

So what your saying is it doesn't recognize the previous versions of windows because the Service Pack on the computer is different then what is on the cd? Example the the cd has sp3 and the computer has sp2. If that's the case would the company have a sp3 recovery cd if it was originally loaded sp1 or sp2 but the person downloaded sp3?

I didn't understand what you meant by "A Dell HP etc. will not offer this choice on booting to it which is why they can't be used."

[Briguy]

Sounds like a bad boot.ini file.  http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/624546


 "I renamed my boot.ini to boot.old and ran the install discs. Sure enough, it didn't prompt me to do the repair. This appears to be your problem. You'll need a working boot.ini file at the root of the c:\ drive (assuming your OS is installed in c:\). Here's an example of my boot.ini.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


Yours should be similar, but may vary slightly. Once that file is there, try the installation and see if you're prompted for a repair."

[patio]

I didn't understand what you meant by "A Dell HP etc. will not offer this choice on booting to it which is why they can't be used."

An OEM CD...that is one that says Dell, HP, Toshiba, or whoever will not work for a Repair Install...A Microsoft Genuine XP CD is needed for this purpose...
The OEM CD's when you boot to them will NOT show a repair option...they will only wipe your hard drive of all data and restore a Ghost image to the machine to take it back to Day One status as if you just bought it...i can't explain this distinction any clearer....

As far as the boot .ini goes i don't know what you're asking...if it had been stated you had issues with the boot.ini then a repair install may not be neccessary as there are ways to repair the boot.ini from the RC.

Let us know where this goes from here...

[Briguy]

I didn't understand what you meant by "A Dell HP etc. will not offer this choice on booting to it which is why they can't be used."

An OEM CD...that is one that says Dell, HP, Toshiba, or whoever will not work for a Repair Install...A Microsoft Genuine XP CD is needed for this purpose...
The OEM CD's when you boot to them will NOT show a repair option...they will only wipe your hard drive of all data and restore a Ghost image to the machine to take it back to Day One status as if you just bought it...i can't explain this distinction any clearer....

As far as the boot .ini goes i don't know what you're asking...if it had been stated you had issues with the boot.ini then a repair install may not be neccessary as there are ways to repair the boot.ini from the RC.

Let us know where this goes from here...

I assure you I have a xp home sp2 OEM cd from Microsoft that has the "Repair' option on it. And I have used it a few times to do repair installs on my computer in the past. And it did keep my data on the drive all I had to do was do updates and change some settings after that.