Saving settings for Windows reinstall (XP Pro SP2)

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Hi Don,

I have used the Windows Files and Settings Transfer Wizards many times to bring back a users (or all users) documents and settings on a brand new image of Windows.

You just run the wizard and select ‘This is my old computer’, and then store the files on a removabel flash drive (or other volume etc). I think you can ask the wizard to back up all users directorys and settings.

Then, once the new install of XP is there, run the wizard again, of course choosing ‘This is my new computer’, and point the wizard to the removable flash drive and the directory where the settings were saved to.

Should be as easy as that.

this only takes care of users documents and settings, NOT programs etc.

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Thanks – that info raises my comfort level a lot . I was afraid to try it in case there was no turning back, so I didn’t realize how simple it is.

The major pain for me, though, is email – my wife and I use Outlook, and my 2 kids use Outlook Express. I tried to force everyone over to Outlook, but the kids are naturally stubborn, of course – and it’s not like you can not install OE.

I’m not sure if the Wizard would handle that as well – with Outlook I know how to import email from the existing pst files, so that isn’t an issue – but OE is always such a pain. ((Maybe I can fail to import the kids’ email as a lesson in why Dad is right sometimes, and they should be using Outlook as well. ))

And last time I did this, even though I prepared myself as thoroughly as I could (wasn’t aware of the Wizard then) I still somehow corrupted my WAB and so right now I can’t save or call up even the most frequently used email addresses. I’m hoping that the Wizard deals with WAB as well, and that for myself I can choose to not import my (corrupted) Address Book?

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Hi, the FAST wizard does transfer Outlook Express too, as well as MS Office files.

May need some fine tuning to NOT import the WAB, (or just delete it in the directory?)

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d’Oh! I forgot about the partition size limitation. I got hit with it last time too, and as a result my HDDs got whittled down considerably. Which makes it even worse that I didn’t remember this time.

I added two 320gb SATA hard drives to my system this time – whenever I reinstall Windows I add a new hard drive to start out fresh. But after I installed XP I found that I had two new hard drives each with a recognized capacity of 131gb. I figured Maybe I needed to run the Western Digital utilities to get full capacity, but I get a warning there about a 137gb limitation on hard drives connecting through an IDE controller. Which I don’t get, since my SATA drives are connected directly to my motherboard’s SATA hookups. So is that just an IDE hookup designed to accept SATA cables? How can I get my new drives’ full capacity and not just less than half?! I’m not sure if I should keep configuring Windows if I will end up reformatting the whole shebang, and of course the kids will probably need the PC for homework before I can rectify the situation.

HELP!

Whimpering in a corner,

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Have you installed the two SP’s for XP since you reinstalled XP?

The large drive support came with SP2 if I remember right

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Ah – that explains why I didn’t have that problem when I recently made a new machine with Hard Drive 300Gig…

All my XP Pro installation disks are slipstreamed with SP2

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Well, I bit the bullet and burned a slipstream CD – I was sure it wouldn’t work, but somehow it did. Then I was able to do a nice clean install on my new drive, with a sweet 299 GB partition. I had a devil of a time downloading the SP2 file for it, though – it took 5 tries before I got a file that wasn’t corrupted.

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Somebody tell me – the Files and Settings Wizard…isn’t it supposed to transfer files (and especially settings) for ALL users, or just the user that is logged in while it is being run?!
I completed the process on the “new” computer and now I can only see one user – me – under Documents and Settings.
Or do I have to do something unadvertised, like log in as each user and complete the Wizard on the new computer?
I sure hope I didn’t have to run it separately for each user – I did not see that indicated anywhere. That would mean changing Bios settings top boot into the old XP install, running Wizard Part 1, changing Bios settings back to boot into the new XP install, and finishing the Wizard – for three separate user accounts. Please tell me that isn’t what I will end up doing!

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I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but[indent]

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The Windows XP Files and Settings Transfer Wizard can only back up settings for the user that is currently logged in. If multiple system users are configured on the system, the Files and Settings Wizard must be run for each user.

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[/indent](From Using Windows XP Files And Settings Transfer Wizard)

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So much for my Evelyn Wood lessons.

Any idea what generates the most amount of data with the Wizard? I already did my settings, and the settings alone created a 790-mb data file. I used a 1-gb flash drive, and I’m wondering if for one thing the data files for different users would have different file names – since I have much more data than anyone else on the computer, I’m wondering if I could fit all 3 data files on the 1-gb drive at the same time. That way I’d only have to do the Bios switcheroo one time.
Well, I can think of one way to find out…..

And does anyone know if, along with the settings, the wizard transfers over OS and browser bloat and slowdown? It may be due to insufficient patching thus far, but aside from the bootup time I haven’t seen much difference in system (and IE) response between old and new XP installs.

And thanks, Hans – I don’t shoot the messenger, and you’ve certainly answered my question. You can still have a cookie.

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A while back I posted a question here, wherein I hoped to find an easy and sure way of saving all current Windows settings as well as what I would call “standard Windows directories” – like Documents & Settings” as well as Outlook and Outlook Express messages and settings. I have 4 separate user accounts on the PC in question, and I want to
a) add 2 new additional hard drives (SATA)
do a fresh install of Windows XP on one of them, making that the main drive
c) use the drives that are in use now as “slave” drives, retaining all data already on them

Someone had mentioned in response a software package that they recommended I look into – I think it was a backup software that would do what I was looking to do – but try as I might I can no longer find that response and can’t remember the name of the software that was suggested. UPDATE: that software is Acronis True-Image.

On this same subject, I’ve reviewed the article that Microsoft has to offer on the subject – the File and Settings Transfer Wizard – and I see two options:

a) Migrating to a Clean Installation Of Windows XP
or
Migrating to a New Computer

Each presents me with problems – Migrating to a New Computer assumes that I have two separate computers running at the same time, as I have to first format a floppy on the new computer and then use it in the old one – this is not the scenario I will have at all. Migrating to a Clean Installation of Windows XP assumes that I will have both the old and the new installation of XP functioning on the same PC concurrently – while this is possible, I have never had a dual-boot scenario on any of my PCs and I’m not sure how it would work, especially with two separate copies of the same OS running at the same time.

I suppose the FATW scenario geared toward a fresh installation of XP is the way to go in my case, but as I said, I don’t know how to set up a dual boot situation, especially with two XP installations. So, barring any better suggestions, I’m looking for advice on how to best accomplish that.

Yours ever ignorantly –

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