Reinstalling Windows Pro

[TheSeoGuy]

Does anyone know what affect, if any, reinstalling Windows XP Professional will have with my current configuration?

For example, will all programs remain installed or will I have to reinstall those as well?

More importantly, will PHP and MySQL remain installed or will I need to redo all that?

Same goes for IIS.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[sunnny]

Hi,

If you clean install, you will lose all your programs and will have to reinstall. However if you use the recover option or upgrade and don't reformat your harddrive I think you should be fine. I am not 100% sure about this, but you should always keep a backup of your stuff so you can reinstall if you have to.

Sunny

[bill]

You can run a Repair Install which should keep your files safe. However, you should backup everything before doing so. A Repair Install replaces your system files with the original ones on your XP CD. It will leave applications and settings intact. You will however have to go to Windows Update to reapply any patches or updates.

[TheSeoGuy]

Thanks for the information.

I have also tried resetting my activation key to a new key. Microsoft support states that you edit your registry file concerning product activation so that windows doesn't think its activated and asks you to active your copy, then you have the option to update the key with a new key, but when I type in the new key and hit retry, it tells me the number is typed incorrectly even though it is not.

This was done to avoid having to do a reinstall of any kind.

Any thoughts?

[bill]

I'm not really clear what this activation key has to do with your re-installation of XP. Are you doing a new clean installation?

[TheSeoGuy]

Hi Bill,

Sorry for the confusion. Windows XP Pro (not installed by myself) IS currently installed on the machine and everything is running well. However, I have discovered that the product key does not match that of the product. We have thus purchased a new version of Windows XP Pro and I was hoping I could just reset my product key with the new product key as opposed to reinstalling everything, including windows, from scratch.

[bill]

OK, that changes things somewhat. I've had some reactivation issues after changing hardware and each time the easiest way to get the code working was to call the toll free Microsoft product activation number to get a new code. Usually they will just talk you through the process.

If you've already altered the registry to make XP think its not activated then I believe you only have 30 days to get the activation code in.

[TheSeoGuy]

Thanks Bill!

I appreciate the help.

I will give that a try.