Reinstalling Xp

[mike]

I hope someone has run into this or can help:

 

I have a friend that got hit with a bunch of worms and trojans.

I ran AntiVir for him and it said it deleted all but about 8 files that would be deleted when we restarted xp.

 

Some of those files ( not sure exactly what they were ) were from win.ini and the registry.

 

Hence, when it rebooted it now goes to the user screen ( which it never did before ) and when you click on the user it says " loading personal settings" then within a second or two switches to " logging off" and it will no longer go to windows at all.

 

I tried running the recovery console to no avail.

 

Question: Can I just reinstall windows over top and not lose pictures they have in Documents folders and will it just keep the programs it has on there or will everything be lost?

 

Thanks in advance for any help / suggestions.

 

I forgot to mention. Nobody knows the administrator password.

Edited March 29, 2005 by mike

[Madmanmcp]

Hi Mike, try booting into safe mode. If you can get into safe mode you will be able to save all your files. Once you have a backup of important files then you can reinstall Windows. With a corrupted registry and no recovery consol you are probably stuck with a full reinstall.

Edited March 29, 2005 by Madmanmcp

[Madmanmcp]

See if this will help with the admin password.

 

h_tp://www.windowsnetworking.com/kbase/WindowsTips/WindowsXP/AdminTips/Security/RecoverLostWindowsNTAdministratorPassword.html

[TCH-Tim]

Isn't the default Admin password in XP blank? If you never set one, there isn't one?

[mike]

Madman, I forgot to add that it won't let me in to safe mode.

 

So does that mean I can do a reinstall over everything rather than a clean install; in an attempt to keep existing progs and files?

 

I guess all I can do is try it huh?

[borfast]

I can't recall for sure but I think it will not touch the files you already have there, although you'll probably have to reinstall all your programs anyway, because most of them will need certain files placed inside c:\windows\system32 and stuff like that.

 

But even so, I'd recommmend you boot from a CD/disk and copy the important documents somewhere, just in case something goes wrong.

[TCH-Thomas]

Mike,

When I read your post and especially the following lines:

I ran AntiVir for him and it said it deleted all but about 8 files that would be deleted when we restarted xp.

 

Some of those files ( not sure exactly what they were ) were from win.ini and the registry.

it sounds to me as if the antivirus program never deleted all the viruses. If the program did not delete all viruses, you will still have them even if you reinstall over the current installation I believe.

[mike]

I wondered about that myself , Thomas, and had planned to run the antivirus again after the restart, but it won't let me in. They never DID use the "user signin" as I do on mine, they just went straight to windows. Now it comes up with a user ( Steve ) which it never did before. So of course there's no password, but just clicking the icon you get " loading personal settings" , then immediately, "logging off" and it goes right back to giving you the icon choice of "Steve" or " administrator". I tried just entering through administrator, ( as if the password was just blank ) but that didnt let me in either.

 

..and of course before I did the restart I disabled system restore to "thwart" the bugs that hang out there for re-entry; so at the reboot (f8) options using the "boot with last known good settings" is out.

Edited March 29, 2005 by mike

[Madmanmcp]

I agree with Raul, just to be safe, first be sure you backup important files by using a CD or floppy boot disk. If you don't have one look here h_tp://bootdisk.com.

 

once you have that you can try and reinstall but I am not sure if this will work. What happens in a reinstall is all the important "operating system" files are replaced on your hard drive. The program executables, .exe and .com for instance, and the libraries, .dll's and so on. All the configuration files which make up Windows "look and feel" are not replaced. So once the install is done, all your programs and desktop look and act the way they did before.

 

BUT, this is where you are having problems. The registry is where the "look and feel" part of windows come from, and that is where you have a problem.

 

What will probably need to be done is a FULL install where you will need to clean out the bad windows and replace with a new one. You will need to reinstall all your programs and all your data to get the registry working correctly.

[mike]

That's pretty much what I thought, Madman. So I had better get a boot disk that lets me have a DOS type access and grab whatever I can, then when I run the xp install disk, won't it go ahead and reformat the disk for me?

[mike]

....and of course now it is time to get myself to work. ( 6:45 am ) so I must you fine gentleman a farewell and I will bring the blistered pc home with me for a new beginning.

 

Thanks so much Madman, Thomas, Raul and Tim. TCH IS the very best place to discuss these things and I sure appreciate the input.

 

I'll take your link to the boot disk place, Madman, and you have a great day.

 

 

thanks again,

Mike

[Madmanmcp]

then when I run the xp install disk, won't it go ahead and reformat the disk for me?

 

That depends, I don't know what you have with your system. Some come with just a XP FULL install CD, others with a "Recovery" CD, and each of these have different options.

 

If you have the Recovery CD you will need the option to restore back to factory default. This will format and repartition the drive and copy the OS and all the preloaded programs back onto the hard drive. You will end up with a PC that looks exactly as it did when you first got it. Then you will reload all the other programs and data you need.

[mike]

Ok, Madman. I believe he has the original XP disk. I will bring 'er home and have at it.

 

thanks.

[stevevan]

Mike: Let us know what you ended up doing. Just curious.

[djk]

Ok, Madman. I believe he has the original XP disk. I will bring 'er home and  have at it.

 

thanks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

take your hard disk to another computer( friends house?) and plug it into the 2nd channel (IDE or SCSI)and the disk will be available for copying data either to a CD or to the slave drive of the 2nd channel, once you get all the data off the disk you want, kill the partition and build a new one, format and do a clean install

[mike]

Hey guys.

 

I managed to save everything the folks wanted to save, then simply reinstalled xp home and the system is running fine.

 

I believe I just need to install sp1 and sp2 and all should be well.

Sound about right?

 

Thanks for all the help from all of you.

I love this TCH place.

 

[Madmanmcp]

There are patches AFTER SP2, be sure to connect to the Windows Update site and download any that it suggests.

[mike]

Well that's what I did and the only one they suggest is the one that won't install.

[djk]

Hey guys.

 

I managed to save everything the folks wanted to save, then simply reinstalled xp home and the system is running fine.

 

I believe I just need to install sp1 and sp2 and all should be well.

Sound about right?

 

Thanks for all the help from all of you.

I love this TCH place.

 

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

there may be a problem here is the virus or worm is partition or master boot record based. But if it seems to be OK, then obviously that was not the type of problem you had.

[borfast]

Mike, note that if you're going to install SP2, you don't need to install SP1, because SP2 already contains everything in SP1.

[mike]

Thanks Raul, I didn't realize that.