Unfinished Threads - Install Vista Since Can't Find XP Key to Complete Repair Install??? posted in the Community forums; Long story short – Tried to do an repair install in XP when windows couldn’t boot into windows mode. Now that I am in the middle of the repair install, ...
Install Vista Since Can't Find XP Key to Complete Repair Install???
Long story short – Tried to do an repair install in XP when windows couldn’t boot into windows mode. Now that I am in the middle of the repair install, I can’t find my product key for XP. Since I’m in the middle of a repair install, can’t boot to windows at all.
One of my buddies suggests just converting my HD to NTFS and installing Vista as a upgrade (which should keep my files and settings) since I can’t find the product key.
What do you think of this suggestion? Do you think I will run into serious problems or will the incomplete repair from XP affect my attempt to install vista?
Boot with a bartpe cd with a dos registry editor on it
open the windows registry and export the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion - save it as a reg file on a cd. If you have the nero plug in for BartPE or any usb drive because it wont fit on a floppy its too big.
Next go to a working xp computer open regedit and export the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion to back it up. Then put the cd or usb drive in to a working computer and import the reg key then use a keyfinder or any other prog to see the key write it down.
Do I still need to use BartPE if I backed up my registry to my back-up hard drive before I tried the repair install?
I have a copy of my registry on my external (back-up) drive, but I am a bit nervous about trying to import the registy file as my wife's laptop is the only other working computer we have right now.
Will merely importing that file mess up the laptop's registry?
Re: Install Vista Since Can't Find XP Key to Complete Repair Install???
Originally Posted by jrstriker12
Do I still need to use BartPE if I backed up my registry to my back-up hard drive before I tried the repair install?
I have a copy of my registry on my external (back-up) drive, but I am a bit nervous about trying to import the registy file as my wife's laptop is the only other working computer we have right now.
Will merely importing that file mess up the laptop's registry?
In addition to the question above, if I bought a new XP cd and did the repair, would I still be able to keep my data and settings? much rather go safe than end up messing up the registry my mistake.
Re: Install Vista Since Can't Find XP Key to Complete Repair Install???
The best thing to do would be to install Vista on a completely fresh partition...that way you could dual boot to either XP or Vista and not lose anything in your original XP settings / programs etc...
Re: Install Vista Since Can't Find XP Key to Complete Repair Install???
The only issue I can think of is... if you backed up the registry after the crash-- you might re-install the cause of the crash.
A new CD-- would definitely fix the issue-- the registry would be at defaults.
I am unsure if you could import just parts of the registry back-up-- rather than ask for trouble.
Registry tutorial from the Eldergeek:
Re: Install Vista Since Can't Find XP Key to Complete Repair Install???
Originally Posted by Hengis
The best thing to do would be to install Vista on a completely fresh partition...that way you could dual boot to either XP or Vista and not lose anything in your original XP settings / programs etc...
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