If you've another PC handy and can put the HD in an external enclosure or connect directly to an open port, you can test the ability to read and recover files from the disk. I suspect you can. I doubt the mess can be undone by doing a repair installation with an XP media edition disk but could be wrong. I will suspect the attempted repair with the XP disk has made changes that media edition doesn't recognize and can't fix.
Hey Everyone,
So basically, I tried repairing a Windows XP Media center install by booting from a Windows XP Pro CD and then using the Repair function.
I didn't use Media version, because the only install CD I had on me was Pro. It was probably a bad idea to install Pro over Media.
Here are the steps I followed:
1.) Boot the computer using the XP CD. You may need to change the boot order in the system BIOS so the CD boots before the hard drive. Check your system documentation for steps to access the BIOS and change the boot order.
2.) When you see the "Welcome To Setup" screen, you will see the options below. This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft
Windows XP to run on your computer:
- To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
- To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.
- To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.
- Press Enter to start the Windows Setup.
3.) Do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R", (you Do Not want to load Recovery Console).I repeat, do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R".
4.) Accept the License Agreement and Windows will search for existing Windows installations.
5.) Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and press R to start the repair. If Repair is not one of the options, END setup.
6.) Setup will copy the necessary files to the hard drive and reboot. Do not press any key to boot from CD when the message appears. Setup will continue as if it were doing a clean install, but your applications and settings will remain intact.
Now when I try to boot the computer, I get the Windows XP Pro screen, instead of Windows XP Media. Afterwards, I get a blue screen saying that Windows can not boot.
So, I'm at the point where I'm going to buy a new Hard Drive and then just install Pro on it and then use the old hard drive with Windows XP Media as a slave.
My question is, would I still be able to access the files on the Windows XP Media slave drive from the Windows XP Pro drive?
Would it be better to just find a Windows XP Media install CD and try to repair from there?
Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.
Chowhound
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