Need help on a reformat

[Solaris17]

ok guys simple. its seriously time for the reformat. unfortunetely this one was very sentimental everything is set up perfect programs operable etc. my problem i need to do a fresh install because i really need the newfiles and because thats what im most comfterble with so doing a repair is out of the question.

so basically all of my awsome programs are on my secondary HD and burners and what not are w/ windows thats no problem and i can always get my themes and stuff back. i just need help what the problem is...is iv done this before i was like ok fresh install of xp games on secondary drive cool so i wipe and reinstall C ok fine and good goes to drive F (my 120GB and game drive) all my games are their FTW!!!!! make short cuts etc...O NOES!!!!! no game will run WTF?!?!?! :shadedshu then i was pissed so im wondering is their a way i can reinstall windows cleanely and still be able to run everything on my secondary drive without hassle?

 

[zekrahminator]

Hmmm.....I THINK that what you need to do is format your first drive in another computer, booting off that computers primary drive. Once the drive you want to use in your main computer is formatted, bring it back into your main computer and run XP setup. Once windows is installed, you should be able to run games that are properly installed on that drive. You might want to create shortcuts though. And no gaurantees, if you moved your program files from your main drive to your backup drive, then your computer will be all confused and you'll have to reinstall those games. But otherwise it should work fine. Lemme know how it turns out.
Edit- oh wait you already did that . Perhaps moving the program files back onto the C drive will do something...I wouldn't be surprised if copy protection kicked in when you moved everything. Next time I suggest using partitioning software to copy your partition exaclty . Hope my advise helps THIS time....

 

[Solaris17]

ya but see thats what i want to avoid i dont want any of the old files i want a new Xp install. and i just want everything to work.

 

[zekrahminator]

If you don't want any of your old files, just take the drive you're going to stick windows on, put it in a second computer, format the drive using that second computer (don't boot from it ), put a fresh version of Windows XP on that drive (after putting it back in your computer), and then reinstall all your games. All your files will be gone, but it sure will be clean . The trick is, windows will NOT let you format the drive you booted from, so you have to take that drive out, boot from a different drive, and format the drive you want to format from the other computer. Hope this helps .

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

Wait... Ok, so a new install, but you want to keep you games? What? Explain clearly... FYI, I backup with Norton Ghost, takes the OS with it, avoids copy protection... Norton bad, only good prg they make...

 

[Solaris17]

Wait... Ok, so a new install, but you want to keep you games? What? Explain clearly... FYI, I backup with Norton Ghost, takes the OS with it, avoids copy protection... Norton bad, only good prg they make...

ok i will
1. i want to reformat the drive windows is on.
2. my games are on a second hard disk
3.after i reinstall windows i want all my games on the second hard disk to boot
4 i tried reformatting like this once before( formatting C and reinstalling) and when i booted it would not play the games that were on the second dosk something about not being installed correctly so im thinking its a registry issue.


thank you again guys.

 

[zekrahminator]

Yeah it is definitely a windows issue...you have to put all those games back on the C drive. See, when you tell the thing to run the game off of the second drive, and it was installed to go on C drive, it says "hey I'm looking for files on the C drive" and plays Marco-Polo until it decides that they really aren't there. I think that's the same reason I can't run halo off of a network drive . Anyways, just copy the program files onto C, create shortcuts, and then try running them.

 

[Solaris17]

no dude they were originally installed on the second drive they work fine right now i havent done the wipe yet but in the past i had the same set up games on one drive windows on the other and when i reformatted it wouldnt play my games.

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

Ok, seems to be a windows problem. The games on the second disk have all files, but when you reinstall windows, you lose some DLLs, so regisrty files (what I think is wrong) and other critical files. Not backing these up is the problem.

 

[Solaris17]

how would i go about backing these up and keeping a clean system install?

 

[Frogger]

HEY Sol if i read this right after the reinstall of xp the game are still on the other drive and you want them to start from a short cut on the desktop of the fresh install ...right ?? have you tried opening up the 2nd drive finding the exe file for the game & creating a fresh short cut pointung to the exe on the 2nd drive

 

[Solaris17]

ya i have it was like "windows cannot start anything.exe the program could be missing or not installed correctly" or something like that.

 

[Frogger]

you could back up the reg file & reinstal it after the xp re&re But it will have all the errors that are in it now & that would defeat the re&re of xp

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

Messing with the reg for games... solaris, why dont you try just reinstalling? Is that too much to ask?

 

[devinXkillyou]

go to start menu, and then to "run". Type in regedit. Then click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, then click SOFTWARE. go to file>export. then type in "backup" in the file name field. Save it on the drive that your games are on. Once you format the drive that contains Windows, try opening up that registry file. Someone confirm if this works because i personally havent tried it.

 

[Solaris17]

Messing with the reg for games... solaris, why dont you try just reinstalling? Is that too much to ask?

because i have all my games exactly how i want them its not an argument you dont need to freak out i just asked for help and gave no attitude. im not accusing though maybe you didnt mean it.

go to start menu, and then to "run". Type in regedit. Then click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, then click SOFTWARE. go to file>export. then type in "backup" in the file name field. Save it on the drive that your games are on. Once you format the drive that contains Windows, try opening up that registry file. Someone confirm if this works because i personally havent tried it.

thnx ill try that im still going to have to deal with the dll's though.

 

[Frogger]

Hey Sol before you backup the reg file dump all the junk from the C: and run a good reg cleaner to remove all the invalids from it [make sure it will do a full DEEP scan]

 

[CUSACKOTG]

if you want to back up your registry files go to 'run' then type in the command: regedit.exe or regedit

Your registry files are all there. After this go to the 'file' menu and select 'export'. The comp. will prompt you to save the files to a location of your choice- make sure you choose 'all' where it says 'export range' at the bottom of the save screen. Once you have the reg. files saved you can roll them over onto the new OS- 'merge' the files that is. As for all of your other problems, I think the other guys' advice seems to have covered them

Hope this helps

cusack

 

[65tweet]

This is what I do to save my games when I reformat. I either go into program files/(game) and copy the saved game files to another hard drive and/or My Documents and copy the whole file that the game places there (like BF2 & FEAR) for saving games before doing anything. After I reinstall windows I install the games and the same patch that the game was using. Finally I replace the game files in the new install with the originals from before the reformat. This has worked for me every time and it been many times. I’ve done it on Doom, FEAR, HL2, Diablo, Far Cry, ETC. It’s quite easy. Hope this helps I hate starting all over because something goes wrong (cough..registry mod cough)

 

[trog100]

i just copied in a new windows install with all my games on another drive.. u simply need to delete or rename the old windows files first.. u dont need to format just delete or rename.. u then end up with a virgin windows install

but.. u end up with registry problems.. and documents and settings folder problem.. newer games tend to keep their save games in the document and users folders.. and u lose all the install registry settings..

when u do this some things work some things dont.. the things that dont work need to be re-instsalled to put back the registry settings..

what i do is have a small operating 20 gig partition.. this has windows and all the basic apps i consider essential on it.. it all comes to about six gig..

useing something like bart or win pe u can renamed your windows folder to say windoze.. your documents and settings folder to whatever u think of.. copy all the lose files on C: into new a folder so as u dont lose em..

once u have done this u can install a new windows and it wont find the old one.. u get a new virgin windows.. u still have the old one in case u want to go back to it in all your renamed folders.. these are your back-ups so to speak..

u can also copy your old documents and settings stuff into the new documents and settings folder..

if u have lots of apps and games installed and want new uncluttered virgin widows its quicker to do it this way than start from scratch.. somethings will need the re-install but not all of them..

most games will just work without a re-install.. most apps wont..

trog

 

[devinXkillyou]

if you want to back up your registry files go to 'run' then type in the command: regedit.exe or regedit

Your registry files are all there. After this go to the 'file' menu and select 'export'. The comp. will prompt you to save the files to a location of your choice- make sure you choose 'all' where it says 'export range' at the bottom of the save screen. Once you have the reg. files saved you can roll them over onto the new OS- 'merge' the files that is. As for all of your other problems, I think the other guys' advice seems to have covered them

Hope this helps

cusack

yeah thats almost exactly what I already said