Last weekend I corrupted some \system32 files and was forced to reinstall. Since I didn't want to lose everything, a friend told me to copy the contents of the Documents & Settings folder, which I was able to do (I installed XP on a spare hard drive in my machine, then copied the files from the main C: drive, where my original XP lies). After that was done it was my understanding that an XP reinstall on that drive would write over the files in D&S. There were three accounts on the machine--we'll call them A, B, and Admin. In addition, there's a folder in there called default. When Windows reinstalled, I created profiles with the same names as the old "A" and "B." After I started up, I realized that Windows did not delete the old "A" and "B" folders, and had created new ones called something like "A..WHSJCIE384" and "B..WHSJCIE384" which I suppose is the computer ID. At this point, I figured I could just copy the contents from the old "A" and "B" folders, delete them, and be good to go. I copied all the contents, and successfully retrived most of my old settings, emails, etc. Some programs work fine, others had to be reinstalled, same with drivers, which I understand to be because some files/preferences are in the C:\WINDOWS folder, but most are in C:\Documents and Settings\user. The problem now seems to be that Windows is still getting some info from the old "A" and "B" folders, because if I move either one of them, certain preferences are lost. I don't know if programs are still writing to these folders either. What I would like to do is make certain that Windows recognizes the new folders for everything (my browser, for example, saves as a default to the desktop, however, it was saving to the old "A" profile's desktop folder. I fixed it manually.) Then I would like to delete the old folders (for space and clutter reasons, they are large folders). It would also be nice to be able to rename the new user folders back to their original "A" and "B" names instead of having the ID after. I'm not that experienced with registry tweaks and all, which I imagine this would entail, but I would be willing to try something to get my computer fully back to the way it was. Any help is appreciated!

It would probably be easier to do a fresh install of windows on that drive, instead of the reinstall you did. Reinstalling windows on top of itself never really works that well.

Format the drive then reinstall, and hope for the best.

Yeah, it's kind of a toss-up, because that partition has Windows and all of my program files too. So to wipe the whole thing would be a real pain. I thought that what I was doing was a fresh re-install, and that those folders would get wiped, but I guess I was wrong.

Peeps where the hell are you?

kicking people's asses in hockey or eating honey mustard. one of the two.

He probably didn't bother responding after he saw the correct answer already posted.

Look at Miss Smarty Pants!!! No really, I couldn't agree with Angela more. It is way better to do a fresh burn. You are dealing with too many broken links and whatnot. Back up the important stuff and format that hard drive! Your OS will run so much better. Or at least format the partition. You can keep you back partitions in place and still access them when you have the new OS in place.

Put in your Windows CD and click 'repair windows' or whatever the option is. This will copy over all of your system files, drivers, etc.

And if that doesn't work:

she is quiet correct. i dont do much as far as reinstalling files that have been corrupted or deleted, if the repair windows doesnt work, i put in a windows 98 cd, boot of the cd drive, type in d:\win_98\format c: and start all over

OK, well, I've decided I don't really want to go ahead and do a fresh install, which I just did. All I really need to do is sort out the few programs that are still looking to the old profile folders, then delete those and I think it should work itself out fine. The problem with formatting the partition is that my program files are also on the same partition with Windows. So I'd be deleting everything, and I'll be damned if I'll be able to find the install discs for 4 years worth of programs. Windows does run much better since I've reinstalled, I just need to "take out the trash" so to speak, which is all the old versions of the stuff I duped already. Thanks for all the help though. All in all the machine runs just like it did before the whole fiasco, so I'm happy. Just want to free up some space on that partition and defrag so I'll be good to go.

do you mind if i hijack a small corner of your thread ara?
what is the deal with system32? i'm pretty sure there's a virus in that folder on my computer and i'm having trouble removing it. it's bad if i go in there deleting stuff, isn't it

do not remove system32

A lot of spyware and other crap gets put in system32. Generally I sort that directory by date and check the most recent files. There may be some .bat and .exe files that shouldn't be there. If you see something you don't recognize, search for the filename on Google and see if it comes up on virus websites. You'll also need to check a few places in your registry but that can be confusing and dangerous if you don't know what you're doing.

You should probably just get AdAware or something to do a scan for you.

And then get yourself a Mac or install Linux.

FWIW, I did what I had planned to do (make sure the old profile folders were all copied to the new ones and then delete them) and all seems to have gone well. Defragged my system drive and now Windows is much faster. Something did get messed in Firefox though, so I'm trying to sort all that out now.