re-installing windows without reformatting

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John - 09 May 2008 20:29 GMT

i have windows 98 first edition installed on a computer. i am wondering, if i
use the setup disk to reinstall the system, in dos, after it has installed
itself again, will i lose any customizations to my old system?

specifically, i am wondering if i will lose a desktop background image,
system drivers for installed hardware, etc. i dont want to have to reinstall
drivers for my hardware, or reinstall other software. i just want setup to
replace some corrupted files, and be able to find my personal files still in
their same place. can i do that, by running windows setup in dos, without
losing the items ive mentioned here? i just want to replace windows files,
not my own created files and installed drivers.

thank you

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Gary S. Terhune - 09 May 2008 22:04 GMT

The answer to your questions is, "Yes, you can do all those things. But you
shouldn't."

Why do you want to run setup again. What makes you think there are corrupt
files that need replacing? Or are you just grasping at straws?

Thing is, with few exceptions, the only good reason to run Setup over itself
is to repair the system sufficiently and just enough to recover your own
data, back it up to tape or CD, then wipe the system (reformat) and start
over. That's because over time you have updated system files, many, many
newer versions of DLLs, etc., and when you run setup again, it will often
replace the newer files with older files from the installation CD. But it's
not 100% about this, so you end up with mismatched files, broken Updates and
so forth. See what I'm getting at?

So, yes, Setup *shouldn't* affect your personal files or programs, but it
will almost certainly make your Windows system worse than it is now. Is that
what you want?

Signature

Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

>i have windows 98 first edition installed on a computer. i am wondering, if
>i
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> thank you

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Jeff Richards - 09 May 2008 22:08 GMT

It depends on the setup disk, but generally running setup from DOS will
replace the existing files and settings while running setup from within
Windows will preserve the files and settings. Depending on where you have
stored your personal files, they should not get overwritten when you do a
setup from DOS, but be careful of some OEM setup CDs which will format the
disk regardless. A setup from DOS will remove installed drivers.

Trying to replace files using setup is not a good idea. If your system has
been updated over the years you will end up with a mixture of versions for
different components of the operating system, and that will create
instabilities and errors.

If you know the specific files you need to replace you can extract them from
the cab files on the setup disk, but that still leaves the problem of
mismatched versions.

The only really reliable way to refresh the system is to backup everything
you need to keep, install a fresh copy of Windows, update it, and then
re-install your applications and settings.

Signature

Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)

>i have windows 98 first edition installed on a computer. i am wondering, if
>i
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> thank you

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John - 09 May 2008 22:53 GMT

okay,

well, heres the thing, i do feel like i am grasping at straws, as gary said
in this thread. but, i dont want to spend all day, or days, on the web,
searching for the solution to my problem. i also do not wish to just reformat
my drive and run setup afresh. i did a little searching though, getting links
to microsoft knowledge base articles, though one, that seemed to really apply
to my situation, didnt resolve anything. i kept getting the same problem.

the problem i am trying to resolve is, when i have restarted my computer
from a previous, STABLE working condition; as the desktop is loading up, i
get an error message come up on the screen, saying:

"Explorer"
This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down. If
this problem persists, contact the program vendor.

details:
"EXPLORER caused an invalid page fault in module EXPLORER.EXE at 0167:00401f31
with registers, bytes and stack dumps.
............i can list those extra details, but hopefully, youll be able to
pinpoint how i can fix this problem.

i came across the knowledgebase article number, 296211 at
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=296211, thinking it applied to my issue,
and followed its instructions. i went as far as step 7 in the resolution
section and restarted my computer. the same error occurred. there is a note
mentioned after step 7 that i did not apply yet, cos it doesnt look like
something that applies to my problem.

please advise
thank you

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Jeff Richards - 10 May 2008 00:24 GMT

There's no magic bullet. You need to either carefully diagnose the problem
step by step, or start afresh.

To diagnose I would start with a thorough RAM and disk drive diagnostic.
Once you are sure the hardware is OK, do a thorough check for spyware,
viruses and trojans, then try clean boot troubleshooting to see if it's some
combination of what's being loaded at startup.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/192926

Searching on 00401f31will give some ideas for additional investigation, but
it sure does sound like an issue with incompatibilities in IE.

Signature

Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)

> okay,
>
[quoted text clipped - 36 lines]
> please advise
> thank you

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