Does repairing xp erase data?

[Bucksnort]

Does repairing xp erase things like shortcuts, emails, current version of messenger, applications, ie favorites, current drivers? I have sp1 installed.

 

[BDawg]

No

 

[bsobel]

It doesn't intentionally, however it can write out a new boot sector and other data. If you can boot now and are just installing on top to fix some issue, you should be fine. If the system is seriously hosed I'd suggest (if you can) using Ghost (or whatnot) to copy the volume off as a backup and then do the repair operation.
Bill

 

[alkemyst]

repair should only affect the system files not data, however, with Windows it's a crapshoot occassionally so if you are in doubt dump it to a CD or another drive first.