Repair a Windows installation

[Zucarita9000]

What's the point of having such an option if it never works?!? I mean, every single time I had to use this feature due to a non working system, nothing got fixed.
A few days ago I had problems with a notebook, I isolated the issue to the OS and tried to do a repair. It said it found corrupted files and it replaced it with the original ones from the Windows CD. But the problem was still there. I cannot remember a single time when repairing an installation ever solved anything.

 

[wlee]

I've never had it fully work either. I've decided from now on to always make images of new installs and a fresh image just before any major changes. Ghost or Drive Image Pro would be a good investment for you.

 

[Panther505]

I have had the "repair install" option bail me out several times but never the repair console.. My guess is if you start the reinstall option and it detects the installation and gives you the option of repairing it and once it finishes the repair you cannot boot into the OS then you had other problems. I have done this same thing on at least 5 occasions that it gave me a useable system (enough to get my data on the network or secondary hdd) long enough to save what I needed and then reinstalled.

 

[PowerMacG5]

The repair install does work (to an extent). As previously stated it can help you recover data that you otherwise could have lost. The Recovery Console works as long as you give it access to your system before it gets FUBAR'ed.

 

[Acanthus]

easy trick to recover data (usually) install right over the messed up installation, dont format, just let it delete the winnt folder, youre registry dependant apps wont work but all your data will be there to access.