Vista Repair Install??

[Sulaco]

Hey guys,

Can you run a repair install in Vista like you could with XP? I have a full version copy of Vista Business, but when inserting the Vista DVD, I don't see the option for it.
Is it possible to do a full repair install and keep all files and settings? Thanks!

 

[Sulaco]

nobody?

 

[nerp]

You can. Boot the DVD. There should be an option to repair an existing installation.

 

[stash]

There's no repair like XP, but there are repair options. There is a repair your computer option at the bottom left when you boot the DVD. This will give you the following choices:

Startup repair
System restore
Complete PC restore
Memory Diag
Cmd prompt

 

[htne]

With the new image-based-install method, I don't see how they could possibly do a "repair install". Another reason why I don't much like Vista. I do understand the trade-offs involved. The image-based-install is quite a bit faster -- can you imagine how long an old fashioned XP-type install would take? The X86 DVD of Vista is right around 2.6 gig, which would make it around 4 or 5 times larger than XP. If XP takes 39 minutes to install, would Vista take (4 x 39 = 156 minutes) to install? I shudder at the very thought!

So perhaps Microsoft could make available, possibly through MSDN, an alternate installer which would allow for repair installs? I have performed repair installs of XP at least 150 to 200 times, saving my customers countless hours of effort reinstalling their software and reloading their data.

 

[stash]

WinRE covers the majority of repair scenarios. You have system restore, the startup repair tool and a command prompt where you can run many of the commands that existed in the old recovery console. You can even run regedit from the WinRE cmd prompt.

 

[Ryland]

I haven't found a way to get it to reinstall corrupted files if something goes wrong in the OS. That is definitely not a good thing.

 

[AdamK47]

You can use the upgrade feature over an existing install and that will fix many things.

 

[stash]

Originally posted by: Ryland
I haven't found a way to get it to reinstall corrupted files if something goes wrong in the OS. That is definitely not a good thing.

System Restore.