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In some cases it is desirable to perform a 'clean' install of Windows on a freshly formatted HDD. Unfortunately, that will also require re-installation of all products on the system, when all that was needed was a refresh of Windows to resolve driver conflicts, configuration errors, or corrupted Windows files. As an alternative, the following is a procedure to do a Windows-only 'clean' install, which will result in a complete redetection of system hardware and reinstallation of drivers, yet which will retain the Registry contents for System and Application settings. Note that unlike a full 'clean' install, this procedure will not dispose of orphaned files in \Windows and \Windows\System. Should this procedure fail, the recovery steps provided may not succeed, so this procedure should not be undertaken except as a way to potentially avoid a full format/reinstall, and one should be prepared to do that format/reinstall if necessary. 1) Backup the current Registry, and insure the Startup Diskette can access the CDROM. 2) Rename \Windows\Inf to \Infold to insure that \Widnows\Inf will be refreshed, and that no 'legacy' or updated .inf files will be retained. 3) Insure that no legacy virtual drivers will be called or loaded at boot. Delete the following Registry key: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD 4)Then rename \Windows\System\VMM32 to \VMMOld, and rename \Windows\System\IOSubSys to \IOSubOld. 5) Remove only the current System Configuration from the Registy by deleting the following two keys: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class HKLM\Enum Be advised - your system may freeze when HKLM\Enum is deleted, so delete it it last. 6) Boot the Startup Diskette and reinstall Windows, keeping newer files. Reinstall Windows maintenance, DUN 1.2 (if installed), and reinstall devices not recognized and set up by Windows. Reinstall any required driver updates. Should recovery be required, restore the original names of the renamed Folders, and restore the backed-up Registry. Addendum: To really speed up Win95/8 installation, copy the Win95/8 folder from the installation CD over to a folder on your much speedier hard drive and run setup from there. Not only will the installation be much faster, but whenever Win95 needs a driver file or whatever in the future, it will not ask you to insert the CD but will grab it from the hard drive folder - so leave it there after you finish your installation. Bill Back to top
This page is last updated Sunday,
May 23, 2004 |
