Comments on: Recovering XP & Windows.Old After a Vista Installation

By: Eugene (ekzotek on forum)

Eugene (ekzotek on forum) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:09:49 +0000

I have a similar problem, got windows7 installed on top of vista but I don’t have a windows7 CD to boot from so what should I do about booting up from a cd?

By: Mahmoud Al-Qudsi

Mahmoud Al-Qudsi — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:04:58 +0000

Use your Vista DVD?

By: Richard Mberi

Richard Mberi — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:06:53 +0000

Hi Mahmoud,

I’ve just installed windows 7 over my Vista as well I followed the steps however the Windows 7 CD advanced options doesn’t provide a way to enter the comand prompt as far as I can see?

By: Mahmoud Al-Qudsi

Mahmoud Al-Qudsi — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:45:19 +0000

Via these same steps.

By: Help me please

Help me please — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:09:46 +0000

I’ve got a question, I’ve installed Windows 7 and it left my Vista in a windows.old folder.

How do I recover my Vista back?

I prefer Vista than Windows 7.

Please email me on habboblob@hotmail.com

Thanks.

By: kerry

kerry — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:14:07 +0000

I decided to back up my files to dvd and 16 gig thumb drive before I started. Then I did a fresh format and installed xp from original discs, registered it and removed all the crapware , as well as anything else I could slim it down with. After slimming it down, I partitioned the hard drive and only left a 4 gig partition for xp. I disc cleaned and removed all back up files and install files, cc cleaned it all up.

I then installed the Home Premum upgrade from that tiny xp partition. The upgrade went smoothly. I am sure you must have registered xp before upgrade to do it this way. Then when Vista installed (approx 30 mins later) it said I had 3 days to register vista. I clicked register online and “voila” sweet as !!

I still have a crumby 4 gig partition I would like to be rid of, but it is just 4% of my drive and a small sacrifice for the difference in cost between upgrades and full versions. I had no issues what so ever an have helped nieghbours and friend do the same with no hic cups at all.

By: Mahmoud Al-Qudsi

Mahmoud Al-Qudsi — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:16:18 +0000

Wow, NeoSmart published these guidelines a year and a half before Microsoft did…

By: patrick

patrick — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:31:36 +0000

this is the microsoft tech on this problem:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933168

By: Mahmoud Al-Qudsi

Mahmoud Al-Qudsi — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:05:29 +0000

Douglas, while the steps you specified will let you access your files so you can grab whatever you want/need and back things up; the instructions in the article are intended to actually restore your entire PC back to the state it was before you installed Vista – complete with the OS, programs, their settings, your files, documents, photos, configurations, and more.

By: Douglas

Douglas — Thu, 29 May 2008 03:53:02 +0000

Hello,

I re-installed vista and it deleted all of my files, folder, and programs. I was trying to recoupe all my stuff….and I ran into this website. I didn’t want to reinstall Vista, but I would of if I couldn’t of reinstall my files. Anyhow, I’m glad I didn’t follow these procedures becuase maybe, just maybe I would of deleted everything permanently. What I did was….here it goes……click on my computer, then click on the local C: drive (it might be different on your computer), then click on windows.old. This will take you back to your old program files, users, and old windows. I hope this works, it worked for me.

email at babydoug_12@yahoo.com….if you have anyquestions. Doug

By: Lori

Lori — Fri, 23 May 2008 23:51:04 +0000

Tommy Brown, I did the same thing and I need help. Did you get your computer working the way it was?

By: Tommy Brown

Tommy Brown — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:06:49 +0000

Okay, this looks like an awesome way to get back to XP from Vista. Here’s my situation…

I have a dell desktop running Vista since I got it. Recently (within the last month or so) Media player has completely stopped running. Since it seemed impossible to uninstall WMP and reinstall it. I jumped online for a solution. (I’m not that great with computers.) A few websites seemed to agree that running setup from the Vista DVD should repair any original Microsoft programs. So I did. Well, my heart nearly exploded when I realized that I had reinstalled Vista. All my old program files and documents were gone.

Anyway, my wife, a photographer and musician has like 30 GB of files on her user account. I thought I’d have to slit my wrists before she got home. I did some looking around and I found her pictures in the windows.old file. without thinking I copied the file to my desktop. I also, did some other stupid things like try to move our old user accounts from the old windows file to my new folders…

What I want to do is recover my PC the way it was two days ago… without losing my wifes files or any of our old programs.

Also, does it matter how much space I have on my HD? I have like 70GB free of a 200something GB HD. I read somewhere that you need to have enough freespace to hold an additional complete windows.old file which I don’t think I do…

Please… literally, save my life and my marriage. I’m not even sure if this is where I should be asking this question… please email me.

By: Paules-PC-Forum.de :: - - Windows.old wieder aktivieren?

Paules-PC-Forum.de :: - - Windows.old wieder aktivieren? — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 09:26:00 +0000

[...] wiederherstellen. Das ist aber recht kompliziert, wie du hier sehen kannst: http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/so-you-overwrote-your-xp/ Es ist unerheblich, dass sich die Anleitung auf ein (XP) Windows.old bezieht. Aber ich w�rde [...]

By: How to uninstall vista?? - urban75 forums

How to uninstall vista?? - urban75 forums — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 15:34:07 +0000

[...] I think this might work because I’ve found the windows old folder… but it looks mighty complicated. Neo Smart’s how to uninstall Vista [...]

By: FA

FA — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 23:08:24 +0000

A real life saver guide! Thanks!