Reinstall ME?

If I reinstall ME will I lose everything on my hard
drive? When I turn the computer on I can get to the safe
made and nothing else. Some one in my house tried to
remove programs thru add & remove in control panel. Now I
can't get to my desktop or any further than safe mode.
What can I do? Thanks for your help!

jct883 wrote:
If I reinstall ME will I lose everything on my hard
drive?

I haven't seen anyone respond to any previous messages about the same
subject, so:

No, you don't actually lose any files from your hard drive if you
reinstall Windows or mess with the registry. As long as your important
files are not in the Windows-folder or any folder inside the
Windows-folder (I don't know how happily Windows deletes files), you
should be safe.

Usually if you only reinstall Windows (not delete and install) you won't
lose even registrations of any installed programs. If your Windows is
still messed up after reinstall, the cause might be one of those program
registrations that weren't affected by reinstall. In that case I usually
wipe-out the whole Windows-drive with format (I have separate Windows
and data storage drives) and install everything back from the scratch.
It's a hell to do but keeps my machine in a relatively good condition.

If Internet Explorer 6.0/6.0sp1 is installed, re-installing over the top
will produced a non-functional mixture of 5.5 and 6.0. IE 6.0 must be
removed first.

If Windows Media Player 9 beta is installed (and afaik the WMP 9 Gold too),
when re-installing over the top Setup will fail with SUWIN error in
VERX.DLL. C:\Windows\System\wmploc.dll must be renamed or deleted.


Shane


"Rasimus" wrote in message
...
jct883 wrote:
If I reinstall ME will I lose everything on my hard
drive?

I haven't seen anyone respond to any previous messages about the same
subject, so:

No, you don't actually lose any files from your hard drive if you
reinstall Windows or mess with the registry. As long as your important
files are not in the Windows-folder or any folder inside the
Windows-folder (I don't know how happily Windows deletes files), you
should be safe.

Usually if you only reinstall Windows (not delete and install) you won't
lose even registrations of any installed programs. If your Windows is
still messed up after reinstall, the cause might be one of those program
registrations that weren't affected by reinstall. In that case I usually
wipe-out the whole Windows-drive with format (I have separate Windows
and data storage drives) and install everything back from the scratch.
It's a hell to do but keeps my machine in a relatively good condition.

And if the OP only has an OEM recovery CD he could also lose all his data
and programs.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Shane wrote:

If Internet Explorer 6.0/6.0sp1 is installed, re-installing over the
top will produced a non-functional mixture of 5.5 and 6.0. IE 6.0
must be removed first.

If Windows Media Player 9 beta is installed (and afaik the WMP 9 Gold
too), when re-installing over the top Setup will fail with SUWIN
error in VERX.DLL. C:\Windows\System\wmploc.dll must be renamed or
deleted.