Is there a WIN XP utility to extract settings from a dead install?

[KMK]

Hi guys,

Your forum seems one of the most comprehensive around so you may be able to help with a problem I have.

Recently Win XP Pro SP1 stopped booting the computer after a mobo/cpu upgrade. It goes into an endless reboot loop that I now know is hal.dll/acpi related. I did a full backup of my data, registry and a restore point before the upgrade but of course the restore point is in the now dead XP install. I didn't do a Files and Settings Transfer dump as I wasn't going to be transfering to another computer!!! (Oh the clarity of hindsight)

I've done a repair installation after booting from the original XP disk (not the Rercovery Console repair though) but that made no difference, even using F5 during setup to force HAL settings. I then did a seperate XP instalation on a seperate partition of the HDD. Via that second XP I am able to see that the original C Drive and all its data, including the original XP folders, seems intact. I've burned an entire image of C just in case. I am resigned to doing an install back over the original XP and wiping the settings info on C. But before I do I need to know the following;

1. Is there a utility that will extract the files and settings, a la the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard, but from a non bootable XP installation? The advance tab of the wizard tells you what specific extensions to look for but not the additional specific files for certain applications.

2. Can I dump my original C drive image over the new C drive XP install and if so what files would I have to leave alone so as not to have XP think its the original, unbootable, version?

3. If not, what folders from my C drive image would I be able to copy across to at least get back the multiple user desktops, internet settings, dozens of shortcuts, multiple favourites etc etc that will need to be manually re-established?

System specs are:
AMD Athlon64 3000
1Gb RAM (2x 512 paired)
ASUS A8V Deluxe mobo
Winfast 6600 graphics card
80Gb, 120Gb, CD, and DVD drives
Win XP Pro SP1

Well, its a long shot but I would think I'm not the first to be in this unexpected pickle considering the XP glitch seems endemic to any XP mobo change, and this on top of the expected re-activation aggrevation. Or am I over simplifying things to assume someone can "just see what files the Transfer Wizard copies but copy them from a non functional XP install"?

TIA, and regardless of the responses the forum seems a pretty good read anyhow.

KMK

[paqman]

I don't know of an app that will do it, but it shouldn't be too hard to just extract some files.

What I would do is borrow or find another pc running XP, and pull your drive from your computer, and install it on the good pc as a slave. If the master boot record hasn't been screwed up, it should just come up as another drive in the pc. You can then browse through all the files and folders and stuff.

If you get that far, here's all you really need to backup. Go to C:\Documents and Settings. In there, there will be a folder for each user. That folder contains not only their "My Documents" folder, but all of their desktop settings, favorits, shortcuts, and everything else. So really all you need to copy is each user's folder. Then when you get your machine back up and running, create users on the computer with the user names spelled exactly the same as they were before. Then you will have to log on to each user, so it creates the folders. Then you just copy the contents of the folders you backed up, (not the folder itself) into the new folders.

Just make sure that whenever you are copying the data into a user's folder, that you are not logged on as that user. If you only have one user, then either log on as administrator, (hoping you have XP pro), or create a temporary user that has admin privilages, and be logged in as that user. Then when you're done, you can just delete that user.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you need more info.