Blue screen, registry error, blank screen… ack! Somebody tell me: how I can retrieve my data? How do I get my system running again? THG shows you which tools to use, and how to use them to get everything running again – without data loss or the dreaded reinstall.
Windows XP a Goner? First Aid for your Windows PC
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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If you have access to another computer you could download knoppix. It is a live CD linux that can be very useful for rescuing dead systems and getting data off a hard drive.
I do the same thing, but with a DOS boot CD that reads NTFS drives. IMHO, the best way to do things it to make two partitions – keep the OS on one partition and all the data on another. You can even use TweakUI to map My DOcuments, Desktop, etc to your data partition, so there’s rarely any reason why you’d need to save critical data to Drive C. Sure, you may lose programs settings on those apps that won’t let you store configuration files in a custom folder, but these can usually be set up again rather quickly and aren’t that important usually.
BTW: How reliably can you access NTFS drives with Knoppix ?
Unfortunately, the idiot keeps referring to the Konqueror browser as “Conqueror”…
He also suggests using OpenOffice as a text editor to edit config files – when Knoppix supplies the usual Linux text editors which are much better suited for this.
As for access to NTFS partitions, he says that Knoppix can’t write to them. Well, you can if you use the Captive utility which IIRC is included in the last couple of versions of Knoppix. The Captive utility uses the native Windows NTFS driver to access NTFS partitions. The default Linux NTFS utilities can read and can overwrite NTFS files with the same file, but cannot create new files or extend old ones reliably. Captive can do anything with NTFS files because it is using the native Windows drivers.
Bart’s PE is also mentioned in the article. This is a good tool depending on what utilities you can add to it. The main advantage is you’re actually running the Windows XP kernel and can access NTFS partitions natively.
The funny part of the article is the first couple of sentences where he lays out the scenario where Windows is running fine “for years” and then suddenly fails. BWAHAHAHAH!!! Who has ever run Windows reliably “for years”? Especially XP which has only been out for three years…
pay no attention to what tom says, just use ubcd:
http://www.ubcd4win.com
http://www.ubcd4win.com/contents.htm (list of tools)
it runs on a nice geoshell gui and has lots of usefull tools, network support, etc, so give it a try.
there is also a non windows ubcd http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ usefull for stuff like hard disk diagnosis, low level formating etc.
Usually XP blows itself up with a M$ “fix” or malware or a hardware failure. Of course, program conflicts and corruption are star players as well. In any of these situations Windows crashed for a *very* important reason. “Repairing” Windows only masks the underlying problem – you’re still left with working but damaged goods. No thanks! I’d take a back up of my files and a fresh install ANY day. A fresh install can help deduce the true cause of failure by bring things down to basics: adding software and settings one by one until success or a reproducable failure is gleaned. Did it fail after the video drivers were installed? Did it fail after M$ Office was reinstalled? Find the cause and you’re closer to the cure. Find the duct tape and you’re handywork is bound to break open again. The answer shouldn’t be patch up the sunk ship. The answer should be learn how to steer and maintain yer boat! The true golden rules are as such:
1. Back up your important files!
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Learn how to back up important documents or learn how to cry. Or, don’t learn anything and transfer your frustration on a Technician that couldn’t save your data after the fact (a popular choice I assure you)
2. Keep your installation discs handy (you WILL need them!)
Remeber why you back up? Remember those handy programs got ON your computer somehow. Unless you have a means to repeat that process you’ve got nothing – you just don’t appreciate that until you have to put them back again. No, the Tech guy can’t wave his magic wand and recreate your licensed copy of M$ Office.
3. Update and use anti spyware and anti virus!
You need both. You need to update them. You need to make sure they actually are used to scan on a regular basis! Why you ask? Leave you’re Dull (TM) computer online for two days straight and watch the wonderment of Blaster and CruelWebSearch dance before yer eyes. And don’t blame the clean up crew if you get reinfected! Your habits healthy and *unhealthy* determine your computing experience. Take these 3 rules to heart.. and ignore the “patch” mentality.
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I do the same thing, but with a DOS boot CD that reads NTFS drives. IMHO, the best way to do things it to make two partitions – keep the OS on one partition and all the data on another.
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I keep Win2K on an NTFS partition, Debian on ext3, and all my data on fat32 (most of my drive). That way I can access my data easily from either side. I use thunderbird for email on both sides, both sides access the same mailboxes on the fat32.
With the data on fat32, I can easily rescue it with a live linux cd, or even some floppies.
I’ve wondered about this. I have heard that, technically, it violates the windows EULA. Anybody know anything about this?
Richard Steven Hack
The funny part of the article is the first couple of sentences where he lays out the scenario where Windows is running fine “for years” and then suddenly fails. BWAHAHAHAH!!! Who has ever run Windows reliably “for years”? Especially XP which has only been out for three years…
Me. Or, at least 2 years on Win2k without issues. I got a new machine and blew away the partition, but I don’t see any reason why I couldn’t have gone for at least one more. Anybody who can’t go longer than a year on a single Windows install really doesn’t know that much about Windows. Nothing wrong with that though, as I personally have been doing this for a long time so I know how to avoid the pitfalls
Bopha
3. Update and use anti spyware and anti virus!
You need both.
Assuming you don’t use IE (except where necessary) and spend 2-3 minutes researching each app you install, an anti-spyware tool is not necessary. Most people think that just because they have a spyware remover on the system, they can install everything they can get their hands on and then use the spyware remover to clean up the mess. However, doing so is like having unprotected sex with someone and then going to the doctor the next day to get a shot for whatever they might’ve had – stupid, stupid, stupid. I have two of them installed, but not running resident. I scan with them every once in awhile – the only thing they ever find is cookies.
Leave you’re Dull (TM) computer online for two days straight and watch the wonderment of Blaster and CruelWebSearch dance before yer eyes.
Or you could install a free software firewall and/or spend $30 on a hardware firewall. Problem solved.
It’s supposed to be a great rescue cd.
http://www.inside-security.de/insert_en.html
You’ve made all the right moves Darius. Fresh install of Win2k, actually doing your homework on software products and having a firewall.. yada yada yada. The point is that some inexperienced Joe is gonna read “patch” not “proactive” outta the article in question. Every seasoned computer user should consider a more stable OS (win2k) and a clean install of it too. Everyone should consider a firewall sure. Everyone should look into their software options before buying Brand X.. but, we all gotta start somewhere. Usually it consists of starting at the school of hard knocks though. I learned about virus protection *after* getting +100 of my floppy disks infected
I also learned about backing up important files after a power surge during a storm.. alas, for most people it’s the same. I figure the 3 rules are a good baseline.. firewalls and Win2k are later lessons 
P.S. Anti virus companies *still* don’t target and remove spyware.. so, don’t be so cocky until they do
“Usually XP blows itself up with a M$ “fix” or malware or a hardware failure.”
I think malware or hardware would cause problems to any OS, even Mac O$ 10 or any variety of Linux.
Personally, I think Joe Sixpack should just go out and get one of those new Mac Mini computers. I consider Windows as an OS for power users anyway (whereas Linux is better suited for computer geeks, hobbyists, and open source evangelists). In the future, I hope to see more people moving to the Mac platform. I tried to convince my dad to migrate over, but says he’s getting too old to learn anything new
Buy a Mac
I was able to recover 100% of the data from two supposedly dead hard drives that contained ntfs partitions windows would NOT go near. I alos found a cool S.M.A.R.T. tool for Linux (smartlinux.sf.net). I reformated with vfat 32 and dumped the data back on for the owner. The owner was very pleased and hasn’t had an issue with them yet.
Well, if your stupid enough to have all your data on a single drive, and don’t back up on a regular basis, you deserve everything you get. I don’t even mean partitions here – I mean an entirely seperate drive to your default windows one.
It’s entirely possible, if your prepared, to re-install windows XP and bring your system back up to speed in 2 hours.
Of course, any data that is required to be installed on your default windows partition will need to be retrieved – pretty much :-
Documents and Settings/Username
Windows/Fonts
That’s about it really. If you boot with a Linux CD that can access NTFS, you simply copy those folders to another partition.
My setup is :-
C: Windows
D: Data
E: Applications
I always have D:/E: on a seperate HD to C:
In addition, I keep a copy of the windows XP i386 install folder on either my D: or E: drive
Hi there,
a friend of mine came to me with his notebook, where Windows XP could not boot, it crashed during booting (some malicious web cam driver I think). He reinstalled Windows on the same partition, but had no access to his data in Documents&Settings because he protected them, so only the user himself has access to them. But this user did not exist any more on the new installation! With his OEM Windows XP CD, I could not start a repair session. So I booted Knoppix, could access his data and copied them over network, so they were safe. Then I tried to create a user with the same name as previous but the user name was “previous user name” + some weird strings, so still no acces on his data from windows! The worst thing was, I could not delete his data, since they still were protected (they took the largest part of the harddrive). With knoppix I was also not able to delete them, Captive drivers did not work for me (or at least I could not figure out how it works). So I had to reinstall everything and shuffle his data back. Does anyone have a clue how can I access from Windows his protected files?
Thanks and regards,
Anton
“He reinstalled Windows on the same partition, but had no access to his data in Documents&Settings because he protected them, so only the user himself has access to them.”
The only way he wouldn’t have access to them on a new install is if he encrypted them. Then Linux wouldn’t help you either. I dont’ know of any prog in Windows or Linux that will unencrypt files that have been encrypted with Win XP SP2. In XP (as long as the files weren’t encrypted and only protected with NTFS perms) it would be a simple job of taking ownership and reassigning perms.
THG mentioned Avast! Bart CD but he forgot to mention ERD Commander 2003 by Winternals. Both of them are really expensive, but if you’re an admin these tools are a must have.
That is interesting. I had a 2 year old NTFS formatted drive that was supposedely dead. According to S.M.A.R.T about 40% of the sectors were bad. I replaced it. A few days back I reinstalled the ‘dead’ drive and formatted it as a Reiser4 partition using Mandrake and then secure formated it as a FAT32 partition it using Parition Magic. It now works perfectly. I have no idea why.
You MUST be jokeing! I’ve learned it the hard way. Make 2 partitions, DO NOT INSTALL window$ on a single partition. On drive D, keep all you’re applications install kit, or on a CD-ROM. Now days CD’s are cheaper than floppys. When Win crashes ( goes F.U.B.A.R. http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci748437,00.html ) use a Live Linux CD to boot and copy youre system prefs. to a safer place and do a fresh install. There IS NO WAY to recover from a FUBAR. All you have to copy is the registry and system files were the devil contraption saves the user prefs. That’s like 50-60 Mb, and don’t forget the “popular” pagefile.sys that, if left alone, can grow up to almost 1Gb in size … yes, it’s scary.
But if you do care about your computer and it’s contents (your files), you allready use some other operating system.
If you don’t, but you concider, you may want to enquire about ReiserFS and XFS for the security of your important data. I have been useing XFS for almost 4 years and I’ve lost like 50Kb of data and that was from my own mistake.
just a couple weeks ago, i had to copy a couple important files to a w2k ntfs partition. tried knoppix and gentoo but sure enough, no ntfs write ability. so i searched around a bit and found SystemRescueCd, a live cd with the latest ntfs drivers which supports ntfs writes. it was a little strange because i had to hunt down a few XP dll’s but in the end worked nicely and was able to get w2k up and running again.
If it was created on January 12, 2005
Then surely “TOM” Used Knoppix 3.6 or 3.7…
Like others have said they have write access to NTFS files.
what misleading information….
You dont need the others once you have knoppix… as its much better solution… with more and better applications.
and not only works wonders for recovering on windows but does so on Linux too..
How is the hardware detection on Barts CD??? Is there PPC versions or x64
Knoppix does not even need a cdrom drive on the same machine to boot… so many options missed out on this round up on knoppix it sound as if your better off with the others.
constantly saying it does not have… when it has and had for ages… and with linuxdefender (knoppix altered cd) had write access for yonks now…..
Knoppix is the only tool id recommend…
In a world of $499 Macs that comes with a state of the art desktop OS and all the apps you need, who in their right mind actully chose to use windows95+ (or as some call it windowsXP)????????
Honestly!??
The one and only reason i can come up with that actually speaks for windows is gaming. Windows is the best platform when it comes to playing games, hands down!
But apart from that i see no reason what so ever to use a OS so filled with holes, plagued with viruses and spambots…
I mean even if dont have the dogh to get a Mac mini you can install a nice copy of RedHat, Mandrake, SuSe or whatever on your x86. My dad runs Fedora on his old laptop!
br/jens
if its xp pro, disable “simple file sharing” (“einfache dateifreigabe”) and add yourself (or a group you belong to) to the permissions of the file.
if its xp home you will have to use the command line:
cacls.exe * /E /T /G YOURUSERNAMEHERE:F
/E keeps current permissions
/T recursive
/G YOURUSERNAME:F (F stands for FULL permissions)
this command adds the user YOURUSERNAMEHERE with full permissions to all files and folders recursively in the current directory.
recreating a username does not give you access to files since windows uses unique indentifiers for users/groups. those are the things in curly bracket you’ve seen.
since you are german: checkout mcseboard.de there you’ll find a lot of indepth information about windows.
florian
i forgot: you have to be a member of the administrator group
knoppix is the best, but it is also fucking huge which can be a problem if you’re working on an older machine.
most rescue oriented livecds are a lot less demanding.
you dont have to boot into KDE…
..you can even just use it just as a terminal…
knoppix is the best. and seems to be getting better with every release….
(I have only ever had two problems with knoppix
one when rescue partitions are placed on machines by OEMs IBM, Panasonic, Samsung etc)
Two when drivers ares no on the cd… mainly with servers etc…. scsi hardrives or very weired network cards…
If you want to be able to recover files from a previous account/install check out :
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q308421/
It is different for home or pro versions of xp – but once you have taken ownership of the files it is easy to just stick them in the shared folder so you can log into any account and access them (also great for recovering lost email and address book info – search for .wab and .dbx files)
To Anonymous Moron.
Linux never requires a reinstall because of hardware configuration changes, or hardware failure. Excluding non-raid hard drive failure…which isn’t a fault of the OS.
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who in their right mind actully chose to use windows95+ (or as some call it windowsXP)????????
<
I fully appreciate your dislike for windows. But, in fairness, XP is a far cry from win95.
It now works perfectly. I have no idea why.
Intermittent hardware fault. Don’t put anything important on that drive.
“The Knoppix CD is created in no time and can be used even without extensive knowledge of Linux. Its drawback is its lack of write access to NTFS partitions.”
Well, it DO got a tool for loading a windows driver from the ntfs partition and gain ntfs write support. It is in the bottom panel in version 3.6 of Knoppix.
It is really a shame that the author didn’t know this, since he states this multiple times
1) Expensive solution : Powerquest DriveImage or Norton Ghost.
Create more than one partition on your hard drive. Install Windows and all your apps in the first partition. Install DriveImage on the second partition. Use it to create an image of your first partition. Transfer the image to an external drive (USB or else).
2) Free solution : Ghost 4 Unix
Create an image of your Windows partition with Ghost 4 Unix and transfer it to an FTP server
I too have found that Tom’s solutions were quite convoluted, to say the least.