Please advise..xp home upgrade..FAT32>NTFS

[Perlzawizdumb]

Ok..guys..been around the block and have to get off the fence...help. I have windows xp home upgrade from winMe. Not a puter whiz by any means. I just stuck the legal upgrad in and followed the installation through to finish. I am not sure when or where along the way i lost the ability to defrag. The window is there and available. I push the button and it is unresponsive. I surf around in my puter trying to figure this out. Somewhere i learn that my puter does not have a defrag tool installed??? People have suggested I do system restore. I go the pathway to get there and guess what? The system restore tab is not even there. It is simply missing. All the other tabs that are supposed to be there ARE place...just this one is missing. People have told me to type msconfig into the run box...and I get.."windows cannot find...." Same thing happens when i typed in gpedit.msc. Since i don't seem to be able to fix this problem and it bugs me so...i would like to back up everything and "format" or "reformat" (whichever is the correct term) everything onto NTFS moving from FAT32. If however i do this will an xp home UPGRADE have everythin i need to start over again. I don't know how all this works. I am assuming the when I installed xp home UPGRADE that it installed over WinMe and used it as a "filler" for what the UPGRADE version doesn't include???? I don't know. I am afraid that if i wipe the partition clean and reinstall just xp home UPGRADE on a new partition that some of the things frome WinMe will disappear and the new xp home UPGRADE will not function because it needs the support of WinMe...PLEASE ADVISE...I'M USELESS WITH THIS STUFF...thanx.

 

[shrugshoulders]

If understand it correctly the Me/XP upgrade isn't a gap-filler. It sounds like something went wrong in your upgrade

The upgrade examines your set-up then moves all your documents and settings to a backup (that's why it takes up so much space) and then performs a clean install of XP. At the end, it goes back and applies those personalized settings to the XP operating system and moves your documents into the appropriate location.

Assuming you saved your original settings etc during the upgrade process can't you uninstal XP and simply revert back to Me - this isn't the same as a system restore:

If you want to do this *gulp*

Restart your computer in safe mode (reboot and tap F5 as it restarts)
Log in as the administrator
Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs > Uninstal Windows XP

Before you commit yourself to that last part, it might be an idea to check that the missing functions aren't available on the Administrator login (only available in safe mode in some options).

I'm only a newbie here and there are a lot of very clever guys who might have a better idea, you might want to wait to see if they have a better option.

 

[Perlzawizdumb]

Here Again

thanks for your effort..sorta distracted right now..give a minute or two...to think this out..

 

[shrugshoulders]

No problem but its 00:08 here right now, so I'm going to bed Hope you get it sorted

 

[Perlzawizdumb]

thank you shrugs...glad you went on to bed though...didn't get back til now...funny thing...forget me backing up anything...i cannot do it...it will not let me...so i guess i have some more head scratching to do...there are no viruses or worms or spyware...in this machine!!! ive ran everything..even hijack this...nothing........thanks for the advice..will look at it some more tomorrow

 

[shrugshoulders]

If you followed the screen prompts along the upgrade, I think you might already have all your settings and data backed up ready for the uninstall.

Hopefully some knowledgeable person will know how to check that this is the case before you take the plunge - if the administrator's control panel doesn't allow you the option to uninstal, I think you can also revert to your old OS by finding C:\Windows\system32 and double clicking osuninst.exe

Fingers crossed and good luck

 

[Perlzawizdumb]

shrugs...as far as i know...i follwed through correctly on the install...i am usually very careful about following things to the letter...(unless of course..i don't understand the language..then i do the logical thing..guess..LOL). i wonder how you would know if your system is backed up?

 

[Lord Kalthorn]

Yeah - Windows Me uses totally different technology to Windows XP - its a different product range a little like upgrading Me to 2000.

Send back your upgrade and buy a Full Version. Format your PC and install XP.