Possibilities of importing earlier doc & settings?

Haresh · 09-05-2009, 03:06 AM

I came across a desktop with old win2k corrupted.
A fresh installation is done but loosing all old settings, drivers, installations etc.
Is there a way to get old settings i.e. folder \documents and settings and old registry /user to work again under the fresh installation ?

**TheOutcaste** · 09-07-2009, 11:58 PM

Depends on how the "Fresh installation" was done. If you formatted the partition, it's unlikely as much of the data has been overwritten.

If you did a parallel install and the old folders are there, you can copy documents from the old user profiles into the new ones. Any programs will have to get re-installed though.

You might get appearance settings back by copying the ntuser.* files, but you are likely to bring along some of the problems the old install had, so I wouldn't recommend it.

Haresh · 09-09-2009, 07:30 AM

Thanks The Outcaste,
It was a parallel installation after "repair" attempt failed on old user/settings.
Re installation of other programs is a big job which i wanted to avoid as well earlier drivers are also difficult to locate. Hence this post.
Thanks for responding.

09-05-2009, 03:06 AM	#1 (permalink)
Haresh Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: India Posts: 43 OS: win98, xp sp2	Possibilities of importing earlier doc & settings? I came across a desktop with old win2k corrupted. A fresh installation is done but loosing all old settings, drivers, installations etc. Is there a way to get old settings i.e. folder \documents and settings and old registry /user to work again under the fresh installation ?

09-07-2009, 11:58 PM	#2 (permalink)
TheOutcaste TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 815 OS: MS-Dos 6.22 - Win7	Re: Possibilities of importing earlier doc & settings? Depends on how the "Fresh installation" was done. If you formatted the partition, it's unlikely as much of the data has been overwritten. If you did a parallel install and the old folders are there, you can copy documents from the old user profiles into the new ones. Any programs will have to get re-installed though. You might get appearance settings back by copying the ntuser.* files, but you are likely to bring along some of the problems the old install had, so I wouldn't recommend it. __________________ Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience Of course I know all the answers; I just don't always match the answers to the right questions. Rated R for Violence -- When your PC flies through a window, that's violent, right?

09-09-2009, 07:30 AM	#3 (permalink)
Haresh Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: India Posts: 43 OS: win98, xp sp2	Re: Possibilities of importing earlier doc & settings? Thanks The Outcaste, It was a parallel installation after "repair" attempt failed on old user/settings. Re installation of other programs is a big job which i wanted to avoid as well earlier drivers are also difficult to locate. Hence this post. Thanks for responding.