XP Reinstall

[baily]

Hello all,

I've been running XP for several weeks now on my Macbook Pro without any problems. However, I'm curious to know if I can reinstall XP (a "clean" install) on my MBP at a later date, while keeping all of my data on a third "data" partition. Here's a little additional info on my setup:

I currently have 3 partitions: OS X, Data (fat32) and XP (NTFS). I installed XP and used the Boot Camp drivers, but did not use Boot Camp assistant to partition my hard drive. Before I installed XP, I created the two additional partitions using diskutil, then installed XP on the third partition, and finally went back to format that second partition as fat32 using OS X's Disk Utility. I had read that the second data partition needed to be HFS+ before the XP install so that it wouldn't recognize it, and then after XP is finished I went back to format the data partition to fat32.

Long story short, I'm wondering if I attempt to reinstall XP at this point, would it be confused by the existence of that fat32 data partition? When I initially installed, I had to "trick" windows by only formatting the data partition to fat32 after the windows install. I keep my settings, data, programs, etc. on the data partition in case XP ever needs to have a fresh reinstall, but obviously that won't help me if I can't successfully reinstall with that data partition in the way. Any insights would be appreciated, thanks!

[clayglad]

You may do a XP re-install with no problems caused by the 3rd FAT32 partition... No problem.

However a "Clean install", ie re-formatting your NTFS partition and re-installing, then expecting software installed on the FAT32 partition to still work... Nope.

A very high percentage of Windows software, due to the design of windows, requires regsitry settings and .DLL files to be put in the windows direcotry for them to work. Wiping out the Windows partition/dirve and installing fresh will make it so the software will need to be re-installed before it will work (Some software does not install this way, but most does.) The registery settings and .DLL files will need to be put back. Most windows software isn't "smart enough" to do this. A re-install of the software will get it working again. (Unlike Mac software that will automatically update it's preferences etc..)

You may do a "repair install", if you boot from the XP Install CD, and press enter on the first few screens (NOT pressing "R" to use recovery console to repair an install.) The installer will "see" your old XP install and offer to either repair or delete it and install over. Choosing "repair" will do an Original install, replacing all the patches and Windows specific registery settings getting you up and working again in case of a crash. This attempts to preserve settings and software and does a decent job. Not squeeky clean, but often gets XP working again.

For a true "Fresh Install" you will have to re-install your software, but the data saved to the FAT32 partition will be safe.

Clay Glad
Novell Network Engineer,
11 years working professionally in Windows
15 years playing with Macintosh

[baily]

Thanks for the reply. That was exactly what I wanted to know. I typically do "fresh" installs of Windows every 6-9 months, if I can, to keep things running smoothly. Of course, I do have to reinstall all applications and restore any settings, so keeping all of that separate from the OS just makes it a little easier. Not the most squeaky clean solution, but it's a fairly good compromise and only takes me a few hours to do.

At least I know I can reinstall without having to go from scratch, ie putting everything back to one partition and starting all over again even if I only want to reinstall Windows.