reinstalling XP from ont T42 to another T42

[eggman]

I have a T42 (2378-RTU) that worked almost flawlessly for nearly five years, until it suddenly gave up the ghost (bad motherboard) last week. I found another T42 (2378-FVU) on CL, which almost suits my needs (need to get a larger HDD), and had to put more RAM in. This new (for me) T42 came with XP installed (but no R&R programs), and has MS COA tag on bottom.

With a lot of programs installed on my old (kaput) T42, I spent the better part of a day trying to avoid reinstalling by pulling that HDD (which works okay) and putting into the new laptop. What with some hardware differences (old one had fingerprint reader and IBM (Atheros) wireless card), I was able to boot with the transferred HDD, but with annoying error messages and trouble with internet connecting. I gave up and resigned myself to fresh installs of applications on my new T42.

The guy who sold me the laptop had it with a single user: "t42user1". I wasn't particularly fond of that name, and tried going into user accounts and administrative tools to rename the user. However, I can't rename the "t42user1" folder in "documents and settings", nor, if I create a new user (with my name) I can't delete that other folder- I get an error telling me it is a windows system folder and can't be renamed or moved. By the way, t42user1 isn't listed as a user in either user accounts or admistrative tools- it only shows up as a folder, and seems to be the default folder for downloads

I'm the only one who has access to my laptop, at home, so I want a really simple logon/welcome screen- with just one user (or skip screen entirely, if possible, and go directly to desktop. However, I think in trying to clear out the t42user1, and just get my name as the sole user, I've made a real mess of the users. I think maybe the most straightforward thing to do is a reinstall of XP.

However, I don't have an XP CD, and the new T42 doesn't have an I386 folder. I do have my R&R disks from my old T42, and it also has I386.

Questions:
1. Is there an easy way (without reinstall) to straighten out users (including deleting the one installed by the seller) so only one user (me) is lord and master of the laptop?

2. Will a fresh install give me a blank slate to name user(s)? I've installed and used MS OS's from DOS 3.1 through 95, 98, and 2000, but for me XP is a quantum leap in mysteriousness- all that MS authentication mumbo jumbo has me spooked.

3. When I bought my old T42, I dutifully made R&R backup CD's, which I have stored. Can either those CD's, or the HDD from my old T42, be used to install XP on the new T42 - or maybe even the R&R programs? Personally, I liked the idea of having them on board.

4. It's my understanding that I386 can be used to create an image/CD to install XP. Can the I386 folder from my old T42 be used to install on the new T42, or are they machine specific? I do have the COA's for both machines.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[rkawakami]

1) You should be able to use Control Panel/User Accounts to blow out any of the old accounts. However, see the thread I reference below.

2) I believe that a fresh install asks you to enter/create a user name. Don't know if there's a way to avoid it; I usually put in "IBM User". It WILL install a Guest account (that's disabled), along with an Administrator account. If you use an IBM restore disk set, you won't be asked to enter any activation/authentication key.

3) Sorry, I'm ignorant on R&R since I don't use it .

4) That might be possible but I've never tried it.
ref: http://www.easydesksoftware.com/I386.htm
ref: http://ask-leo.com/can_i_burn_the_i386_ ... ll_cd.html

This thread http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=84651 may also be helpful. It should enable you to bypass the Windows logon screen when you only have the one account.

[A31]

I believe that a fresh install asks you to enter/create a user name

Yeah it does, I just installed Windows XP on a virtual machine today. As standard (with no log in options changed), you get the Windows XP boot screen, then it goes a blue screen and says 'Windows is starting up', then there will be a blue screen saying 'welcome' and then your desktop will appear. You won't need to click any user accounts or type any passwords.

If you use an IBM restore disk set, you won't be asked to enter any activation/authentication key.

Same goes for any system resotre CDs, I just re installed XP Pro SP2 last week on my HP dx2200MT desktop machine using the restore CDs and I didn't have to activate it or type in a valid Windows XP Professional serial key.

It's my understanding that I386 can be used to create an image/CD to install XP. Can the I386 folder from my old T42 be used to install on the new T42

It MAY work, seeings as the I386 is most likely just a copy of the Windows XP installation CD (see here for more http://ask-leo.com/so_just_what_is_the_ ... nyway.html), I don't really see why it wouldn't work if it was a copy of the Windows XP installation CD.

Try creating a CD image of the I386 folder from the old T42, use something like Nero Express (which is included in Nero 9 Lite, the free version of Nero 9), then burn onto a CD and see if that works?? I have no idea if it will, but you don't know until you try is my saying!

Here's a little interesting facvt though: There are 6,771 files in the I386 folder in Windows XP!!

Let us know what happens and keeps us up-to-date!
A31.

[eggman]

Thanks to both for replies. I put my old HDD into the new T42, and was able to boot in Safe Mode, but would end up freezing during a regular boot. I was able to chip away with repeated attacks on start up options, but was never (within the limits of my patience and frustration) able to get all the way through a full boot.

I tried using I386 loaded on a USB hard drive to install XP. It seemed to work, (using the COA code) but all it did was create a second copy of XP on the C: drive, instead of overwriting with a fresh install. I tried using Nero to create a bootable CD containing I386, but couldn't gt it to boot. I also tried an XP upgrade CD (academic edition that my son left in a box when he left home)- I didn't have the product key, but tried the COA code- turns out the product key is five characters (one "box") longer, so that obviously didn't work.

I reinstalled the hard drive that came with my new T42, as was able to clean up unwanted users through sys.cpl routine, under the advanced tab. It now seems to work fine, and I've resigned myself to reinstalling all my applications. On the other hand, I've found that I had a lot of old applications that I never used, never will, and were just taking up a lot of space- and probably running resources, so spring cleaning isn't altogether bad! Once I've copied over documents and whatever else I can transfer from my old drive (120 Gb), I plan to reformat it and use Acronis True Image to transfer the the current drive (40 Gb). Thanks again for the advice and links.