WIn XP Home Reinstall problems

I originally upgraded WINXP from WIN98 onto a stand alone desktop a couple of
years ago. I have since installed a wireless home network. Last week I had
to reinstall XP on office because of some errors. The reinstallation went
fine. During the installation, I set the machine for the home network and
named the desktop OFFICE. I did not format the drive.

Two Questions:
1. The original installation had 5 users installed. Bob, Susie, etc. Under
the document and settings folder I had 5 user folders installed, Bob,
Susie,etc. After this installation I now have user folders named Bob, Susie,
etc but also have folders named Bob.OFFICE, Susie.OFFICE. Can I simply copy
the Bob folders to the Bob.OFFICE folders and then delete the Bob folder?

2. Upon resinstallation, my programs no longer run. Although they are
still on the Progams folder, i have had to reinstall them one by one. Is
there a way to access all of them without reinstallation?

Thanks
MLW

MLW wrote:
> I originally upgraded WINXP from WIN98 onto a stand alone
> desktop a couple of years ago. I have since installed a
> wireless home network. Last week I had to reinstall XP on
> office because of some errors. The reinstallation went
> fine. During the installation, I set the machine for the
> home network and named the desktop OFFICE. I did not format
> the drive.
>
> Two Questions:
> 1. The original installation had 5 users installed. Bob,
> Susie, etc. Under the document and settings folder I had 5
> user folders installed, Bob, Susie,etc. After this
> installation I now have user folders named Bob, Susie, etc
> but also have folders named Bob.OFFICE, Susie.OFFICE. Can I
> simply copy the Bob folders to the Bob.OFFICE folders and
> then delete the Bob folder?
>
> 2. Upon resinstallation, my programs no longer run.
> Although they are still on the Progams folder, i have had to
> reinstall them one by one. Is there a way to access all of
> them without reinstallation?
>
> Thanks
> MLW

That's what happens when you reinstall XP into an existing
Windows folder instead of doing a "Repair" installation.

Odds are that the .OFFICE folders are the ones you want to
keep.
As for your second question, since you have a "new"
installation you have a new registry. That's why you have to
reinstall all your applications.

Here's a previous thread that you might want to take a look at.
It provides a detailed explanation of the problem you're
dealing with and how to copy the old accounts into the new:

Courtesy of Sharon F (MS-MVP), Duplicate User Folders
http://tinyurl.com/ce22n

Good luck

Nepatsfan

Hi,

The answer to question no 1 would be yes you could do that but before you
delete the old folders make sure that everything is in place. Ideally after a
normal reinstall you would not have to reinstall the applications but it
seems that after changing the computer name the reference to the applications
have been lost and thats the reason its not working. The only way might be to
reinstall the applications.

"MLW" wrote:

> I originally upgraded WINXP from WIN98 onto a stand alone desktop a couple of
> years ago. I have since installed a wireless home network. Last week I had
> to reinstall XP on office because of some errors. The reinstallation went
> fine. During the installation, I set the machine for the home network and
> named the desktop OFFICE. I did not format the drive.
>
> Two Questions:
> 1. The original installation had 5 users installed. Bob, Susie, etc. Under
> the document and settings folder I had 5 user folders installed, Bob,
> Susie,etc. After this installation I now have user folders named Bob, Susie,
> etc but also have folders named Bob.OFFICE, Susie.OFFICE. Can I simply copy
> the Bob folders to the Bob.OFFICE folders and then delete the Bob folder?
>
> 2. Upon resinstallation, my programs no longer run. Although they are
> still on the Progams folder, i have had to reinstall them one by one. Is
> there a way to access all of them without reinstallation?
>
> Thanks
> MLW