Article ID: 883392
Article Last Modified on 4/3/2006
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional
- Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
SYMPTOMS
When you try to upgrade your Microsoft Windows 95-based, Microsoft Windows 98-based, or Microsoft Windows ME-based computer to Microsoft Windows XP, you may receive an error message that is similar to the following:
CAUSE
This problem can occur if the following conditions are true:
- You previously installed Windows XP
- You uninstalled Windows XP
- Folders from the original Windows XP installation are still on your computer
RESOLUTION
To resolve this problem, perform the following procedures in order:
Verify hardware compatibility
Verify that any external devices that are connected to your computer are compatible with Windows XP. Remove any external devices if those devices are not compatible with Windows XP. For more information about device compatibility with Windows XP, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Remove unknown devices
Remove unknown devices that are listed in Device Manager.
For additional information about how to troubleshoot unknown devices listed in Device Manager, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
314464 How to troubleshoot unknown devices that are listed in Device Manager in Windows XP
Delete previous system installation files
- Disable any antivirus software that is running on your computer. For information about how to disable antivirus software, contact the manufacturer of the software.
- Create a temporary storage folder for any files from the original system installation that are still on your hard disk. To do this, follow these steps:
- Click Start, click Run, type
drive:
wheredrive:
is the letter of the hard disk where Windows is installed, and then click OK. - On the File menu, point to New, click Folder, type XPOldFiles, and then press ENTER.
- Click Start, click Run, type
- Verify that a folder named Windows is on the hard disk. Then search for any other folders that may contain system files. Typically, these folders have names such as:
- $WIN_NT$, Windows.000, or something similar
- anything with 20 or more random characters; for example, 9470bb12e8a4f3447657236478e41c5
- Search for the system files that are listed in this step on your hard disk. Then move the files to the XPOldFiles folder. To do this, follow these steps:
- Click Start, point to Find, and then click Files or Folders.
- In the Named box, type
file name
wherefile name
is one of the following names:- Boot.ini
- Bootsect.dos
- NTLDR
- ntdetect.com
- Pagefile.sys;Hiberfil.sys
- In the Look in box, click My Computer.
- Click Find Now.
- Search for system files and folders from the previous installation that are inside the Windows system folder. Then move these files to the XPOldFiles folder. To do this, follow these steps:
- Click Start, click Run, type %Systemroot%, and then click OK.
- Search for folders that have the following names:
- LastGood
- ServicePackFiles
- any name that starts with "$NTUninstall"
- Search for a file named Ntoskrnl.exe. If you locate this file, right-click the file, click Cut, right-click the XPOldFiles folder, and then click Paste.
Run upgrade again
Try to run the Windows upgrade again. If the upgrade is successful, delete the XPOldFiles folder from your hard disk.
Keywords: kbwinservsetup kbuninstall kbupgrade kbtshoot kbprb KB883392