Best Way to Reinstall Windows Without Losing Data ?

At some point during the course of your computer's use, you will find yourself in the unenviable position of having to reinstall Windows. There are many reasons for this. Perhaps important system files got corrupted or disk errors or viruses caused your system to become unstable.

This is all a result of wear and tear on your PC. When that time comes, you will have to not only know how to reinstall windows, but how to reinstall windows without losing data. Here we refer to a fresh install of Windows and not simply an attempt to repair a few files.

1. Your Vendor's Restore CD

The first step in knowing how to reinstall windows is to locate your vendor's restore CD--otherwise known appropriately enough as a rescue or boot disk. Windows comes with its own rescue CD as well. If that's the only one you have at your disposal then locate your operating system's instructions below.

Rescue CDs are not all alike. Some give you rescue functions as well as important software drivers for your computer. Others are more basic, only allowing you the ability to reformat your hard drive. Don't reformat your hard drive without backing up your personal files to another medium first! Your personal files are those located under 'My Documents' in Windows. The exact location of your personal files and folders varies from one operating system to another.

In Windows XP, for example, you will backup everything in C:Documents and Settings. In Windows 98 and ME, you will backup C:My Documents. More instructions follow below for your particular system. If you have any other folders where you've stored personal stuff back those up as well.

2. Windows 98 and ME CDs

With Windows 98 and ME you don't want to just reinstall windows without backing up important system information. This information can be found in your Windows folders.

First create a new folder on your C: drive and name it oldWindows. Then use Windows explorer to navigate to your Windows folder. Once there, locate the following subfolders: All Users, Application Data, Desktop, Favorites, Local Settings, Profiles, SendTo, and Start Menu. Copy these folders to the oldWindows folder you created.

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How to Recover Windows 7 Password for a Secondhand PC ?

How to recover Windows 7 password for a secondhand PC? If you ever purchased a used PC, you may meet this problem, it's password protected, and you cannot log in. Then how to recover password?

Problem: How can you recover a password for a used Windows 7 PC?

"I purchased a used pc from a yard sale, but it has a password lock on Windows. Since I don't know the password and apparently neither does the lady who sold it to me, how can I bypass it and get Windows to open so I can recover it. It is dell notebook with Windows 7".

Well, for the problem how to recover password for Windows 7, what will come into your mind if you are the current owner of this used PC? It seems that many effective password recovery methods on Windows 7 don't work in this case, like using a password reset disk, Safe Mode, etc. But there still have solutions are supposed to be effective.

How to recover Windows 7 password in Safe Mode?

Provided that your Windows 7 built-in administrator account has been active, and is not password protected, then you can choose to recover your unknown password in Windows 7 to a new one in safe mode.

Step 1. Press F8 to enter the Advanced Boot Options when your Windows 7 is booting.

Step 2. Select Safe Mode and log on Windows with Administrator account.

Step 3. In safe mode, click Start to select Run box, and then type control userpasswords2, click OK.

Step 4. On the coming up Users Accounts screen, click the name of user account that you want to reset the password for, and then click Reset Password to reset password.

This solution cannot help if the built-in administrator account has not been active or has a password also. But you can try it first then go ahead to effective solutions below.

Recover Windows 7 password with Windows Setup CD

For most users, reinstalling this used Windows computer with a setup CD seems to be the only method they can think of. And in fact, it is indeed a good way to recover password for this problem as the data on this used PC isn't important for you. After reformatting Windows, you will never fear that the computer may run slowly and other problems. But the problem is that you need to spend hundreds of dollars to buy a Windows setup CD if you don't have one. Apparently, it is not a cost-effective method though it can actually resolve this problem. So it's highly suggested you should try the following solution.

Recover Windows 7 password with Windows Password Breaker

Windows Password Breaker is powerful Windows Password recovery software which can help you instantly recover password for Windows 7 by burning a bootable CD/DVD/USB flash drive.

Step 1. Download and install Windows Password Breaker.

Step 2. Burn a bootable CD/DVD/USB flash drive.

Step 3. Reset password with the burned CD/DVD/USB.

Step 4. Log on your Windows without password.

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