Can I reinstall Win2K without reinstalling apps?

[tradivoro]

Hi there... For whatever reason, Windows 2000 is acting strangely... it boots up fine, and I can access my computer and all the drives, but no applications start up when you click on the icon... However, if I click on a file associated with the application, the application will start and work perfectly fine...

anybody know what could be causing this, and would reinstalling windows fix the problem... Can I reinstall windows without reinstalling the apps?? Any info appreciated, thansk...

 

[folken]

Do you mean the shortcuts on your desktop for the apps don't work or the actual .exe files?
If it is just the shortcuts, remake them.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[sparky853]

Sounds like it just the shortcuts that are messed up. Did you accidently rename your drives? Or rename the Program Files folder? I know it sounds stupid, but its possible.

XP2800+, Abit NF7, 1GB Dual-Channel DDR333, ATI R9800PRO 128MB, TT PurePower 420W, LG DVD+-R/RW
:redface: <font color=red>My wife says I suffer from premature ejaculation...I don't remember suffering<font color=red>

 

[tradivoro]

Hi folks thanks very much for replying... It's very strange... I ran Norton Windoctor and let it do it's thing... when I rebooted, I had this problem.. It took me a while to figure out how to get Norton to come up, when the exe files aren't being executed, but eventually I got it windoctor to come up again and I undid the history... that didn't fix the problem...

So, the program files directory is fine, same name, other programs have the same path to the exe file, when I check properties, all programs function perfectly fine when I click on a file that triggers the program, but the exe files won't execute, even when I just click them directly...

So, I"m totally clueless as to what this is, so I thought reinstall might fix it... But I really don't want to re-install all apps, if there's a way to reinstall whatever isn't working in Windows... I know, naive, but I don't know if this can be done...

 

[folken]

Norton systemworks is a terrible program...
You can do a repair on windows that will just reinstall windows and leave all of your stuff alone. Just boot off the cd, hit enter to start the install, it will detect your current windows install, hit r to repair that install. It will reload windows and leave your data/apps alone. The only thing you will loose is the registry entries of the apps. Most apps will work w/o them but you may need to reinstall some apps to get them to work.
As always back up your important stuff just in case.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[tradivoro]

Hi folken, thanks very much, I will definitely try that... I have stuff backed up so that's not a problem and if all I have to do is reinstall a couple of things, that's cool... thanks again...

 

[jm2000drtdvl695]

Ok, Most of the problems are solved by reinstalling the operating system and the apps. But win 2k has a repair function when you boot to the cd at startup. Follow the on-screen instructions. That should fix the problem and you might still have your apps just recreate the shortcuts. There might be a problem with the registery.