How can I determine the installed edition of Windows XP if the OS does not boot up?

Posted by Evan on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Evan
Published on 2009-09-21T20:33:54Z Indexed on 2010/04/19 0:53 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 299

Filed under:

windows-xp

|

boot

|

failure

|

version

I have a drive that I cannot boot, but it has an installation of Windows XP on it. I need to know what type of XP it has, and MS's solution (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310104) presupposes I can load the OS. Is there a folder or file I can look at that might give me a clue as to the flavor of XP (Home, Pro, MCE, etc) I need to use for a recovery installation? Thanks.

© Super User or respective owner

Related posts about windows-xp

Windows XP - Security Update for Windows XP (KB923561) (KB946648) (KB956572) (KB958644)

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
My father's computer has Windows XP, but when I try to install the service packs it always fails. What gives? Here are the errors that I get in the event log: Date: 2/6/2010 Time: 12:02:18 AM Type: Error User: N/A Computer: EVO Source: Windows Update Agent Category: Installation Event ID: 20 Installation… >>> More
Restore Bak File created on Windows XP pro in Windows XP Pro 64

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I have a situation that I need help with. I backed up my Files on Windows XP using the System BackUp utility/wizard, and then Installed a new operating system on the machine. Now I want to restore my old files via the .bak file but it is not being recognized at all. Did I do this wrong or is there… >>> More
Installed Ubuntu 12.04.01 with Windows XP but lost access to Windows XP

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
The First time I tried to install Ubuntu the installer installed it on my D drive. This resulted in only booting to Windows XP with no access to Ubuntu. I had to download a disk partitioning program to undo all of this. A tip from the Internet said to create a partition on the C drive for Ubuntu,… >>> More
Replace dual-XP installs with single-XP install and repartition drive?

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Hello, The Current Situation I have a hard drive that currently is split up like so: Primary Partition C: 9.77 GB NTFS Healthy (System) with XP Pro (in Polish) installed Extended Partition D: 39.82 GB NTFS Healthy (Boot) with XP Pro (in English) installed … >>> More
How do I connect two computers with a LAN cabel?

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I have two machines - Windows XP and a laptop using Windows 7. I connected them with a WLAN cable. On the Windows XP machine, I set the IP address to 192.168.0.10. On the Windows 7 laptop, I set the IP address to 192.168.0.20. The laptop can see the Windows XP machine, but Windows XP machine cannot… >>> More

Related posts about boot

Dual Boot issues with Windows 7 and Ubuntu

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I'm finding myself in a rather unique situation. I've read through just about every resource I can find about this and while things have helped me understand some background, I haven't yet been able to find a solution. So I'm asking here. I originally had just a Windows 7 64-bit OS installation on… >>> More
Windows 7 wont boot from any boot loader except for 'Windows Boot Manager' after partition resize

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I have a triple boot system on a single SSD. OSX, Windows 7, and Ubuntu. I use Chimera (basically another version of Chameleon) as my boot loader. Usually I can boot all 3 without any issue, but after using GParted to make my Ubuntu partition 2 Gigs larger, Windows 7 throws me an error when trying… >>> More
Unable to boot Windows 7 after installing Ubuntu

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I have Windows 7 on my machine and then installed Ubuntu 12.04 using a live CD. I can see both Windows 7 and Ubuntu in the grub menu, but when I select Windows 7 it shows a black screen for about 2 seconds and the returns to the Grub menu. But if I select Ubuntu it's working fine. This is the contents… >>> More
12.04 upgrade broke grub? (not wubi related)

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I just updated from 11.10 to 12.04, with no major problems (it took a while to get past a request to restart ssh, mysql and some other services, but I did no fiddling by myself, everything was done by the installer). However, after restarting, grub can't do anything. Picking the new linux installation… >>> More
Another "Windows 7 entry missing from Grub2" Question

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
Like many before me had the following problem that after installing Ubuntu (with windows 7 already installed), the grub boot loader wouldnt show windows 7 as a boot option, though i can boot fine if I use the "Choose Boot Device" options on the x220. The difference is that I try using UEFI only so… >>> More