Reinstalling Windows

[ewelin]

So I recently made the switch from MCE2005 to Sage, and now I'm thinking I'm going to reinstall Windows and replace XP MCE with XP Professional. Believe it or not, in MCE they disabled the ability to store network passwords and that's something I need to enable now.

Anyways... What's the best route to go so that I don't have to totally reconfigure everything? Here is my current setup...

• SageTV V6.4
• SageMC 6.3.7a
• SageWebServer
• IMDB Search Plugin
• All of my media (TV Recordings, Photos, Music, DVD) are located on my WHS box.

My plan is to format and install Windows XP Pro, do all of the windows updates, install latest version of Java, install SageTV, SageMC, WebServer and then the IMDB Plugin. What files do I need to backup so that I can just plot them back in place and still have my scheduled recordings and previously recorded program current? Is all of that information stored within Wiz.bin? I am also assuming I should export my customized screen layout via the Export Layout button. Should I explort the Sage.properties file or should I just reconfigure everything after the reinstall?

Thanks in advance.

[davephan]

There are ways to map a drive with a script. You can use the "net use" command with a simple batch file to map the drive. The password is stored in clear text. Another way is with a Visual Basic program which can map a drive with the username, password, network path all encrypted within the executable. If are familiar with Visual Basic, I can provide you the code, or create an executable for you if you give me the network name or IP, drive letter, the mapped drive letter, username, and password. When the small executable is run, the drive is mapped.

You might want to consider taking 'check point' disk images as you build the system. If you run into a problem during the build, then you never have to re-start the build completely from scratch. Periodically imaging the boot drive makes it easy to restore. There are some free disk imaging programs if you don't own one. A co-worker of mine tried PING, and it worked to image and restore a computer. I use Ghost version 10. There are some other free disk imaging programs out there and quite a few that are not free. Here's the link to the free PING disk imaging program if you want to try it.

http://ping.windowsdream.com/

Dave

[ewelin]

Yeah I know there are alternate ways of getting around the network password issues, but part of me also wants to redo the system. It had been running XP MCE for almost 2.5 years now and I was constantly installing and uninstalling addin and stuff so I'd like to go with a clean slate.

Thanks for the check point suggestion as well... I currently have WHS (Windows Home Server) so I can easily do that while rebuilding the system. I actually still have a backup from a few weeks ago with my MCE setup still in tact in case Sage didn't work out.... Sage has made me want to move away from MCE completely though :-)

So is everything I outlined above the best method for reinstalling Windows and Sage?

[mickp]

You should be able to just take a copy of your sage direcotry, install sage on the new system, shut down sage and then swap back your original Sage directory and fire it back up.

Keep in mind that if you're running as a service now you will want to do the same on the new system.

Mick.

[ewelin]

Originally Posted by mickp

You should be able to just take a copy of your sage direcotry, install sage on the new system, shut down sage and then swap back your original Sage directory and fire it back up.

Keep in mind that if you're running as a service now you will want to do the same on the new system.

Mick.

Thanks... that's what I wanted to hear!