computer issues

[yeldar2097]

i know you all hate vista but this a cmd type thing so if you use xp (or somehting a little more retro) it's all gravy.

two things i'd like to know (how to do)

1. is it possible to copy a folder (+ all subfolders and files) to a different location using cmd. if so, how?

2. if i boot from an external drive, can i still view and access the internal drive

basically i have a computer that's gone AWOL and need a bit of help with it.
tried google but quite a lot of it was thoroughly unhelpful.

thanks in advance for any help ;)

[infoxicated]

Yes, both those things are possible :)

Can't quite remember the command line for copy, but isn't it as simple as copy <folder name> <destination path/name> ?

I do recommend http://www.houseofhelp.com/ forums - I've had a couple of things answered there over the years. :)

[Lance]

Thanks for the link. I just bought a laptop with Vista on it [had no option], and I've eliminated the constant warnings. Now that I've gotten to use it, I have to say I was wrong about despising Vista; I like it far better than the execrable XP that I used while fixing other people's problems on their XP comps.

[yeldar2097]

thanks a lot for the link, now i know how to do all the copying shenanigans
but...
is there a way of finding which letter corresponds to the HDD i have plugged in. so far the directories i can find have the letters, D, E or X. when i go to X:\ it defaults to x:\sources. is this of any significance.
as an experiment i put it copy "c:\users\username\ e:\" and it said that it copied some stuff but i have no idea where to.

just one more question, or rather, a thought: in order to see the external HDD do i have to be able to see it in safe mode? if so, can i do this from another computer.

thanks again

[Darkdrium777]

I despise Vista with all my heart. The bastard just did yet another system restore after updating, and I lost all data for a school project I technically have to send tomorrow.............. :frown: :mad:
The features are good, but it's way too buggy and unstable.
If you're getting a computer in the future, wait for Windows 7.

[yeldar2097]

i really like vista personally. oh well, each to his own.

[Lance]

Xavier, one of the first things I did when I got the new computer was to disable automatic updating. And User Control, so it would let me go on and do what I want without getting permission from the admin of the system, which happened to be me, but User Control was too stupid to remember that. Once it was gone, I could do anything I needed to just as though I were on 98 or ME or 2000Pro.

[Darkdrium777]

Oh I have disabled the UAC. First thing I did when getting the computer and installing the anti virus, it bugged me so much I removed it then.

[blackwiggle]

OH god,you do realize that you have opened up a thread that will have KIGO show his full vocabulary of swear words.:lol

Yelder,that command line question,looks like it has been sent to the E drive.

Why not just right click on the folder then scroll down to >send to?
Then just select where you want to put it.

Like Lance mentioned,once you disable a bunch of stuff Windows XP and VISTA both behave a lot better.

Tweektown usually have guides written on what stuff to disable and why.

http://www.tweaktown.com/

[yeldar2097]

the computer in question can only be booted through the recovery cd so the only thing i can use is cmd. now i just need to find which drive is the external one but whether i plug it in or not the only drives i find in cmd after going through the alphabet at C: D: E: and X:

[blackwiggle]

Any external drives you have plugged in should show on the tool bar at the bottom of the screen [ if recognized ]

How may internal drives do you have?
Count them,the main one is always C,any subsequent ones will be D-E-F etc,the external will be the last letter used.

It sometimes can default to being called F drive.

[KIGO1987]

I have a strong hate for Microsoft now. As ive stated before in another thread, they are a bunch on Zionistic ****s who have a common quest for world domination and new order with there inferior ****ty operating systems and other programs, getting closer and closer to having the monopoly they are aiming for, and ****ing over there consumers they have enslaved.

Microsoft are real ****s for releasing Vista. One because it was ****, Two XP was fine, so why the **** replace it, and Three you cant buy XP in the shops now since this **** has taken over, and four Vista is ****, and five Vista is ****, and six, i am going through too many keyboards and mice.

**** me. With Vista you are typing something, and the **** magically disappears. They should of called this Windows Houdini. Cause ive lost that much stuff thanks to its stupid dumbness. Also im trying to do a simple search on google or simply access a webpage, and the ****er times out... Why? Because all the bandwidth has been overtaken to download some stupid ****ing update i didnt wanted, and im pretty sure i have turned off a many a time before. Also what about when you trying to transfer data from the computer to another device or vica versa, and the stupid thing stops just at the end saying 'explorer has stopped working', someone tell me what the **** does explorer got to do with transfering audio files from one device to another?

Right now the only thing that is keeping me sane with Vista is using Firefox over IE. You dont get that 'End Program now' **** on your screen with Firefox. To be honest, if i really knew how **** Vista was, i would of spent that extra 30% of money and got a mac book instead.


i know you all hate vista

Yes, that is correct.


I despise Vista with all my heart. The bastard just did yet another system restore after updating, and I lost all data for a school project I technically have to send tomorrow.............. :frown: :mad:
The features are good, but it's way too buggy and unstable.
If you're getting a computer in the future, wait for Windows 7.

I understand. This has happened to me too. The only stuff that is safe is the stuff on my Flash Drive. Die Microsoft Die.


i really like vista personally. oh well, each to his own.

**** me. Thats one in the green for Microsoft.

----

As i was talking to Blackwiggle a few weeks back. If this computer causes me any more grief, i will throw this computer off the 52nd floor or the roof of the Central Park building in Perth. There will sure be a large bang when the ****er smashes into a million pieces on St George's Terrace.

And again, Die Microsoft Die.:pc

[guillaume]

The good thing with your posts, Kigo, is that we don't have to read them to know what you think. Just count the stars. ;)

Yeldar, I may be talking crap, but try doing this for every drive:
cd <drive_letter>: (as in "cd c:", to go to the c: drive root)
dir /p (to list the contents of what's in the folder)

This way you should know better which drive is which.

EDIT: oh no need to apologize Cerbis! Plus you're right, no need to type 'cd' for a drive letter. :)

[Cerbis]

Uh, yea. :nod


Apologies to guillaume who posted as I was writing this up!

Quick-ish lesson in using the command line in Vista and XP.
They're both pretty similar, supporting pretty much the same commands in both versions.
If you're running the command line from the Vista recovery disc, you'll probably be seeing it in a window, and the bottom-most line in the window will say, I think, x:\something\something.
As far as I understand, that X is the drive letter for the recovery disc itself.
Drive letters for other hard drives and the like then start counting up from C: and up for the partitions on your hard drives. Insertable media like USB drives and memory cards also get a drive letter, as well as your DVD drives.
To change between drives (USB drives or hard drive partitions) simply enter the drive letter you want into the command line, like x:\something>D: and press Enter. It will switch to that Drive. Again, a drive can be a USB drive, or a memory card, or a partition on a hard drive.
To see the contents of the currently selected drive or folder, type in the command DIR (commands don't have to be capitalized. They're just capitalized here to help you identify them) and press Enter.
If you're feeling lucky you can also try the command TREE, however I'm unsure if it works in the recovery disc command line.
Then, to switch folder, simply type in the name of the folder and press enter.
I think you can also use the Tab key to auto-complete folder names, not sure though!
Other keys to remember is PAGEUP and PAGEDOWN, as they help you scroll through the command line window, should you lack mouse support.
And... I never actually did figure out the copy command myself, so I have no idea. Sorry.

You can also get help in the command line by simply typing HELP and pressing Enter. Most commands come with help as well, usually accessed by typing the command followed by: /?
Example: DIR /?
I don't know how to list all drives in the command line though, I imagine it'd be very useful right now...

Hope that helps. If you have any more questions, you can go ahead and ask me :g Best of luck!

[Lance]

All those commands sound like MS/Dos. I thought they didn't use DOS for home systems beyond Milennium Edition.

[Cerbis]

You're absolutely right, Lance! The commands are inherited from the MS-DOS era, however it's not running in MS-DOS. It's the command prompt for Windows NT. Just a regular-old command line interface. I guess Microsoft just felt that people would be the least confused by the change if they retained the names for all the commands, as well as adding a few new ones.
It even still looks like MS-DOS! :g

But I wonder how yeldar's holding up. Gotten anywhere, have you yeldar?

[yeldar2097]

well in the end i decided to just reinstall windows but i'm getting the error: 0x80ff0000
something to do with setting the offline locale. googled it but i couldn't really find any answers. thanks for the help though, i'll keep trying :)

[blackwiggle]

After googling that error message it seems that it's you timezone on your computer is set incorrectly that is causing that particular error message.

Here's a link on how to fix it.
http://www.vistaheads.com/forums/microsoft-public-windows-vista-installation-setup/50631-vista-up-grade-problem.html

Here's a link to a few different answers regarding the same error message.
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/itprovistasetup/thread/55ba24e1-3105-4726-8f6f-b9997f20728b/

[yeldar2097]

the bios time is correct and it still isn't working.

currently trying to install windows onto an external so i can copy all the stuff over before i reformat it.
tried to install with two different discs but both times it has said that setup doesn't support installing via USB. is there something specific i have to do or download in order to install to an external hard drive?

thanks for all the help so far

[blackwiggle]

Here's a link on how to get windows on an external USB drive.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-pocket,1113.html