Re-Install Windows with Inventor on Computer

Technical Inventor
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Hi all,
I have Inventor installed on our computer, which went screwy when installing a new hard drive. I have tried system restore, but now windows sp2 will not re-install :frowning: . To save some time, as well as clean out the system (it was time for it anyway) I would like to re-install windows. Does anybody know whether the Inventor serial code can be used a second time for a re-install? Thanks.

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As long as you are reinstalling it on the exact same computer, almost every piece of software that exists should allow this. You may have to deactivate a license/serial key first to keep it as a valid key, though.

Was the new hard drive compatible with your computer? Did you try also installing XP SP3?

Also, I’d suggest that any computer should really be wiped clean* - as in write zeros to the hard drive - and then have everything reinstalled every two to three years. I just recently did this on my home desktop computer, and I gained back 25 Gb of hard drive space.

  • Simply reinstalling Windows won’t fix this problem. You literally have to wipe everything and start from scratch. Windows makes a ton of index.dat log files in the background of every file and URL you visit which are totally invisible unless you know exactly where to look for them. Over a time period of a few months or years, these files can start getting several gigabytes each in size. And when I say invisible - I mean it; these files aren’t marked as “hidden”, they aren’t even marked as “system”. They are marked in the file system as “secret”, which means you can only access the files through command prompt if you know the exact file name and location.
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clean out the system (it was time for it anyway) I would like to re-install windows.

You literally have to wipe everything and start from scratch.

You don’t even have to use something as extreme as killdisk, it’s enough to format the hard drive during the install - aka, during the installation process, don’t just reselect the old partition, but delete it and create a new one in it’s place. You can even create multiple partions, such as one for Windows, and one for other data (music, CAD data, movies, applications…), and when you reinstall, you can only reformat the Windows partition, leaving all your other data. (Of course, this doesn’t prevent fragmentation and other shortcomings of NTFS…)

However, if you don’t format the hard drive, windows will write its over the preexisting files, and all the pre-re-installation junk is left. Formatting the hard drive means you start with a clean slate.

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Also make sure that the Windows installation disk is compatable with your new hard drive. For example if your old hard drive was UATA (IDE) and your new hard drive is SATA, SCSI, or something else, the install media may not have the proper drivers to DETECT the hard drive… Typically you would add those drivers after hitting “F6” at a certain point you would put in another CD or floppy that contains the DOS drivers for a SATA hard disk. Hope this helps …