Okay, I am talking about the problem I addressed with my friend's computer before, and then some (see the previous error here). He told me that iTunes wasn't working, and that he thought it was a problem with the operating system. Well, here's the thing, he reinstalled his Windows XP Operating System, and supposedly the problems went away. I was wondering whether reinstalling the operating system was really necessary, so I thought I'd ask here. Any thoughts?
That would depends on how well you know the registry and how fearless you are at hacking it.
By hacking it I do not mean illegally.
I mean removing keys not removed when a uninstall and reinstall doesnt work.
Many times I have uninstalled a program because of a certain problem. Then reinstalled. Only to find the problem was there again.
On "SOME" occasions i have been able to search the registry after the uninstall and find all of the keys and remove them and also to hunt the c drive and delete all the folders and reboot and reinstall and it works.
On alot more of the occasions nothing worked to repair this issue.
I currently face a similar problem with Windows Media Centre in Vista Ultimate.
It has some damaged keys I cannot find or repair and i know only a reinstall will fix it.
Thankfully i have alternate software that allows me to work around it for the time being, but i know its a format anmd reload if i want full functionality back
If I am interpreting you correctly, Ferrit, you are saying that if me or my friend do not know much about the system registry (which we don't know anything about), then reinstalling the operating system to repair an issue (which involved DirectX) was the correct course of action on my friend's part?
It is possible to get your DX files corrupted for various causes.
MS$, in their infinite wisdom, don't have an uninstall/reinstall option although there are registry 'hacks' online that will allow this.
It IS possible to get a DX9 over-install and actually 'sfc /scannow' in the command line with a legitamite XP disk should take care of it (I think).
So, in my opinion, your buddy didn't 'have to' re-install, but it is sometimes the quickest way if possible 'bad guys' are involved anyway.
:)
Okay, thanks for clearing that up!