Repair windows?

I am running Win XP Pro/SP2 on my computer. Every since I upgraded to WMP11 my system has been screwed up. I tried to roll back to older version of WMP but it will not let me. Now I have no WMP, even tried to reinstall WMP10, but I get the message it is not compatible with my version of windows. I thought maybe I could put my factory disc in and repair windows. I tried and got the message that the version of windows on my system was newer than the one on the disc. I don't want to do a complete restore if I can help it. Is there anyway around it? Could I remove SP2 and then run my disc, and then reinstall SP2? Really confused on this problem. Thanks for any help!

Hi,
Sorry to hear of the problem with your computer.

Your proposed solution should work Ok, but please back up your important data, drivers, settings Registry and create a sytem restore* point before you start (*if you have the space.) You really also should have a note of the Windows XP Product Key that is installed in your machine. A good programme to tell you this and lots of other information about your machine is Belarc Adviser which can be found here:
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

If you have not already got a "image" of your system using a programme like Ghost, Drive Image, Paragon or Acronis so you can put your system back to the exact state it was in when you took the image, then now might be a good time to consider this.

There are a couple of other steps that might be worth considering as follows:

1 Find a chum who has the same version and distribution Windows Installation disc (with SP 2) that you have installed on your computer.
2 Click on Start
3 Click on Run
4 Type in the white box
sfc /scannow
5 Click on OK
The space between the "c" and the "/" is essential
This will start the Windows System File Checker which will check all protected Windows System files and install/overwrite any missing or damaged ones. (Windows may ask you to install the Windows installation disc so have it handy, it is quite OK for you to use a chum's disc in this way.)

6 Assuming your "factory" disc is a genuine Microsoft Windows Installation disc (and not a manufacturers Restore disc, the difference is important) you could make your own up to date Windows installation disc by slipstreaming the SP2 update and burning yourself a complete installation disc.
7 The procedure for doing this can easily be found by typing "slipstream Sp2 into XP" in your favourite search engine and following the directions.
8 A good site for a start on this is:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windo…_slipstream.asp
Regards and "Best of luck"
paws