I was trying to update the operating system of a laptop from windows XP Home to XP Professional. At some point during the installation, the system shows an error saying the installation cannot continue because it cannot copy some file, and do not give me any option but cancel the installation. The problem is that every time I tried to restart the PC, it tried to continue the installation. If a have the CD in the drive it gives me the option of cancelling the installation but what it does is that shuts down and do the same thing again. It does not give me the option of starting in safe mode, and if a tried to restarted without the CD it restart the installation again. Does anybody now if I can go back and run the PC with my old OS, or if there is a way to succesfully install the update, or what I am scare the most, reinstall windows and have to reinstall all my software again. MFC

Taken from http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_pro.htm Receiving a File Copy Error During Setup When you try to install Windows XP, you may receive the following message, where file_name is the file that Setup cannot copy: Setup cannot copy the file file_name. Press X to retry, Y to abort This behavior can occur for any of the following reasons: bullet Your Windows XP CD-ROM is scratched, smudged, or dirty. Clean the Windows XP CD-ROM with a soft cloth, insert it into the CD-ROM drive, and then click OK. bullet Your CD-ROM drive is not working correctly or the CD-ROM might be vibrating too much for the laser to accurately read the data. For more information about this problem, consult your hardware documentation, or contact the CD-ROM manufacturer. bullet If you are using multiple CD-ROM drives, your computer may be trying to locate files on the wrong drive. If your hardware has a feature to disable CD-ROM drives that are not being used, disable the CD-ROM drives that you are not using. bullet Your computer is over-clocked. Because over-clocking is very memory-intensive, decoding errors may occur when you extract files from your Windows XP CD-ROM. bullet Try to use the default clock timings for your motherboard and processor. For more information about how to do this, consult your hardware documentation or contact the motherboard manufacturer. bullet Your computer has damaged or mismatched random access memory (RAM) or cache memory. For example, you might be using a combination of extended data out (EDO) and non-EDO RAM, or different RAM speeds. bullet Decoding errors can occur even if Windows appears to be running correctly because of the additional stress that is put on your computer when Windows tries to extract files and access the hard disk. bullet To determine how to make your computer cache memory unavailable during Setup, see your hardware documentation or contact your hardware manufacturer. bullet Your computer has Ultra direct memory access (DMA) turned on in the CMOS settings, and the data is moving too quickly. bullet Change from DMA mode to Processor Input/Output (PIO) mode to lower your data transfer rate. If this does not resolve the problem, lower your PIO mode settings. The higher your PIO mode settings are, the faster your data transfer is. bullet You are using a third-party memory manager. bullet There is a virus on your computer. This is where you put your signature

Typically the errror message re' file copying during installation is due to RAM... The CDROM possibility was flagged up a long time ago (during NT days...) as wonderful misdirect (usually be M$) so as to suggest the CD was scratched/damagedetc., or the lens required cleaning... Reduce RAM to a single stick (min = 128MEg for XP) and try each in turn...