I can't drag and drop!!! (WinXPPro)

[Ingemar]

Before you start chortling, when I put "can't drag and drop" on Google I got mostly entries for OS X.

Computer troubles again. Though I can get the OS now, my computer is crapping out on me. I want to back up my important files on my secondary hard drive [EDIT]so I can format my primary and reinstall the OS (that's an entirely different problem[/EDIT] but I can't drag and drop (or copy and paste) any icon. Is there a fix or can I copy files while in BIOS?

[Kenshin17]

BIOS is not capable of copying...you saying Windows will not lt you drag files from one hdd to the other?

[Ingemar]

I cannot even drag and drop icons from one FOLDER to another, let alone to another hdd. I can't even copy and paste text.

[Mithrandir]

is the issue selecting, or copying? Have you tried switching mouses? Have you tried unplugging the keyboard when you select-drag (yeah... I saw that happen once, it was weird).

As a last resort, you can do something like:

1. Go to Start->Run->CMD
2. Type the following (but use the username/folder you want to copy):

Code: Select all

copy "c:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents" e:
 

The "" marks allow you to have spaces in the filenames, and the "tab" key can offer suggestions of things you might want to copy.

I don't know which versions XP have the CLI copy command, but if yours does it might be an option.

Good luck!


EDIT 2:50 PM - OK. I went and dug up my laptop to make sure the formatting was right on the copy command. Looks like the newly updated bit should work better.

[Kenshin17]

I love Windows....-_-, so I use OS X...

I learned something...those quotation marks are good to know about.

[Ingemar]

I fixed it, my "own" way.

Installed the OS in the other hard drive, where I was able to copy important files onto it. Then I reinstalled XP on my first drive by booting from the CD (when I reinstall it any other way installation hangs).

No problems anymore, for now.

I'm gonna see what all this craze with UNIX is about.

[Kenshin17]

I could give you a list of reasons why it uses Windows to mop its floors But its better to let you find out for yourself.

If your interested in Unix try a version of Linux. Linux is Unix like (it was inspired by Unix) and its more accessible for the average user (its also got a great price tag...free) Unix tends to be more high end computering (servers, mainframes...etc) oriented then Linux(though not always) unless of course you use OS X. Though go with either or, Linux and Unix are good.