[kriticali]

I have two windows xp operating systems installed because I forgot to uninstall the first one when I reinstalled windows xp. The old one got messed up. I did this a long time ago. Since then I have to choose which operating system I would like to start when I turn on my computer. I want to get rid of the old one to free up space and so I don't have to choose an operating system anymore.

This is what the boot.ini notepad says. I don't want to risk editing it and messing up my computer without the advice of one of you guys because I can't tell which operating system I am running that works well.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect

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Did you click check all boot paths?

[Retired Tech]

Did you click check all boot paths?

[kriticali]

What are boot paths?

All I know from reading other topics similar to mine is that some people have edited their boot.ini notepad to fix the problem. When I start my computer both operating systems are titled the exact same way, but I know that the top one is the good one. The lower operating system choice is the messed up one.

I don't know if this helps, but in my C Drive I have both the WINDOWS and WINNT folders. That seemed to be imortant to solving the problem with someone else having this problem.

[Retired Tech]

It is an option when you run msconfig / boot.ini

[kriticali]

yes, I checked all boot paths now. I get the message "It appears that all BOOT.INI lines for microsoft operating systems are ok"

[Retired Tech]

The longer, no execute / opt in is the usual one, did you upgrade from 2000

[kriticali]

I had a problem a couple years ago with the old operating system where my internet got screwed up somehow and would'nt work. Tried everything to fix it and it wouldn't. Then I reinstalled windows XP, which came with my computer already. I obviously forgot to uninstall the old windows xp before doing that.

[wannabe1]

Hi kriticali...

Start the Windows operating system that you want to keep.

To determine the Windows folder that you want to keep...click Start then Run and type %windir%...then click "OK". Remember the folder that is opened. For example, the folder may be C:\Windows.

Note This is your "working" Windows folder. Do not delete or remove this folder from the partition.

Post back with which folder opens (WINDOWS or WINNT) and we'll see if we can get things the way they need to be.

wannabe1

[kriticali]

The WINDOWS folder opened, NOT WINNT.

[wannabe1]

Do you have all your data situated safely on the WINDOWS installation? Once we remove the unwanted OS, any data it holds will be forever gone.

[kriticali]

I never saved anything in the WINNT folder before. It doesn't look like there is anything important there that I would need. Both WINDOWS and WINNT have almost the exact same folders and files in them.

[wannabe1]

Alrighty then...

Open the root directory (Local Disk C:), right click on WINNT, and choose "Delete". Accept the change if prompted.

Open the boot.ini file and remove the line in red below:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect

Click "File" on the toolbar and choose "Save". Close all open windows and reboot.

Your machine should boot directly to the working Windows installation and the space taken by the second installation will have been vacated for other use.

[kriticali]

WINNT is not deleting when I tell it to. It will start to delete and then just stop without giving any kind of message.

Should I try removing multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect first and then deleting WINNT?

Edited by kriticali, 12 September 2006 - 09:18 PM.

[wannabe1]

Open the WINNT folder and try deleting a folder at a time. The WINNT folder may be too large for Windows to delete in one bite. Once you have deleted a few folders, try to delete WINNT again. It should eventually delete. Then modify the boot.ini and save it.

[kriticali]

It worked! Some of those files were being very stubborn inside of WINNT. I did everything you said including modifying the boot.ini and saving it. My computer also seems to be functioning perfectly.

Thanks a bunch. I appreciate it.