[SpanishFly225]

Hello,

I recently had my laptop set up to dual boot Windows XP and Ubuntu linux. However, I recently uninstalled linux from my computer. When doing so, I was left with an extra partition on my hard drive. Not knowing how to add this space to my C: drive, I simply left it as a new partition on the hard drive. This was fine until I had to restart my computer. I now cannot boot into Windows at all. I get an error message that says i have a missing or invalid hal.dll file.

After a bit of research, I came to realize that the problem lies in my boot.ini file. I need to edit my boot.ini file so it reflects my new number of hard drive partitions. However, not being able to boot into windows on my laptop, I have no way of editing the boot.ini file. My question is this:

How can I edit my boot.ini file in this situation?

If I am misinformed about this situation please dont hesitate to let me know. I would really rather not reinstall Windows, but if there is no other choice then I will. Thank you in advance for any help.

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If you have the Windows disk, then you can do a repair, not a reinstall.

That should take care of the errors. Boot from the cd like your going to install Windows, but dont choose the first option to Repair, there will be second choice when you see the partitions.

Try that as a fix.

[jaxisland]

If you have the Windows disk, then you can do a repair, not a reinstall.

That should take care of the errors. Boot from the cd like your going to install Windows, but dont choose the first option to Repair, there will be second choice when you see the partitions.

Try that as a fix.

[Retired Tech]

Alternatively

1. Configure the computer to start from the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.

2. Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer.

3. When you receive the Press any key to boot from CD message, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM.

4. When you receive the Welcome to Setup message, press R to start the Recovery Console.

5. If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you have to use from the Recovery Console.

6. When you are prompted, type the administrator password, and then press ENTER.

7. At the command prompt, type bootcfg /list, and then press ENTER. The entries in your current Boot.ini file appear on the screen.

8. At the command prompt, type bootcfg /rebuild, and then press ENTER. This command scans the hard disks of the computer for Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000, or Microsoft Windows NT installations, and then displays the results.

Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to add the Windows installations to the Boot.ini file. For example, follow these steps to add a Windows XP installation to the Boot.ini file:

a. When you receive a message that is similar to the following message, press Y: Total Identified Windows Installs: 1

[1] C:\Windows

Add installation to boot list? (Yes/No/All)

b. You receive a message that is similar to the following message: Enter Load Identifier

This is the name of the operating system. When you receive this message, type the name of your operating system, and then press ENTER.

This is either Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.

c. You receive a message that is similar to the following: Enter OS Load options

When you receive this message, type /fastdetect, and then press ENTER.

Note The instructions that appear on your screen may be different, depending on the configuration of your computer.

9. Type exit, and then press ENTER to quit Recovery Console.

Your computer restarts, and the updated boot list appears when you receive the "Please select the operating system to start" message.