[Loki1706]

I have inherited a rather old computer from a friend, but it does the job. For some reason, there are 2 copies of XP professional when it boots up to let me choose from. The first one works fine, but when I tried to select the second one it would just re-boot itself again. My friend told me that he had tried to re-install Windows once because the first one was corrupted and that's how it ended up like this. He also said that old one might be an older version (don't really know much about XP, but I thought XP is XP, why would there be an older version?) I can also see two windows directories: Windows and Windows.0. I've already got some music files and started installing some programs, but it is a bit irritating to have the two Windows to choose from. Can someone advise me how I can go about getting rid of the older one?

[Advertisements]

Hi Loki1706...

Do you know which is the active Windows directory? (Windows or Windows0)

Open Control Panel (Classic View) and double click on the "System" icon. Under the "Advanced" tab, in the "Startup and Recovery" section, click on the "Settings" button. In the window that opens, click the "Edit" button. A notepad window will open (boot.ini)...copy the contents of that window and paste it here for me.

wannabe1

[wannabe1]

Hi Loki1706...

Do you know which is the active Windows directory? (Windows or Windows0)

Open Control Panel (Classic View) and double click on the "System" icon. Under the "Advanced" tab, in the "Startup and Recovery" section, click on the "Settings" button. In the window that opens, click the "Edit" button. A notepad window will open (boot.ini)...copy the contents of that window and paste it here for me.

wannabe1

[Loki1706]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply, it seems that the Windows.o is the new one because the first one is the one that works. Do I just delete the old directory then?

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.0
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.0="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /noexecute=optin

[wannabe1]

If the Window.0 installation is working ok, then yes...you can delete the old Windows folder.

Open the boot.ini file again and remove the line shown in red below. Then click "File" on the notepad toolbar and choose "Save". Close all open windows and reboot. It should boot directly to the Windows.0 directory.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.0
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.0="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /noexecute=optin