[vermontrocks]

Yup, there are three version of XP on my C:\ drive. No partitions, or at least I don't think so. I think I've figured out which xp is running. But I don't know how to delete the other two.

I know enough that I need to mess with the boot.ini file. Here's what mine looks like:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS2
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS2="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS3="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

How should I change this - just delete the lines with WINDOWS and WINDOWS3? Once that's finished, can I simply delete the folders via windows explorer?

And one last question - I promise! - why does the boot file say partition(2)?

Thanks so much!

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How should I change this - just delete the lines with WINDOWS and WINDOWS3? Once that's finished, can I simply delete the folders via windows explorer?

yup pretty much

And one last question - I promise! - why does the boot file say partition(2)?

most computers built within the past 4 years by the major manufacturers have a recovery partition built in (i.e. partition 1) that's usually hidden within windows

[dsenette]

How should I change this - just delete the lines with WINDOWS and WINDOWS3? Once that's finished, can I simply delete the folders via windows explorer?

yup pretty much

And one last question - I promise! - why does the boot file say partition(2)?

most computers built within the past 4 years by the major manufacturers have a recovery partition built in (i.e. partition 1) that's usually hidden within windows

[wannabe1]

Hello vermontrocks...

Remove the lines shown in red below.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS2
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS2="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS3="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Then you should be able to delete the unwanted directories (Windows and Windows3).

If you are on a brand name machine, there is a hidden recovery partition (partition 1) and Windows will install on the second partition automatically.

wannabe1

[vermontrocks]

Thank you thank you thank you for the quick responses!

I successfully changed the boot.ini file and was able to delete the unwanted folders after that. (I rebooted the computer after changing the boot file - don't know if that was necessary, but it felt like the right thing to do.) One folder deleted with the push of the button, but the other popped up an error saying it couldn't delete Flash9.ocx. A different thread here said to move the offending file to My Documents and remove it from there, which I did. Worked like a charm! The second folder was deleted with no trouble after that.

It's nice to know that Dell has hidden info on my computer. I don't know how to get to it, but at least I know it's there!

Thanks for helping me rescue several gigs of harddrive space!