Two XP choices on startup – only one installed
Ok, its now my turn to be called a noob and a dumbass, because I have a stupid problem I cant google.
I just got a laptop, dell 5100 from the parents. its an old 2.4ghz unit that needs a reinstall of windows. I reinstalled XP pro, everything went smoothly. Then when I restarted the dell, I was given two choices for OS boot. I could boot to xp pro, or the original xp home….that doesn’t exist. I used the whole partition when installing Pro, so how is this still an option?
Is there something special I need to do to completely remove xp home? its reading the full 30 gig drive, no part is partitioned away or anything.
Im at a loss. The only thing I can think of is that since its a dell, it will always have the OS choice that came preinstalled on the system. Ideas? Insights?
Open boot.ini and remove the entry for the non-existant OS… you will no longer be given a choice on startup
Here is basically what the file should look like:
[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 Professional" /fastdetect
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Here is basically what the file should look like:
[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 Professional" /fastdetect |
Got ya. Im doing ANOTHER reinstall right now, so I will attempt this ASAP if the dual choices are still found. Thank you for the quick help.
Make sure you’re doing a complete format and reinstall. It could be the result of installing XP on top of itself.
Another reinstall won’t do anything, because the installer won’t replace boot.ini unless all the existing files are deleted.
What CodeX said is what you need to do. Open boot.ini in Notepad and delete one of the two entries, assuming they both work; otherwise, delete the one that doesn’t work.
Just open msconfig, go to the boot.ini tab, and select check all boot paths if you’re lazy.
That won’t work if both entries point to the same valid Windows folder.
Just go to My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced -> Startup And Recovery and uncheck the box next time to list operating systems.
And while you’re at it, uncheck the box to disable automatic restart on system failure (BSOD) in case you ever get a blue screen
Christ, he doesn’t need solutions that don’t actually solve the problem. Edit boot.ini, delete one of the two options. Done.
Done, Didnt have to edit anything. The install was bad the frist time, re-did it, everything works without a hitch. BUT, its good to know about the boot.ini file now
And what if he accidentally deltetes the wrong option?
Nothing wrong in this case to just turn off the option to display a list of OS’s at startup. It’s not hurting anything.
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