DUAL OS

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Guest

Hi,
I have 98 in C: and XP in D:
I want to eliminate 98 without harming XP. How do I go about doing this?
Thanks in advance!
 
XDA974 said:
Hi,
I have 98 in C: and XP in D:
I want to eliminate 98 without harming XP. How do I go about doing
this? Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

You don't. As the boot.ini would need repairing anyway, your best course of
action would be to format C and install XP on it clean.
 
Wait a minute, isn't there an option where I can tell the system to boot up to XP only and then go in and reformat C: ?
 
Isn't there an option where I can tell the system to boot up to XP only and then go in and reformat c: ?
I know that option exists, so why?
 
If you just want to erase 98 and leave XP alone then;

You can in theory delete everything from the C: drive except these 3 files
Boot.ini
NTLDR
Ntdetect.com

The exception being if you have installed programs into XP and put the files
on the C: drive
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you wish to edit the boot.ini file to remove the entry for 98 then
Open a command prompt and type bootcfg and <ENTER>
You should see 2 entries, 1 for 98 and 1 for XP
Note the Boot Entry ID for 98

Now type Bootcfg /delete /number of the Boot Entry ID
eg. Bootcfg /delete /2

This will remove the entry for 98.
Note: You can leave it there, it will not hurt, possibly just be annoying.

If your unsure of anything post again.

Regards
Mark Dormer
 
XDA974 said:
Hi,
I have 98 in C: and XP in D:
I want to eliminate 98 without harming XP. How do I go about doing this?
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

There is some false and some partially true information
in this thread. Here is the full story:

- Don't format drive C:. This is both unnecessary and destructive.
- Assuming that Win98 resides in C:\Windows, you can delete
C:\Windows.
- Don't delete "c:\program files". It most likely contains some stuff
that's needed by your WinXP installation.
- If the boot selector menu bothers you, edit the hidden file c:\boot.ini
and set the default to WinXP. You should also set the timeout to 0.
 
Isn't there an option where I can tell the system to boot up to XP only
and then go in and reformat c: ? I know that option exists, so why?
Click to expand...

You could boot into XP, copy the following files to your D: drive

C:\Boot.ini
C:\NTLDR
C:\Ntdetect.com

format C:, then copy the above files back. (If you have a powercut before
doing that, XP won't be bootable :^) Then you can use System Properties ->
statup options to disable the menu.

One caveat: if you've ever installed any XP programs into C:\Program Files
(the detault path for some dumb installers which don't take account of the
fact you're running from D:), formatting C: will likely result in a bad
day.
 
You could boot into XP, copy the following files to your D: drive

C:\Boot.ini
C:\NTLDR
C:\Ntdetect.com

format C:, then copy the above files back. (If you have a powercut before
doing that, XP won't be bootable :^) Then you can use System Properties ->
statup options to disable the menu
Click to expand...

....not forgetting to choose XP as the default, if that's necessary (not
using XP at the moment so I'm writing this blind).
 
billy nelson said:
You could boot into XP, copy the following files to your D: drive

C:\Boot.ini
C:\NTLDR
C:\Ntdetect.com

format C:, then copy the above files back. (If you have a powercut before
doing that, XP won't be bootable :^) Then you can use System Properties ->
statup options to disable the menu.
Click to expand...

I doubt whether WinXP will let you format the boot partition.
On the other hand, this won't be necessary: Deleting all the
files on C:, followed by a restoration of the saved system
files, will have exactly the same effect.
 
WOW! Thanks for the feedback. I have some thinking to do. At least deleting c:\windows will recover some space. But I guess c:\programs files is off limits. Fair enough.
Also as a previous writer suggested I can edit my bootcfg line so as to eliminate the dual boot mode right?
 
P.S.
All my programs are installed in E: since I have 2 HDDs. Is it still necessary for me to let c:/program files exist?
 
There is an easy and obvious way to find out:
Rename "C:\Program Files" to something else,
then wait a couple of weeks. If all is well, delete it!


XDA974 said:
P.S.
All my programs are installed in E: since I have 2 HDDs. Is it still
Click to expand...
necessary for me to let c:/program files exist?
 
Be careful. If you do anything that destroys or damages the boot
sector of "C" you will not be able to boot to WinXP on "D". You could
make an emergency floppy disk that will allow you to boot to the WinXP
on "D" by formatting a floppy from within WinXP and then copy the
files ntldr, ntdetect.com, boot.ini and bootsect.dos from the root of
"C" to the floppy.

hawk
 
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