Inadvertent Dual XP Installation-- How to Reverse?

[biddy67]

Hi. I thought I was having problems with my Windows XP installation,
so I went ahead and did a re-install. I was expecting it to boot up
just as always when I was done with all of my programs intact and a
fresh operating system. Unfortunately, it appears that I now have two
Windows XP installs on the computer and, of course, using up about 3
or 4 gigabytes apiece.

When I boot up, it says "Please Select Operating System to Start" and
both are Windows Professional XP. The top one, which is the default,
is the "fresh" install and the second one is my good old Windows XP
install.

How do I go about reversing what I did so that all I have on my
computer is the original install? I thought I was having problems
with it, but eventually figured out the problem was an incorrect
duplex setting.

 

[philo]

Hi. I thought I was having problems with my Windows XP installation,
so I went ahead and did a re-install. I was expecting it to boot up
just as always when I was done with all of my programs intact and a
fresh operating system. Unfortunately, it appears that I now have two
Windows XP installs on the computer and, of course, using up about 3
or 4 gigabytes apiece.

When I boot up, it says "Please Select Operating System to Start" and
both are Windows Professional XP. The top one, which is the default,
is the "fresh" install and the second one is my good old Windows XP
install.

How do I go about reversing what I did so that all I have on my
computer is the original install? I thought I was having problems
with it, but eventually figured out the problem was an incorrect
duplex setting.

First,
perform a *repair install* of your original operating system...

Plenty of instructions will come up on a Google search

it should be in C:\windows (by default)

If you can get that running ok

then you can delete the 2nd install which will probably be in C:\Windows.000
or something other than your original Windows folder...
then use msconfig to check boot paths and remove the un-wanted entry.


Now, if the repair install does not fix your original Windows
installation...
you'll have to use the second installation and reinstall all your apps...
then you can delete the original install etc