2 O/S's by accident?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob
  • Start date Start date
B

Bob

Hi Group,
Just bought a new Dell XPS 600. I always put a fresh copy of Windows on a
new PC. I tried to use the Maxtor powermax but it searched for hours and
wasn't able to detect a drive. So I decided to go from the Windows CD. It
said it was deleting everything on the C: drive but somehow when I boot I
see a choice of 2 Windows XP Media center editions to boot to. Not what I
wanted. I searched for a few different system files and found only one copy
of each. So, I'm not sure if I have 2 O/S's installed or not. If not, how
can I get rid of the prompt? Any ideas on my dilemma would be appreciated.
Bob
 
Check All Boot Paths first.

Start | Run | Type: msconfig | Click OK |
Boot.ini tab | Check All Boot Paths button |
A dialog box will open detailing the location of any invalid operating
system locations | Confirm you want to remove the entry and reboot

[[Check All Boot Paths - This button will check the boot paths for all
operating systems listed in the BOOT.INI to ensure they point to a valid
operating system. ]]

Msconfig image
http://www.winnetmag.com/Files/16/20784/msconfig.gif

If there is only one you will get:
It appears that all BOOT.INI lines for Microsoft operating systems are OK.

A dialog box will open detailing the location of any invalid operating
system locations.
Similar to this...
-------------------
It appears that the following line in the BOOT.INI file does not refer to a
valid operating system:

"multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional " /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn"

Would you like to remove it from the BOOT.INI file?
-------------------

I have two installations of XP on the same partition
http://michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html

Scroll down to and expand...
20. I have two installations of XP on the same partition.......

[[You reinstalled Windows XP on your computer thinking it would overwrite
the existing version of Windows XP and now there are two copies when you
boot up. Crap! What to do now? Not to worry, here's the solution.]]
http://www.cyberwalker.net/faqs/reinstall-reformat-winxp/two-copies-xp.html

How to remove a second installation of a Windows operating system from a
partition
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=888023

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
Messages defined in BOOT.INI. see How Partition Numbers are
Assigned in BOOT.INI:
http://www.bootitng.com/kb/article.php?id=159 & I'd
determine how many OS's I had with PMagic & delete
partitions not wanted.

HTH-Larry

Hi Group,
Just bought a new Dell XPS 600. I always put a fresh copy of Windows on a
new PC. I tried to use the Maxtor powermax but it searched for hours and
wasn't able to detect a drive. So I decided to go from the Windows CD. It
said it was deleting everything on the C: drive but somehow when I boot I
see a choice of 2 Windows XP Media center editions to boot to. Not what I
wanted. I searched for a few different system files and found only one copy
of each. So, I'm not sure if I have 2 O/S's installed or not. If not, how
can I get rid of the prompt? Any ideas on my dilemma would be appreciated.
Bob
Click to expand...


Any advise given is my attempt to show appreciation for all
the excellent help I've received here but I'm no MVP so it
may only apply NUGS (Normally, Usually, Generally, Sometimes :)
 
Thanks Wes,
That took care of the dual boot issue. I would still like to resolve the
Powermax issue as I wanted to create a 50 GB partition for Photoshop to use
as a scratchdisk. Windows limited the size of partitions, didn't give me
many options. I also lost about 25 GB somewhere. out of 250 GB. Not that big
a deal I guess.
Bob

Wesley Vogel said:
Check All Boot Paths first.

Start | Run | Type: msconfig | Click OK |
Boot.ini tab | Check All Boot Paths button |
A dialog box will open detailing the location of any invalid operating
system locations | Confirm you want to remove the entry and reboot

[[Check All Boot Paths - This button will check the boot paths for all
operating systems listed in the BOOT.INI to ensure they point to a valid
operating system. ]]

Msconfig image
http://www.winnetmag.com/Files/16/20784/msconfig.gif

If there is only one you will get:
It appears that all BOOT.INI lines for Microsoft operating systems are OK.

A dialog box will open detailing the location of any invalid operating
system locations.
Similar to this...
-------------------
It appears that the following line in the BOOT.INI file does not refer to
a
valid operating system:

"multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional " /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn"

Would you like to remove it from the BOOT.INI file?
-------------------

I have two installations of XP on the same partition
http://michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html

Scroll down to and expand...
20. I have two installations of XP on the same partition.......

[[You reinstalled Windows XP on your computer thinking it would overwrite
the existing version of Windows XP and now there are two copies when you
boot up. Crap! What to do now? Not to worry, here's the solution.]]
http://www.cyberwalker.net/faqs/reinstall-reformat-winxp/two-copies-xp.html

How to remove a second installation of a Windows operating system from a
partition
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=888023

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
Bob said:
Hi Group,
Just bought a new Dell XPS 600. I always put a fresh copy of Windows on a
new PC. I tried to use the Maxtor powermax but it searched for hours and
wasn't able to detect a drive. So I decided to go from the Windows CD. It
said it was deleting everything on the C: drive but somehow when I boot I
see a choice of 2 Windows XP Media center editions to boot to. Not what I
wanted. I searched for a few different system files and found only one
copy of each. So, I'm not sure if I have 2 O/S's installed or not. If
not, how can I get rid of the prompt? Any ideas on my dilemma would be
appreciated. Bob
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I do not know anything about Powermax, Bob.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
Bob said:
Thanks Wes,
That took care of the dual boot issue. I would still like to resolve the
Powermax issue as I wanted to create a 50 GB partition for Photoshop to
use as a scratchdisk. Windows limited the size of partitions, didn't give
me many options. I also lost about 25 GB somewhere. out of 250 GB. Not
that big a deal I guess.
Bob

Wesley Vogel said:
Check All Boot Paths first.

Start | Run | Type: msconfig | Click OK |
Boot.ini tab | Check All Boot Paths button |
A dialog box will open detailing the location of any invalid operating
system locations | Confirm you want to remove the entry and reboot

[[Check All Boot Paths - This button will check the boot paths for all
operating systems listed in the BOOT.INI to ensure they point to a valid
operating system. ]]

Msconfig image
http://www.winnetmag.com/Files/16/20784/msconfig.gif

If there is only one you will get:
It appears that all BOOT.INI lines for Microsoft operating systems are
OK.

A dialog box will open detailing the location of any invalid operating
system locations.
Similar to this...
-------------------
It appears that the following line in the BOOT.INI file does not refer to
a
valid operating system:

"multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional " /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn"

Would you like to remove it from the BOOT.INI file?
-------------------

I have two installations of XP on the same partition
http://michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html

Scroll down to and expand...
20. I have two installations of XP on the same partition.......

[[You reinstalled Windows XP on your computer thinking it would overwrite
the existing version of Windows XP and now there are two copies when you
boot up. Crap! What to do now? Not to worry, here's the solution.]]
http://www.cyberwalker.net/faqs/reinstall-reformat-winxp/two-copies-xp.html

How to remove a second installation of a Windows operating system from a
partition
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=888023

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
Bob said:
Hi Group,
Just bought a new Dell XPS 600. I always put a fresh copy of Windows on
a new PC. I tried to use the Maxtor powermax but it searched for hours
and wasn't able to detect a drive. So I decided to go from the Windows
CD. It said it was deleting everything on the C: drive but somehow when
I boot I see a choice of 2 Windows XP Media center editions to boot to.
Not what I wanted. I searched for a few different system files and
found only one copy of each. So, I'm not sure if I have 2 O/S's
installed or not. If not, how can I get rid of the prompt? Any ideas
on my dilemma would be appreciated. Bob
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Back
Top