David said:
I have a problem with my computer in that I need to delete the duplicating
multiple installations of XP and 2000 from my drive. What is the simplest
way to accomplish this without losing any of my files on the installation I
wish to keep?
Are there actual multiple installations or are there just multiple
entries in the BOOT.INI file giving you a choices menu at startup?
Use Start - Run - MSCONFIG and go to the BOOT.INI tab. Click on the
"Check all boot paths" button to validate the Windows XP startup menu
choices and remove the duplicated/nonexistant items.
If you have more than one valid Windows XP install entry for the same
boot partition then you need to determine which folder each one is
installed into. These will/must be different if they are on the same
hard drive partition. A common situation would be where one copy was
installed in c:\windows and another in c:\winnt.
To determine which copy you wish to keep boot into that copy and open
a Command Prompt window. At the command prompt enter the following
command:
SET
Make note of the values reported for the following items:
HOMEDRIVE
SYSTEMROOT
WINBOOTDIR
WINDIR
Repeat this for the other copy/copies of Windows XP.
If they are in fact all installed into the same partition then the
value of HOMEDRIVE will be the same for all copies. However the other
3 values will be different. While you are running the copy that you
want to keep you should be able to delete the SYSTEMROOT, WINBOOTDIR
and WINDIR folders for the other copy/copies of XP. Note that all
thre of these values will likely (but not necessarily) point to the
same place.
Good luck
Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."
