Double Boot Problem

[DICKW]

From: "DICKW" <[email protected]>
Sent: 4/9/2004 5:50:02 PM




I ran into a problem with existing install of Win XP home
and setup failed when I tried to repair the install. I
took the option of a new install in a new directory,
which works fine. Problem is that both installs appear
at boot time and the lower version trys to go back into
the corrupt setup routine. Renaming the old win dir
stops it with an error message, but how can I safely
return to a single boot selection so I can delete the old
Win directory?

Both installs are on one "C" partition and I looked for
a "boot,ini" file, which should have allowed me to solve
the problem, but one does not exist. Apparently XP setup
put its own routine somewhere which is controlling the
boot process. Any suggestions about how to delete the
old OS and just boot to the new? Will adding my own
boot.ini solve this problem?

Thanks,

Dick

Thanks,

Dick W

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

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

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Michael Stevens]

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| From: "DICKW" <[email protected]>
| Sent: 4/9/2004 5:50:02 PM
|
| I ran into a problem with existing install of Win XP home
| and setup failed when I tried to repair the install. I
| took the option of a new install in a new directory,
| which works fine. Problem is that both installs appear
| at boot time and the lower version trys to go back into
| the corrupt setup routine. Renaming the old win dir
| stops it with an error message, but how can I safely
| return to a single boot selection so I can delete the old
| Win directory?
|
| Both installs are on one "C" partition and I looked for
| a "boot,ini" file, which should have allowed me to solve
| the problem, but one does not exist. Apparently XP setup
| put its own routine somewhere which is controlling the
| boot process. Any suggestions about how to delete the
| old OS and just boot to the new? Will adding my own
| boot.ini solve this problem?
|
| Thanks,
|
| Dick W

 

[Jim]

Did you back up the original partition before attempting to reinstall?

Jim

 

[Guest]

No, the OS crashed and I attempted to run Setup over the
top. This also presented a fatal error (something about
not being able to find enough data to continue) and it
gave me the option of installing a new copy of the OS in
a new directory, which I did. That install went fine,
but now I'm presented with two copies of XP at boot; the
top being the good install, the bottom trys to continue
the setup routine. I have renamed the old OS directory,
so that the second boot choice now returns an error
message. I'd just like to get rid of the boot message
and erase the old OS directory and be done with it. Both
are on the SAME partition..

Dick W

 

[Guest]

Carey,

I really don't have two good installations, just one good
and one bad. I'd just like to get rid of the startup
message so that the machine boots to the good OS.

Dick W

 

[Jim]

Hmm... well, when you install two OS's in the SAME directory, it's always
the worst situation. The directions Carey provide are correct *if* the
second install was simply in another partition. By using the same
partition, you have more complex issues. Removing the second boot option is
trivial, it merely requires editing the boot.ini file (hidden by default)
and *carefully* removing the second reference. Or, you can change the
default OS to the first one and set the timeout to ZERO, again, in boot.ini.

But the complications come in because unless the second install put
EVERYTHING in it's own own directory, you have the possibility of
duplication. For example, you may have C:\Windows and C:\Windows2, it's
easy enough to remove the latter, but there's always the one C:\Program
Files !!! So I have no idea, for example, what the second install did to
Program Files, or C:\Documents and Settings, etc. All of these end up
shared if you install a second instance of XP. Again, a mess. The second
install may very well have cleared My Documents for all I know.

All I can say is, fix up the boot.ini file, reboot, and see what you have.
Check the C:\Program Files and C:\Dcouments and Settings directories (and by
extension, My Documents) in particular. If there's problem it will be these
directories. You might luck out and only need to delete the second Windows
directory.

Of course, next time, use a NEW partition unless you want to do a clean
install

HTH

Jim

 

[DickW]

Good advice. Wish I had asked earlier. I did run into a
problem with the My Documents directory, but was able to
transfer everything to the new locations. I think
everything is seperated and have renamed the old OS dir
to check that out. Everything seems to work fine. I
looked for and could not find the Boot.ini file, even
viewing hidden files. I thought perhaps setup created
it's own boot file. I think I'll try to create a
boot.ini and install it. You're right, it is a trivial
problem, but since the computer is for someone else, I
want to clean it up and release the space taken up by the
old OS if possible.

DickW