How do I uninstall one of two OS installed on separate hard drives

[Guest]

Due to a problem so long ago and time consuming I have mentally blocked it
(MS high level techs couldn't solve) I now have two instalations of Win XP
Pro SP2 on my machine. The older, EVIL OS is installed on the C: drive and
the new, GOOD OS is installed on the D: drive. The system boots to the D:
drive and is working very well for several months now since El Disastro.

I would like to wipe clean the C: drive and make it available for more
usefull things than a OS prison. So, my question is... How do I uninstall
the OS on C: without effecting everything that is working properly now.
Also... once I eliminate the OS on C:, can I designate or remap D: as C:

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Please try the following article by Michael Stevens:

"I have two installations of XP on the same partition........"
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html#20

--


Will Denny

MS MVP Shell/User
Please Reply to the News Groups

 

[John John]

You will not be able to reassign the "D" drive letter unless you
reinstall the operating system. You can delete everything on the C
drive EXCEPT the following files:

boot.ini
NTDETECT.COM
ntldr
ntbootdd.sys (may not be present, not often used on newer hardware)

These files are located in the root folder of the System drive, most
likely C:\ in your case.

Before you start deleting files you should make yourself an NT floppy
boot disk, that way you will still be able to start the pc even if you
delete the wrong files. To create a boot floppy do the following:

1- Format a floppy diskette ( format a: /u ) on your XP computer. DO
NOT format it on a Windows 9x computer, if you do the diskette will fail.
2- Copy the files: boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM, ntldr and if present,
ntbootdd.sys to the floppy disk.

Test the diskette. Shutdown the computer and boot with the diskette.
Go in the BIOS and verify/change the boot order so that the computer is
set to boot from the diskette first. If you can boot with the diskette
then you can do work on the C drive with the assurance that if you make
mistakes you will still be able to reboot the computer.

John

 

[Guest]

This seems to make sense... was a little difficult to understand the way it
is written but, I'm stuck at system properties...

"From System Properties [Winkey+Pause/Break] > Advanced Tab > Startup and
Recovery > Settings > Edit."

Winkey + Pause/Break does nothing on my keyboard and I couldn't figure out
how to access System Properties.

 

[Guest]

There is no burning reason for me to do this unless I can completely clean
the drive. I'm willing to reinstall the OS as long as I don't have to
reconfigure setting, preferences, or reinstall existing software. I had to
go through a complete reinstall to get where I am. I'll leave the drive more
or less unused before i do that again.

RF

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

You should be able to access System Properties by typing the following from
Start>Run:

sysdm.cpl

--


Will Denny

MS MVP Shell/User
Please Reply to the News Groups

This seems to make sense... was a little difficult to understand the way
it
is written but, I'm stuck at system properties...

"From System Properties [Winkey+Pause/Break] > Advanced Tab > Startup and
Recovery > Settings > Edit."

Winkey + Pause/Break does nothing on my keyboard and I couldn't figure out
how to access System Properties.

Hi

Please try the following article by Michael Stevens:

"I have two installations of XP on the same partition........"
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html#20

--


Will Denny

MS MVP Shell/User
Please Reply to the News Groups

 

[Timothy Daniels]

I now have two instalations of Win XP Pro SP2 on my machine.
The older, EVIL OS is installed on the C: drive and the new,
GOOD OS is installed on the D: drive. The system boots to the
D: drive and is working very well for several months now since
El Disastro.

I would like to wipe clean the C: drive and make it available for
more usefull things than a OS prison. So, my question is... How
do I uninstall the OS on C: without effecting everything that is
working properly now.
Also... once I eliminate the OS on C:, can I designate or remap
D: as C:

You don't say whether the two OSes are on separate
HARD DRIVES (as in your subject line) or on separate
LOCAL DISKS, i.e. separate partitions on the same
hard drive.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

Okay... that worked to change the boot record. Felt a bit loke a dunce once
I was in system properties... just a different way to go where I've been
before. Oh well, thanks

So... I'm not sure if I should format the C: drive yet. Maybe I'll just
unplug it and see if it boots in D: correctly w/out C:

Thanks for you help,

Richard

Hi

You should be able to access System Properties by typing the following from
Start>Run:

sysdm.cpl

--


Will Denny

MS MVP Shell/User
Please Reply to the News Groups

This seems to make sense... was a little difficult to understand the way
it
is written but, I'm stuck at system properties...

"From System Properties [Winkey+Pause/Break] > Advanced Tab > Startup and
Recovery > Settings > Edit."

Winkey + Pause/Break does nothing on my keyboard and I couldn't figure out
how to access System Properties.

Hi

Please try the following article by Michael Stevens:

"I have two installations of XP on the same partition........"
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html#20

--


Will Denny

MS MVP Shell/User
Please Reply to the News Groups


Due to a problem so long ago and time consuming I have mentally blocked
it
(MS high level techs couldn't solve) I now have two instalations of Win
XP
Pro SP2 on my machine. The older, EVIL OS is installed on the C: drive
and
the new, GOOD OS is installed on the D: drive. The system boots to the
D:
drive and is working very well for several months now since El
Disastro.

I would like to wipe clean the C: drive and make it available for more
usefull things than a OS prison. So, my question is... How do I
uninstall
the OS on C: without effecting everything that is working properly now.
Also... once I eliminate the OS on C:, can I designate or remap D: as
C:

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Tim,

The OSes are are two pysically separate drives, not partitions of the same
drive. I just tried booting with the C: drive unplugged. No good,
apparently it is still dependant on something on the C: drive.

Thanks,

Rich

 

[Guest]

Even tho your working OS is on drive D your boot files still are on C:\

These include:
autoexec.bat (likely empty anyway)
boot.ini
config.sys
msdos.sys
ntldr
ntdetect.com
io.sys

The quick fix would be to remove drive C - only have drive d in the system
and boot to your XP cd and run a repair install - (if the option is there)

To run the repair:
Follow Method 2 in:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341/en-us

If this doesn't work try this: (it may not give you an option to repair the
install because it won't see the proper boot files listed above)

If this is the case Plug your c:\drive back in - copy the above files to d:\
and remove your c:\ drive again and reboot the system to see if windows loads
(you may get lucky)

If that doesn't work then try this: (fixboot recreates ntldr and
ntdetect.com boot files on your drive)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315233/en-us

If it still isn't working then retry the repair install to see if it now
sees the install.

Hope that gets you to where you want to be...

Phil

 

[Timothy Daniels]

The OSes are are two pysically separate drives, not partitions
of the same drive. I just tried booting with the C: drive unplugged.
No good, apparently it is still dependant on something on the
C: drive.

I'll assume that you have only one partition on each of the
hard drives - that's why you're calling the HD with the C:
partition the "C: drive" and the HD with the D: partition
the "D: drive". If you actually have other partitions on your
"D: drive", use Disk Management running on either OS to
mark the D: partition "active" if it's not already "active".

Then, using either OS, transfer the ntldr, boot.ini, and
ntdetect.com files to D:\, i.e. just under the root D: . Then
use Notepad to edit the boot.ini file that you transferred to D: .
Make it look like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=0
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="The GOOD WinXP Pro"
/noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Pay careful attention to the argument of "rdisk()". "0" means
"the HD at the head of the BIOS's HD boot order". "1" means
"the 2nd HD in the BIOS's HD boot order". With only one HD
connected in the system, it will automatically be at the head of
the BIOS's HD boot order, and "rdisk(0)" will refer to that HD,
and the MasterBootRecord of that HD will be given control by
the BIOS at boot time. Right now, the cabling positions and the
Master/Slave jumpering of the 2 HDs puts the HD containing the
C: partition at the head of the BIOS's HD boot order. Assuming
that the 2 HDs are on the same IDE channel (i.e. IDE cable), by
reversing the jumpering of the 2 HDs, you can put your "D: drive"
at the head of the BIOS's HD boot order. If the HDs are SATA
HDs, or if they are IDE HDs on separate channels (i.e. separate
cables) just interchange their cables. If you know your way around
in your BIOS, you can skip the re-jumpering or cable-switching,
and just rearrange the HD boot order in the BIOS yourself via
keyboard input.

With just the single entry under "[operating systems]", ntldr
will know that it's a mono-boot situation, and it will boot the
single entry without putting up a selection menu on the screen.
Be aware that the good WinXP Pro will continue to refer to
its partition as "D:". You can then use the "Good WinXP Pro"
to re-format the C: partition on the other HD or just keep the
other HD around for the files that are on it.

*TimDaniels*