Partition Delete 2nd OS

  • Thread starter Thread starter rwb
  • Start date Start date
R

rwb

I recently upgraded from ME to 2000. Installed 2000 as new partition and
would now like to delete ME, need space on laptop.
 
Did you choose to do a clean install of Win2K on a separate partition ending
up with a dual boot of Me and Win2k?
 
Rich said:
Did you choose to do a clean install of Win2K on a separate partition ending
up with a dual boot of Me and Win2k?
Click to expand...


yes and I would like to keep 2000 as is.
 
Without knowing exactly how you installed this setup this is what you
should do. To begin, make an Emergency Repair Disk, you may need this
if things go wrong. I doubt anything will go bad but make the Emergency
Repair Disk anyhow! Make Emergency Repair Disk often! Make a new
Emergency Repair Disk when you make significant changes to the system.
Not only can an Emergency Repair Disk get you going again but it is the
reliable way to make registry backups with Windows 2000, should your
computer refuse to start because of registry problems the chances of
successful recovery will depend greatly on the age of the registry
backups that you have made while creating the Emergency Repair Disk.
Keep the Emergency Repair Disk in a safe place!

2- Make an emergency startup diskette, this is not the same as the ERD
above. You have to make this diskette on a Windows NT computer, do it
with your Windows 2000, NOT with ME, the disk will fail if you do it
with Windows 95/98/ME! To make the disk format the diskette while in
Windows 2000 and copy the files: NTDETECT.COM, ntldr and boot.ini from
your hard drive to the diskette. These are hidden system files so you
will have to unhide them using the Tools | Folder Options | View option.

Now test the boot diskette, shutdown the computer and restart it. Go in
the BIOS and set the computer to boot to diskette first, put the startup
diskette in the drive bay and see if you can boot Windows 2000 with it.
Keep this disk with the ERD, it's a good tool to have when things go
wrong.

3- If you were able to boot to the Windows 2000 with the diskette, and
while you are booted to Windows 2000, you can delete all the files on
the Windows ME partition EXCEPT the files: NTDETECT.COM, ntldr and
boot.ini if they are on that partition. These file must ALWAYS remain
in their position at the root of the disk where you found them, usually
C:\ and the partition must ALWAYS remain "Active". You cannot remove
the partition containing these files unless you reinstall Windows 2000,
you can however use it for storage as you please. Of course, don't
delete the files that you want to keep on the partition, or copy them to
another location beforehand.

4- Edit the boot.ini file to reflect the changes that you made.

And that is it. It takes less time to do than it took to write this
reply. And it's probably easier...

John
 
Back
Top