Phantom Dual Boot

[Stan Hilliard]

I don't know how it happened, but upon startup I get a dual boot menu
-- even though I only have one OS. The choice is:

Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Microsoft Windows XP Professional (#1)

How could this have happened?

How can I get rid of it?

Information will be appreciated, Stan Hilliard

 

[Jerry]

Open boot.ini and verify they both point to the same place - if they do
remove the extra line.

 

[John John - MVP]

Run Msconfig and in the Boot.ini tab have it check for and remove
invalid boot paths. To start the utility enter msconfig in the Start
menu Run box.

John

 

[Stan Hilliard]

Run Msconfig and in the Boot.ini tab have it check for and remove
invalid boot paths. To start the utility enter msconfig in the Start
menu Run box.
John

I did that and it removed reference to the HDD that is no longer in
the system. That removed the dual boot choice as intended.

Now I have another problem. Every time I start the PC it loads
msconfig because it is in diagnostic mode. If on the main tab I change
to normal mode, that automatically switches to the original boot.ini
that references the old HDD. How can I make it use the cleaned up
boot.ini in normal mode?

Stan Hilliard

 

[John John - MVP]

I did that and it removed reference to the HDD that is no longer in
the system. That removed the dual boot choice as intended.

Now I have another problem. Every time I start the PC it loads
msconfig because it is in diagnostic mode. If on the main tab I change
to normal mode, that automatically switches to the original boot.ini
that references the old HDD. How can I make it use the cleaned up
boot.ini in normal mode?

You can manually edit the boot.ini file from the System Properties applet.

Right-click on My Computer and select Properties. Click on the Advanced
tab and click on the 'Startup and Recovery' "Settings" button and then
click on the "To edit the startup options file manually" button and
remove the offending line from the boot.ini file.

John

 

[Twayne]

In

I did that and it removed reference to the HDD that is no longer in
the system. That removed the dual boot choice as intended.

Now I have another problem. Every time I start the PC it loads
msconfig because it is in diagnostic mode. If on the main tab I change
to normal mode, that automatically switches to the original boot.ini
that references the old HDD. How can I make it use the cleaned up
boot.ini in normal mode?

Stan Hilliard

John's suggestion should work, or you could just open boot.ini with Notepad
and edit it that way. Easier, IMO.
If you're unsure how to edit it, go ahead and post it here; it's easy to
tell which line to take out. It's the line with the #1 entry you want to
take out. Do NOT remove both of them of course.
Since you're messing with the OS area, I assume you've already backed up
your important data and the boot.ini, right? If not it'd be wise to do so.

Twayne

 

[Stan Hilliard]

In

John's suggestion should work, or you could just open boot.ini with Notepad
and edit it that way. Easier, IMO.
If you're unsure how to edit it, go ahead and post it here; it's easy to
tell which line to take out. It's the line with the #1 entry you want to
take out. Do NOT remove both of them of course.
Since you're messing with the OS area, I assume you've already backed up
your important data and the boot.ini, right? If not it'd be wise to do so.

Twayne

I deleted the correct line and it is booting normally again and
without going to msconfig.

My important data exists on two computers. But there is something
wrong with the current computer that makes it freeze up when I try to
make a full backup of C:. I will start another thread about that
later.
Thanks,
Stan Hilliard

 

[Luan Pham]

I deleted the correct line and it is booting normally again and
without going to msconfig.

My important data exists on two computers. But there is something
wrong with the current computer that makes it freeze up when I try to
make a full backup of C:. I will start another thread about that

I normaly boot into miniXP using Hirens 10.1 Livecd. and I using it to
move data to external HD before reinstall Windows.