Remove Dual Boot - Partition and Boot Magic

[Guest]

The original OS was Win 98 SE.

Using Partition Magic 8, I created a separate primary partition on the same
physical drive and installed Win XP Pro.

I then used Boot Magic to select which OS to launch.

To get rid of 98 do I just have to delete the 98 partition after booting
into XP?
Or do I also have to edit the boot.ini file as explained in some of the
other posts?

Partition Magic was very thorough in explaning how to setup a dual boot, but
not one word on the steps for going back to a single boot system.

 

[Andrew Murray]

I'm interested in knowing this also. I currently have Window ME / WIndows
XP Pro dual boot

ME is on C: drive, XP on D: drive (two partitions, one physical disk).

1) How to convert back to single OS (XP Pro) without having to reformat,
repartition (or delete 2nd Parition) and reinstall XP.

2) If I leave it as is, can I convert one partition to NTFS and leave the
other as Fat32? I know NTFS can't "see" Fat32 and vice versa.

I have Parition Magic and BootMagic.

They are installed on the Windows ME partition - does this make a
difference? SHould I install them on the XP partition instead?

 

[Harvey Gratt]

The original OS was Win 98 SE.

Using Partition Magic 8, I created a separate primary partition on the same
physical drive and installed Win XP Pro.

I then used Boot Magic to select which OS to launch.

To get rid of 98 do I just have to delete the 98 partition after booting
into XP?
Or do I also have to edit the boot.ini file as explained in some of the
other posts?

Partition Magic was very thorough in explaning how to setup a dual boot, but
not one word on the steps for going back to a single boot system.

If you have PM 8, look at page 44-45 in the manual. It states that you
need to uninstall BootMagic if it resides in the partition you are going
to delete.

You might try to install the Recovery Console first into the XP
partition. That might allow you to fix the boot.ini file if needed.

FWIW, I have the same setup. First partion is win98se, second is a
logical partition and the third is an XP partition. I know that, because
I also use BootMagic, the XP boot.ini file points to ...partition(1) (
instead of ...partition(3) ). I THINK this is the way it should be.

No guarantees, but maybe what you need to do is uninstall BM, then
delete the win98 partition leaving only one (the XP) partition. With any
luck, your system will still be bootable.

This is all just a best guess. Make an image if you can first.

Harvey

 

[Guest]

Before you delete win98, boot into WinXP and check the entries for the
boot.ini file. They shoud all be (0) except for partition(1). Make some boot
disks with PM 8 and then boot into PM. Delete win98 and move XP to the front
of the drive. Set XP active. Use an old win95 startup disk(my preference)
disk and type fdisk /mbr. That cleans the rest of BootMagic offf the drive
(from MBR). Reboot. You should have XP looking back at you.

 

[Guest]

Quote: "I know NTFS can't "see" Fat32 and vice versa"
NTFS can see FAT32 partitions whereas Win9x (FAT32) cannot see NTFS
partitions unless you have NTFS drivers installed eg. NTFS for Win98.

I would make the boot floppies with PM 8 and do all the work with these.

I'm interested in knowing this also. I currently have Window ME / WIndows
XP Pro dual boot

ME is on C: drive, XP on D: drive (two partitions, one physical disk).

1) How to convert back to single OS (XP Pro) without having to reformat,
repartition (or delete 2nd Parition) and reinstall XP.

2) If I leave it as is, can I convert one partition to NTFS and leave the
other as Fat32? I know NTFS can't "see" Fat32 and vice versa.

I have Parition Magic and BootMagic.

They are installed on the Windows ME partition - does this make a
difference? SHould I install them on the XP partition instead?

 

[Guest]

My PM8 manual only goes up to page 24.
Are you referring to something else?

 

[Harvey Gratt]

I'm using PowerQuest PM 8, is this what your using? I think there is a
Norton version which may be different.

Harvey

 

[Stan Brown]

ME is on C: drive, XP on D: drive (two partitions, one physical disk).

1) How to convert back to single OS (XP Pro) without having to reformat,
repartition (or delete 2nd Parition) and reinstall XP.
I have Parition Magic and BootMagic.
They are installed on the Windows ME partition

I think you want them installed on the partition you're going to
keep.

First run "Configure BootMagic" on Win ME and disable it; then I
believe you want to uninstall it though possibly it doesn't matter.

Next install Partition Magic on Win XP. You need not install Boot
Magic since you're not going gto use it.

Lastly, in XP, use PM to delete the ME partition. Either merge it
with the XP partition or just assign it a letter and reserve it for
the swap file.

Under ordinary circumstances, PM does its work without losing any
files so you will not have to reformat or reinstall. D a backup
anyway, just in case there's a power failure while PM is doing its
work.

2) If I leave it as is, can I convert one partition to NTFS and leave the
other as Fat32? I know NTFS can't "see" Fat32 and vice versa.

PM can do these conversions at the same time or later. Win XP can
convert FAT32 to NTFS but not the other way.

 

[Ken Blake]

NTFS can see FAT32 partitions whereas Win9x (FAT32) cannot see
NTFS
partitions unless you have NTFS drivers installed eg. NTFS for
Win98.

No, this isn't accurate. It's not NTFS or FAT32 that sees or
doesn't see the other. File systems don't *see* file systems.

It's *operating systems* that see file systems or not.

Windows XP can see NTFS, FAT32, FAT16, and FAT12, in any and all
combinations, regardless of what file system it itself is
installed on. Windows 98, on the other hand, can see all of those
except for NTFS.

 

[Guest]

I thought it was quite obvious I was referring to what OS's can see. ie.
Win9x (FAT32). Besides they don't "see" them anyway. They have the capability
of accessing (read/write/view) them.

 

[Sunny]

An addition to the thread subject, and plea for guidance
I have A dual Boot WinME and WinXP set up, thus,
(2 Hard drives)
1. Win ME and Partition Magic with Boot Magic installed on "C".
2. WinXp and Partition Magic installed on "C".
3. An "E" partition for data.
(Each "C" is hidden from the other OS)
2nd Hard drive has "D" and "F" partitions.
"F" partition is NTFS, the other 4 are FAT32.

Boot Magic requires a FAT32 partition, but cannot be installed with the
WINXP OS, because it won't instal more than once on the same PC.
The hidden WinME partition can be "browsed" using Partition Magic, and files
can be deleted and modified.
The time has come to get rid of WinME without destroying a very stable
WinXP.
(Brought to a head when I increased RAM to 1Gb, and WinME almost loads but
shuts the PC down before completion)
Can't get into Boot Magic now to alter it.
Gratefull for any help, Partition Magic/Boot Magic help covers everything,
but what I want to do.

 

[Rock]

An addition to the thread subject, and plea for guidance
I have A dual Boot WinME and WinXP set up, thus,
(2 Hard drives)
1. Win ME and Partition Magic with Boot Magic installed on "C".
2. WinXp and Partition Magic installed on "C".
3. An "E" partition for data.
(Each "C" is hidden from the other OS)
2nd Hard drive has "D" and "F" partitions.
"F" partition is NTFS, the other 4 are FAT32.

Boot Magic requires a FAT32 partition, but cannot be installed with the
WINXP OS, because it won't instal more than once on the same PC.
The hidden WinME partition can be "browsed" using Partition Magic, and files
can be deleted and modified.
The time has come to get rid of WinME without destroying a very stable
WinXP.
(Brought to a head when I increased RAM to 1Gb, and WinME almost loads but
shuts the PC down before completion)
Can't get into Boot Magic now to alter it.
Gratefull for any help, Partition Magic/Boot Magic help covers everything,
but what I want to do.

Sunny, if you're not the original poster it's not a good idea to hijack
someone else's thread. Start a new one of your own.

 

[Guest]

Sunny, same advice I gave to the others. MAKE PM boot floppies and use these.
Delete ME after booting into PM and move/resize XP to fill (I assume they're
both on the first drive, right? since they are hidden from each other). You
have to use a boot floppy with fdisk on it to clean the rest of the crap
BootMagic installs on the MBR. BootMagic and any other boot manager that
requires installation in an OS partition is a piece of CRAP!!!! There are
freeware stand-alone boot-managers that kick their bums but good. The one I
use doesn't even require a primary partition, it's at the end of my drive in
a very small logical partition.

 

[Ken Blake]

I thought it was quite obvious I was referring to what OS's can
see.
ie. Win9x (FAT32). Besides they don't "see" them anyway. They
have
the capability of accessing (read/write/view) them.

It may have been obvious to you, but it certainly isn't obvious
to everyone. This is a frequent source of confusion, and needed
to be clarified. If what I said didn't help you, it may well help
others to whom it *isn't* obvious.

 

[Alex Nichol]

I then used Boot Magic to select which OS to launch.

To get rid of 98 do I just have to delete the 98 partition after booting
into XP?
Or do I also have to edit the boot.ini file as explained in some of the
other posts?

Provided you have been using Boot Magic to do it, the XP should see
itself as drive C: with the 98 partition maybe or maybe not visible.
If so all you need do is use boot to the 98 (presuming that is where
Boot Magic is installed) and from it use Partition magic to make the XP
partition the active one. Then you will boot direct to the XP without
using Boot Magic and can delete the 98 partition using Control Panel -
Admin Tools - Computer Management, select Disk Management and look lower
right for the graphic of the drive - right click the 98 partition and
delete; then r-click the Unallocated space to make a new partition there

 

[Sunny]

Sunny, if you're not the original poster it's not a good idea to hijack
someone else's thread. Start a new one of your own.

Thank you .

 

[Rock]

Thank you

You're welcome, good luck.