removing windows boot manager

[gls858]

I loaded test copy of Vista on a second drive. I have since removed it
and formated the drive but the boot manager remains. Is using the
recovery console and fixMBR the only way to get rid of it?

gls858

 

[John John]

Use the msconfig tool and have it check the boot paths for you.

fixmbr is not the tool to use for this. You would only need to use the
Recovery Console if the pc couldn't boot and the tool to use for this
purpose would be Bootcfg /rebuild, but you don't need to do this, use
msconfig instead.

John

 

[gls858]

Use the msconfig tool and have it check the boot paths for you.

fixmbr is not the tool to use for this. You would only need to use the
Recovery Console if the pc couldn't boot and the tool to use for this
purpose would be Bootcfg /rebuild, but you don't need to do this, use
msconfig instead.

John

Thanks for the reply. Ran msconfig, selected, boot.ini tab, hit the
check all boot paths and got a message that all boot lines are OK.

Any other suggestions?

gls858

 

[John John]

How many boot paths are there in the boot.ini file? Maybe the
corresponding Vista entry is already deleted and all you want to do is
have no boot menu show at startup? If the pc boots to the correct
default Operating System then you can just change the timeout= value in
the boot.ini file. Paste the contents of your boot.ini file here so we
can have a look at it.

If you already know which line to remove in the boot.ini file or if you
want to change the timeout= value you can edit the file (Use Notepad)
but before you do so you should do the following:

1- Make a backup copy of the boot.ini file, you can save it in the same
location as bootini.bak. Use Notepad to do this.

2- Do you have a diskette drive on your pc? Then make a boot diskette
for the pc. On the XP computer (not a Windows 9x pc!) format the
diskette. Copy the following files to the diskette:

NTDETECT.COM
ntldr
boot.ini

3- Try the diskette you just made to make sure it works. Reboot the
computer and go in the BIOS and set the computer to boot to diskette
first. Put the diskette in the pc and reboot. If the pc can boot to
your Windows installation from the diskette then you can edit the
boot.ini file in confidence knowing that you can restart the pc. It
might seem like work for nothing but if you damage the boot.ini file and
the computer refuses to start it will be easier and faster using this
boot diskette than going through the Recovery Console method to regain
the Operating System.

Also, you can change these boot settings by doing the following:

1 - Right click "My Computer"
2 - Select "Properties"
3 - Click on the "Advanced" tab
4 - The boot options can be changed in the "Startup and Recovery" options.

Changing these settings is not really complicated and it should take
less time to do than it took to write (or read) this message ;-) If you
are unsure paste the contents of the file here and we can suggest changes.

John

 

[gls858]

How many boot paths are there in the boot.ini file? Maybe the
corresponding Vista entry is already deleted and all you want to do is
have no boot menu show at startup? If the pc boots to the correct
default Operating System then you can just change the timeout= value in
the boot.ini file. Paste the contents of your boot.ini file here so we
can have a look at it.

If you already know which line to remove in the boot.ini file or if you
want to change the timeout= value you can edit the file (Use Notepad)
but before you do so you should do the following:

1- Make a backup copy of the boot.ini file, you can save it in the same
location as bootini.bak. Use Notepad to do this.

2- Do you have a diskette drive on your pc? Then make a boot diskette
for the pc. On the XP computer (not a Windows 9x pc!) format the
diskette. Copy the following files to the diskette:

NTDETECT.COM
ntldr
boot.ini

3- Try the diskette you just made to make sure it works. Reboot the
computer and go in the BIOS and set the computer to boot to diskette
first. Put the diskette in the pc and reboot. If the pc can boot to
your Windows installation from the diskette then you can edit the
boot.ini file in confidence knowing that you can restart the pc. It
might seem like work for nothing but if you damage the boot.ini file and
the computer refuses to start it will be easier and faster using this
boot diskette than going through the Recovery Console method to regain
the Operating System.

Also, you can change these boot settings by doing the following:

1 - Right click "My Computer"
2 - Select "Properties"
3 - Click on the "Advanced" tab
4 - The boot options can be changed in the "Startup and Recovery" options.

Changing these settings is not really complicated and it should take
less time to do than it took to write (or read) this message ;-) If you
are unsure paste the contents of the file here and we can suggest changes.

John

Thanks John. I'm at the office now so I'll check this out when I get home.
IIRC there is just the one line in the boot.ini. I'll try your other
suggestion and post back later with the results

gls858

 

[John John]

If there is only one boot path then all you have to do is set the
timeout= to 0 seconds. You can do it in msconfig or by deselecting the
"Display list of operating systems for..." in the System Properties
Startup and Recovery options. (Remove the check from the box and the
value will be adjusted accordingly).

John

 

[gls858]

If there is only one boot path then all you have to do is set the
timeout= to 0 seconds. You can do it in msconfig or by deselecting the
"Display list of operating systems for..." in the System Properties
Startup and Recovery options. (Remove the check from the box and the
value will be adjusted accordingly).

John

snip<

No floppy drive.

Well.. when I just let it boot up without making a selection I get a black
screen saying there's been a serious error. Sure was I formatted the
partition where Vista was installed Here's the boot.ini.

;
;Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems.
;Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options.
;
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT

I searched the drive for bcdedit.exe but no luck. Guess I could always
reload Vista and see if I could make the change before I blow it away.
Probably should be asking these question in a Vista beta group.

Thanks for the help
gls858

 

[John John]

See at the bottom.

If there is only one boot path then all you have to do is set the
timeout= to 0 seconds. You can do it in msconfig or by deselecting
the "Display list of operating systems for..." in the System
Properties Startup and Recovery options. (Remove the check from the
box and the value will be adjusted accordingly).

John

snip<

No floppy drive.

Well.. when I just let it boot up without making a selection I get a black
screen saying there's been a serious error. Sure was I formatted the
partition where Vista was installed Here's the boot.ini.

;
;Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems.
;Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options.
;
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT

I searched the drive for bcdedit.exe but no luck. Guess I could always
reload Vista and see if I could make the change before I blow it away.
Probably should be asking these question in a Vista beta group.

Thanks for the help
gls858

The file entries look correct. Go in the System Properties Startup and
Recovery options and re-select "Microsoft Windows XP Professional"
/NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT as the Default operating system again.
That is what the file seems to point to but lets try to tell it again
and see what happens.

bcedit will not be of any use for XP. The Vista boot configuration is
stored in a different location and contains different information and
bcedit is used to work these settings. In a multi-boot environment with
Vista and older NT operating systems the boot.ini file is still needed
to start the older operating systems.

John

 

[John John]

More information at the bottom!

See at the bottom.

If there is only one boot path then all you have to do is set the
timeout= to 0 seconds. You can do it in msconfig or by deselecting
the "Display list of operating systems for..." in the System
Properties Startup and Recovery options. (Remove the check from the
box and the value will be adjusted accordingly).

John

gls858 wrote:

John John wrote:

How many boot paths are there in the boot.ini file? Maybe the
corresponding Vista entry is already deleted and all you want to do
is have no boot menu show at startup? If the pc boots to the
correct default Operating System then you can just change the
timeout= value in the boot.ini file. Paste the contents of your
boot.ini file here so we can have a look at it.

snip<

No floppy drive.

Well.. when I just let it boot up without making a selection I get a
black
screen saying there's been a serious error. Sure was I formatted the
partition where Vista was installed Here's the boot.ini.

;
;Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems.
;Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options.
;
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT

I searched the drive for bcdedit.exe but no luck. Guess I could always
reload Vista and see if I could make the change before I blow it away.
Probably should be asking these question in a Vista beta group.

Thanks for the help
gls858

The file entries look correct. Go in the System Properties Startup and
Recovery options and re-select "Microsoft Windows XP Professional"
/NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT as the Default operating system again. That
is what the file seems to point to but lets try to tell it again and see
what happens.

bcedit will not be of any use for XP. The Vista boot configuration is
stored in a different location and contains different information and
bcedit is used to work these settings. In a multi-boot environment with
Vista and older NT operating systems the boot.ini file is still needed
to start the older operating systems.

John

Well, this thing had me scratching my head for a bit, I couldn't
understand why the boot.ini file seemed to not work properly so I
thought that the reason would be that ntldr was changed by Vista and
that the new version was buggy, so, one should be able to replace the NT
Loader with the XP version and the problem would be fixed... Being that
I haven't used Vista I thought I better do some research before I post
the suggestion. Surprise, surprise! The new Vista releases no longer
use ntldr! Microsoft has given Vista a new completely different boot
manager, and from my initial reading and research my first impression is
that I don't like it one bit! My old advice of using third party boot
managers to do multi-boot has only strengthened.

So, how to fix the problem? From the information that I have found all
over the web, some of which made no sense at all, I have four solutions
that seem to be the most plausible but I have no Vista installation to
test so you will have to do the testing for us. The boot information
and the Vista boot tools are now in the boot folder on the system volume
(C:\boot). Here are the possible fix that I have found, in order that
seems to be from easiest or most plausible to hardest:

1- Use the BootSect.exe utility found in the Boot folder or on your
Vista DVD.

Use option /nt52 to restore the ntldr boot loader


2- Use fixntfs.exe (in the boot folder) to remove the Vista boot
loader. You should be able to access the tool from a command prompt
while in XP. Issue command:

fixntfs.exe -xp

Alternatively one suggestion was to run it from command.com (instead of
cmd.exe, don't ask me why) and issue:

fixntfs -xp -all

These commands have to be run from the C:\boot folder.


3- Boot to the XP Recovery console and issue commands:

fixmbr
and if necessary fixboot

That should restore the XP ntldr boot manager. After doing the fix
clean up the boot.ini file if necessary. One could also use the Bootcfg
/rebuild command in the Recovery Console to rebuild the boot.ini file.


4- This is the long way out if nothing seems to work. On some sites I
have read that the other methods don't work and that this alternative
has worked for these folks. Simply boot with your Windows XP cd and
install a new copy of XP on another free partition (like where Vista
was). DON'T INSTALL IT WHERE YOUR CURRENT XP IS INSTALLED! You can
then, from your first XP installation, format the new installation edit
the boot.ini file accordingly.

Please let us know how you fixed the problem as I am sure that the
question will be asked frequently once Vista is officially released to
the general public.

Regards;

John

 

[Sharon F]

I searched the drive for bcdedit.exe but no luck. Guess I could always
reload Vista and see if I could make the change before I blow it away.
Probably should be asking these question in a Vista beta group.

Supposedly running /fixmbr and /fixboot from recovery console will restore
the XP boot. I haven't tried it that way though so can't confirm. I go the
other way, using BCDedit. The bcdedit file is a part of the Vista
installation. The executable can be run from XP or from Vista. What you
could do:

Install Vista. Boot to XP. Use start> run> cmd
Run bcdedit in the cmd window. Type in the path to the executable (or
copy/paste the path if you're lazy about typing it as I am) and add /? to
get a list of commands and syntax. First run bcdedit /v to get a detailed
list of the operating systems. You need the ID characters for the reference
to Vista. I copy/paste these too. TIP: use a notepad window to hold the
bcdedit path and identifier so that you can copy/paste these as needed.

Delete the reference to Vista using
<path to bcdedit> /delete {identifier for vista inside curly brackets]
Press enter and you'll get a message that the operation was successful.

Leaving only the XP references will automatically make it the default
operating system. Restart to test. You should be sent right to the XP
desktop - no appearance of the Vista boot managing screen. Remove the Vista
partition.

 

[Guest]

I loaded test copy of Vista on a second drive. I have since removed it
and formated the drive but the boot manager remains. Is using the
recovery console and fixMBR the only way to get rid of it?

gls858

Try the following method - it worked for me

How to remove the Vista “Windows Boot Manager†from windows XP

Before attempting any of the following make a restore point

1. Open up my computer with all hidden files and file extensions visible.
2. Cut and paste the following items into a separate folder or partition:
Boot (hidden folder)
Bootmgr
Bootsect.bak
Boot.ini
Boot.bak
3. Rename Bootsect.bak to bootsect.dos and copy back to the My Computer
folder.
4. Copy the boot.ini file back to the My Computer folder and then open with
notepad.
5. Remove all the following lines from the reference and save ensuring it is
not set as read only.
;
; Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems.
; Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options.
;
6. Restart the system and you should be able to go straight into Windows XP
without having to go through “Windows Boot Managerâ€.
7. After windows has finished loading you should be able to format the
partition that Vista was installed to (ensure that the backup copies you made
first are not on this partition).
8. If successful then it would be advisable to set another restore point.

 

[gls858]

Try the following method - it worked for me

How to remove the Vista “Windows Boot Manager†from windows XP

Before attempting any of the following make a restore point

1. Open up my computer with all hidden files and file extensions visible.
2. Cut and paste the following items into a separate folder or partition:
Boot (hidden folder)
Bootmgr
Bootsect.bak
Boot.ini
Boot.bak
3. Rename Bootsect.bak to bootsect.dos and copy back to the My Computer
folder.
4. Copy the boot.ini file back to the My Computer folder and then open with
notepad.
5. Remove all the following lines from the reference and save ensuring it is
not set as read only.
;
; Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems.
; Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options.
;
6. Restart the system and you should be able to go straight into Windows XP
without having to go through “Windows Boot Managerâ€.
7. After windows has finished loading you should be able to format the
partition that Vista was installed to (ensure that the backup copies you made
first are not on this partition).
8. If successful then it would be advisable to set another restore point.

Thanks.I'll give it a try. I've just been living with it. Just an extra key
stroke but it sure would be nice to get rid of it.

gls858

 

[gls858]

Try the following method - it worked for me

How to remove the Vista “Windows Boot Manager†from windows XP

Before attempting any of the following make a restore point

1. Open up my computer with all hidden files and file extensions visible.
2. Cut and paste the following items into a separate folder or partition:
Boot (hidden folder)
Bootmgr
Bootsect.bak
Boot.ini
Boot.bak
3. Rename Bootsect.bak to bootsect.dos and copy back to the My Computer
folder.
4. Copy the boot.ini file back to the My Computer folder and then open with
notepad.
5. Remove all the following lines from the reference and save ensuring it is
not set as read only.
;
; Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems.
; Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options.
;
6. Restart the system and you should be able to go straight into Windows XP
without having to go through “Windows Boot Managerâ€.
7. After windows has finished loading you should be able to format the
partition that Vista was installed to (ensure that the backup copies you made
first are not on this partition).
8. If successful then it would be advisable to set another restore point.

a_phantom,

Thanks for the tip. Worked like a charm. Irritating boot mgr is gone.

gls858

 

[Guest]

No problem
Glad to be of help

a_phantom,

Thanks for the tip. Worked like a charm. Irritating boot mgr is gone.

gls858