Two installations of XP showing, but there is only one

  • Thread starter Thread starter CarlosAntenna
  • Start date Start date
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CarlosAntenna

I recently repartitioned my hard drive and reinstalled XP Home. Now at boot
up there is a screen asking which copy of XP Home I want to run. I know
there is a way to eliminate this because I did it before, but now I can't
find it again.
 
Go to Start > Run and type: MSCONFIG , and hit enter.
Click on the BOOT.INI tab and then click on "Check All Boot Paths"
to delete incorrect boot paths.

If the above does not work for you, then:

Right-click MY COMPUTER and select:

Properties > Advanced > Startup and Recovery Settings > Edit

CAREFULLY edit your boot.ini file to remove the SECOND entry.
Your boot.ini file should then read similar to this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows Home Edition" /fastdetect

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------­----------------

:

| I recently repartitioned my hard drive and reinstalled XP Home. Now at boot
| up there is a screen asking which copy of XP Home I want to run. I know
| there is a way to eliminate this because I did it before, but now I can't
| find it again.
|
| --
| Carlos
 
Carey Frisch said:
CAREFULLY edit your boot.ini file to remove the SECOND entry.
Your boot.ini file should then read similar to this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows Home Edition" /fastdetect
Click to expand...


"Similar" is an important word because this boot.ini says
that the operating system is on the *second* hard drive in
the hard drive boot order - as indicated by "rdisk(1)".
The *first* hard drive in the hard drive boot order is
designated by "rdisk(0)" - which is the usual case by far.

A rare example of the above boot.ini file being correct is if
there are 2 HDs on the same IDE cable, and the OS resides
on the one jumpered as "Slave".

Or... there are 2 HDs on separate cables (i.e. separate IDE
channels), and the HD on channel 1 (the second channel)
has the OS.

Or... the hard drive boot order has been changed from its
default setting so that the HD containing the OS is 2nd in
the hard drive boot order.

This all means that if an example of the boot.ini file is to be
given that is correct for 95% or more of the world's Windows
systems, the rdisk value should be "0"

*TimDaniels*
 
Hi Carey,
I have a simular problrm. I installed a second copy of Windows XP home on
the hard drive by accident while trying to repair the first. Now I have the
same problem as mentioned by Carlos. It asks which operating system I want to
use on boot up but the first entry is the mistaken one and the second entry
is the one I want to keep because it contains all my programs. Will this work
for my problem also? And how do I know which entry to eliminate?
 
Hi IKNOUSE,

Perhaps this will help......

Go to Michael Stevens' XP FAQ page:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html#20
Scroll down to #20 "I have two installations of XP on the same
partition...." and click on it to expand the information beneath.

Hope this helps!


Regards,

--
Patti MacLeod
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

IKNOUSE said:
Hi Carey,
I have a simular problrm. I installed a second copy of Windows XP home on
the hard drive by accident while trying to repair the first. Now I have
the
same problem as mentioned by Carlos. It asks which operating system I want
to
use on boot up but the first entry is the mistaken one and the second
entry
is the one I want to keep because it contains all my programs. Will this
work
for my problem also? And how do I know which entry to eliminate?

Carey Frisch said:
Go to Start > Run and type: MSCONFIG , and hit enter.
Click on the BOOT.INI tab and then click on "Check All Boot Paths"
to delete incorrect boot paths.

If the above does not work for you, then:

Right-click MY COMPUTER and select:

Properties > Advanced > Startup and Recovery Settings > Edit

CAREFULLY edit your boot.ini file to remove the SECOND entry.
Your boot.ini file should then read similar to this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows Home
Edition" /fastdetect

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------­----------------

:

| I recently repartitioned my hard drive and reinstalled XP Home. Now at
boot
| up there is a screen asking which copy of XP Home I want to run. I
know
| there is a way to eliminate this because I did it before, but now I
can't
| find it again.
|
| --
| Carlos
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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