Two Installations of XP ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter CarlosAntenna
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CarlosAntenna

I recently reinstalled XP Home. During the installation I deleted the
existing partition and then created two new partitions and formatted them.

Now when it boots it asks which installation of XP I want. It loads the
first one by default, but I don't want to see this screen at all. Why does
it see two installations? How can I fix this?
 
CarlosAntenna said:
I recently reinstalled XP Home. During the installation I deleted the
existing partition and then created two new partitions and formatted them.

Now when it boots it asks which installation of XP I want. It loads the
first one by default, but I don't want to see this screen at all. Why does
it see two installations? How can I fix this?
Click to expand...
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/bootopt.htm
 
Th referenced web page has instructions to "identify" incorrect boot.ini
entry or boot path.

It will not permanently remove entry from boot.ini file.

You will have to manually edit boot.ini to remove invalid path.
Add'l links are provided at the bottom of that web page.


If you performed a "Clean Install" of Win XP your HD would have completely
erased. There shouldn't be any leftover boot.ini file. Anew boot.ini would've
been created.
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

So why does your boot.ini still reference another Win XP installation?
Is it possible you have two copies on your HDD?

If msconfig doesn't identify an invalid path, then truly you have more than
one Win XP.
 
If the second entry works, you have two copies of windows.
Yes you can eliminate the entry on boot so it goes straight to Default. The
other one ,if valid, still exist though (ie the files and HDD space is used.)
 
I Ghosted an image onto the second partition, but it's a compressed image
file, not a clone. I wouldn't think it would be recognizable as an
installation.
 
Carlos,

Click Start, Run and type MSCONFIG
Select the Boot.ini tab
Click Check All Boot Paths button

MSConfig will now quickly verify each line mentioned in the Boot.ini to
check if they are valid. If orphaned entries are detected, you'll be
prompted with this dialog:

[example]
It appears that the following line in the BOOT.INI file does not refer to a
valid operating system:

"multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional " /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn"

Would you like to remove it from the BOOT.INI file?
[/example]

Choose Yes when the dialog box appears. This will remove the incorrect entry
from Boot.ini file.

--
Ramesh, Microsoft MVP
Windows XP Shell/User

Windows XP Troubleshooting
http://www.winhelponline.com
 
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