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Removing an uneeded dual boot option from startup

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by Paul, 2003/07/09.

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  1. 2003/07/09
    Paul

    Paul Inactive Thread Starter

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    Hi all,
    I'm dual booting XP Pro and Server 2003. Originally after setup I correctly had the expected two boot options before windows started, with Windows server 2003, Enterprise edition and Windows XP Professional.
    Problem happened a few days later when I did an early abort of a reinstall/Repair of server 2003. Now at startup I have a third entry titled Windows (Default), which will boot XP Pro after a delay of 10 sec or so. I can boot into Server 2003 by using the arrow key to highlight it and hit enter, likewise with the correct Windows XP pro entry. But how can I delete this Windows (default) entry?
    It doesn't appear in the System Properties|Advanced Startup and Recovery|Settings drop down box or by clicking the Edit tab to edit the boot order using Notepad, and i've lost the ability of selecting which OS I want to automatically boot into as well, even though I can highlight either one in the drop down box.
    This is the exactly the same if I boot into either OS.
     
    Paul,
    #1
  2. 2003/07/09
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Hi Paul,

    This is an area in which I have no experience - and should probably keep my mouth firmly shut :D , but an edit of boot.ini may be in order ?

    This may. of course, be the same as hitting the Edit tab you mentioned.
     

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  4. 2003/07/09
    Paul

    Paul Inactive Thread Starter

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    Pete,
    Yeah that's my understanding as well, that I have been accessing the boot.ini file with this edit tab.
    But there must be some file to edit somewhere to remove this entry?
     
    Paul,
    #3
  5. 2003/07/09
    Paul

    Paul Inactive Thread Starter

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    Yep,
    I just confirmed by the following Link that I was infact editing the boot.ini file...

    Below is the info contained in it. Looks ok to me, so HAS to be in some other file.

    [Boot Loader]
    Timeout=5
    [Operating Systems]
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\D\WINDOWS= "Windows Server 2003, Enterprise" /fastdetect
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
     
    Paul,
    #4
  6. 2003/07/09
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Yes - looks exactly as you would expect it to. I think the problem is that as the second install of 2003 was aborted the info was not written into the *.ini file, although as it was a repair of the existing install you would not expect it to be entered anyway.

    Afraid you will have to wait for the States to wake up and hopefully chip in!

    Sorry I can't help further.
     
  7. 2003/07/09
    Paul

    Paul Inactive Thread Starter

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    Thanks Pete!
     
    Paul,
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  8. 2003/07/09
    Abraxas

    Abraxas Inactive

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    You might try actually adding something:

    [Boot Loader]
    Timeout=5
    default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
    [Operating Systems]
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\D\WINDOWS= "Windows Server 2003, Enterprise" /fastdetect
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

    (No wrap after the 3rd line, of course.)
     
    Last edited: 2003/07/09
  9. 2003/07/09
    Paul

    Paul Inactive Thread Starter

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    Thanks Abraxas,
    I'll add the line you suggested later today when I'm home.
     
    Paul,
    #8
  10. 2003/07/10
    Paul

    Paul Inactive Thread Starter

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    Well I fixed the problem (No not a reformat :D )
    I decided to delete the contents of the boot.ini file, and as expected the system went blank after the BIOS post (woops!)
    What to do now?
    Option 1. Do a repair install and load all windows updated since SP1 and load Nvidia graphics drivers. (been their a few times!)

    Option 2. (which I chose) Invoke the recovery console from booting from the install disk, and choose bootcfg /rebuild.
    After a reboot I STILL had the Windows (Default) entry till I added as Abraxas (and my second machine) suggested the
    "default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS" After another reboot I only had the 2 OS entries and was able to set either as the default.
     
    Paul,
    #9
  11. 2003/07/11
    Newt

    Newt Inactive

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    Good choice. :D
     
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