Just reinstalled XP and now have 2 to choose from

when I start up. How can I fix this? I don't want to have to choose one every time I start up.

Is this fixable??

Thanks!

 

Hi, again.

First, we need to verify whether you really have 2 separate installations, or your boot.ini file just needs to be fixed.

Do both bring you to the same desktop and programs, or are they different?

Right-click My Computer, Properties, Advanced tab, Startup and Recovery button.
Click the Edit button and copy the results so you can paste them here.

 

Hi, I actually haven't tried both,

I just pick the first one. I'll try it and see.

Thanks!




[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 Home Edition" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect

 

Well, it looks like you do indeed have 2 separate installations. How did your experiment go?

How is the drive on which you have XP partitioned?

 

Well option number 1 is the one that I use

and when I try the 2nd one I get:

The following file is missing or corrupt:

<windowsroot>\system32\hal.dll

please reinstall this file

or something to that effect.....

 

Do you have more than one drive and how are your drives partitioned?

 

1 HD, 30GB

2 partitions:

C:10.3 GB

D:17.5 GB


Hmmm. Where is the rest?

 

There is probably not any space missing. Manufacturers use a million bytes for a megabyte, when really it should be 1024x1024=1048576. That makes the drive look bigger to the customer than it actually is.

OK. So do you see Windows folders on both drives (partitions)? Which one contains the installation that you use? And, is there anything on the unused partition that you need if we formatted it?

 

Hi there, well there is only 1 windows

file on the C: drive, the original drive that it was installed on. When I reinstalled windows a few days ago, it was on the same partition.


I keep all my programs and whatnot on the D: (used to be Edrive, don't know how that changed... I would rather not lose all of this stuff but could IF I had to.

Is this error message going to cause trouble down the line? I mean with the 2 OS listed there? The 2nd one isn't useable so I wasn't sure,.....

Thanks!

 

How many Windows folders do you have total? On all drives?

It is possible that you simply have an entry in boot.ini that points to a windows installation that doesn't exist. In that case, you could just remove the extra entry in boot.ini.

But we gotta be sure first.

 

Well, if the only problem you seem to have is that 2 Windows are listed at startup, you are not seeing any second Windows on the second partition, and you want to get rid of the options at startup, just go back to where you copied your boot.ini info and delete it all. Paste this:

[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 Home Edition" /fastdetect

In other words, get rid of the last part. (I've edited this twice and still can't get it to display properly. Just remove the last part of that boot file from the last multi(0)disk onward.) I am still curious what may have happened, however. Do you see both a Windows and Winnt directory in your C: root directory?

 

Okay, I'll try that.

Nope, only a Windows folder. I dunno what could have happened either....

I'll change that info now..

 

OK. Then just reboot and come back with the (good) news.

That should keep you going unless another problem arises (perish the thought!).

 

Okay, well that worked but...

now I get the MS XP HOME version choice
and
windows (default) choice

and the 2nd one gets that same error message as the 1st time around.....

 

hmm..

 

Did something occur to you, Zephyr ?

Kitty Cat--could you please post what that boot.ini file says now?

I hope my post did not have a line break or something that caused it to display incorrectly and you copied and pasted it. Let's see.

 

Here it is:

[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect

 

I don't see a problem with that. The S that goes on the end of the string is not relevant, that's a BB thing about max. continuous characters of certain types.

That boot.ini shouldn't be giving you any dual choice menu. I'm flummoxed.

 

For comparison, here's mine:

[boot loader]
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

timeout=3

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows Whistler Personal" /fastdetect

Yours is functionally identical. That means the problem is somewhere else...but where?

 

Let's get back to Newt's question, how many Windows folders do you have on ALL drives? e.g., Do you have a Windows folder on the D: drive as well as the C: drive?