remove dual operating systems

Thanks. A few questions, if I may...

How can I determine if there are really two operating systems?  What do the directory/folders look like? simply deleting one seems way too easy somehow.  (Yes there is the bootini issue.)

The two boot options bring up separate desktops. Can I assume that when I remove one boot, other programs and data are not affected?

If I have one OS and two boot entries, how do i know which boot entry to remove?

If I have two OS and two boot entries, how do I confirm the mapping of OS to boot entry?  Would not want to delete OS 1 and boot entry 2, right?

Thanks again,

Nick

If there are two installations, they will be in two separate locations on the hard drive.  To figure out which, open a command window (start-run-cmd) and type PATH, enter.  In the path you'll see your present windows installation directory (c:\windows, c:\win.old, something like that).  That's the one you want to keep.

Then examine the boot.ini file (look in the system applet in the control panel).  One of the two entries will point to another location on the drive, or to another partition on the disc (more likely the former).  That's the one you want to remove (after which, you can remove the directory from the hard drive).

If there are two operating systems on the computer, you can simply delete the one you don't want (find its directory on the hard drive, delete it and then edit the boot.ini file to remove its entry).  More likely there's only one OS but two entries in the boot.ini file -- in which case, just edit that to remove the unwanted one.

Note:  be VERY careful doing this.  Faulty editing of the boot.ini file can render the system unbootable.

How to edit the boot.ini file:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022

wow, this is really resurrecting my old DOS command line knowledge. In Windows 7 I'm not even sure how to REACH a command line, but I digress...

I seriously appreciate your time on this.

Here's the boot.ini file:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS1
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS1="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

here's the PATH command results:  (I actually remembered how to redirect the cmd output to a file and found it!)

PATH=C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTSystem\

Both partitions are (1) which is unexpected. I guess this is not really a partitioned drive. On the startup boot list it's the second OS that brings up the desired desktop, probably plain "Windows" ?

I looked on the C drive and there are indeed two folders, c\windows and c\windows1.

Therefore, it seems like I just delete the entire folder Windows1 and the first os entry in the boot.ini?

I'm pretty good technically, but know there there are certain OS brain surgery operations that can leave the patient dead, so I'm nervous. (I have no floppy boot disk in the case of a disaster.)

Your suggestion at this point?

Nick

The default is the windows1 -- are you interrupting that and manually loading the other copy (the one in Windows)?  If so, then what you propose is correct - the \windows1 install is the surplus.

THat sounds correct -- verify though, before doing anything.

Yes, the order in the boot file is Windows1, then Windows (as you saw), although they  both appear as identical Windows XP options during reboot. The top one is highlighted, apparently because it is the default, not simply because it is the first one.  I have to select the second one to get what I want (Windows). I confirmed that the Path there is Windows. I also rebooted to the first Windows XP (Windows1) and confirmed that the path is now Windows1 (although there is significant extra 'junk' in the path).

So, I'll

- open up boot.ini, save it as another name for backup

- edit it by removing the Windows1 line and changing the default line to Windows

- resave the changes as boot.ini

- delete the entire C:\Windows1 directory (maybe I'll do this later)

-reboot. there should be no choices.

Nick

Just a quick thank you. I edited the boot.ini file as per your reference and the offending OS boot is gone.I'll remove the actual folder soon.

I hope I can help someone else some time.

Nick