ok i had to reinstall windows xp pro onto my kids computer over the weekend cause it was messed up so i put the disk in and did a fresh install everything worked fine i did all the up dates and reinstalled everything now when i turn on the computer it says i have 2 os both are win xp pro so when i click on the first one every thing is fine when i restart and click on the second on its says im missing files and what not did i do something wrong was i suppose to reformat the hard drive and if so how do i reformat it the computer is a dell deminsion 2400
Unless you have a multi-boot system, you should only have one operating system installed. Assuming this is the case for you, then you need to do one of the following.
1. You can turn off the choice to choose which OS to boot to and you simply won't see the message when you boot your computer.
2. Edit your boot.ini file and remove the lines that point to the non-existent OS/partition
Both of these items can be accessed from the same window. Go to the control panel in windows and select System. From the System Properties window, click on the Advanced tab. Next, click on Settings in the Startup and Recovery box. Here's where you will fix your problem depending on which fix you choose.
For fix 1, simply uncheck the box next to "Time to display list of operating systems:". You will no longer see the option of which OS to boot to and it will automatically boot to the first choice.
For fix 2, click on the Edit button to open the boot.ini file. You will see text which tells your computer which operating systems are installed and on what partitions. You need to be careful here because your computer won't boot if you delete the wrong line. Since you have 2 operating systems being seen by your system, you need to remove the one that doesn't exist. This can vary from computer to computer, so I can't guarantee which one needs to be removed without looking at your computer. Here's what mine looks like.
[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 Professional" /fastdetect /noguiboot /NoExecute=OptIn
You should have 2 entries under "[operating systems]". You will need to remove one. If you want some advice, you can paste the contents of your boot.ini file and I will take a look at it and tell you which should be deleted. Of course, you can go with option 1 and not worry about it.
here is what it says in the boot file
[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 Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect=OptIn
Your boot.ini shows that your first operating system is installed on the C: drive and your second operating system is installed on your D: drive. Technically, it's partition 1 and 2, which may have different drive letters, but usually it's C: and D:. Your default is pointing to the C: drive as well, so it should be safe to delete the 2nd line under [operating systems]. To be totally safe, you should open windows explorer and make sure that you don't have a d: drive that contains files for windows. If your D: drive is your cd-rom, then you can definitely delete the line that contains "partition(2)" as it doesn't exist.
Reformat this time do a destructive install & use whole drive & not install to free space,when you went to install it gave you options you chose to leave existing partition & OS as is,so the newly installed OS now resides on a partition beside it.
Wouldn't hurt to invest in symantec ghost or acronis true imageor the free macrium reflect to create backup one time images of your hdd,it saves having to stuff around reinstalling everything
Originally posted by silk42: Your boot.ini shows that your first operating system is installed on the C: drive and your second operating system is installed on your D: drive. Technically, it's partition 1 and 2, which may have different drive letters, but usually it's C: and D:. Your default is pointing to the C: drive as well, so it should be safe to delete the 2nd line under [operating systems]. To be totally safe, you should open windows explorer and make sure that you don't have a d: drive that contains files for windows. If your D: drive is your cd-rom, then you can definitely delete the line that contains "partition(2)" as it doesn't exist.
so go back into the boot file and just delete the last line that says
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect=OptIn
If you only have one drive letter that contains Windows files, then delete that line. If you have more than one drive c: and d: for example, that contains a Windows directory then you don't want to delete it as you have a dual-boot system.
When you thought you re installed xp, it automatically detected the original xp that you were having trouble with so added the second line in the boot.ini so you could boot to it,you have more than 1 option
1:-Use the xp disc repair function on the original installed OS on 1st partition to recover it,it will not overwrite any emails or saved data,it will also re write the boot.ini so that your newly installed xp is second to boot
2:-Leave boot.ini as is as well as faulty xp & just remove it from the selection screen however it does not require editing the boot.ini,all you do:-
right click MY COMPUTER
select PROPERTIES
select ADVANCED tab
select SETTINGS button
ok you should see options to not display operating systems this will mean you boot direct to the 2nd OS which is the one you just installed & is currently your default OS (booting now bypasses selection screen),the issue you have here is if you need more disc space later which the faulty xp is taking up
Edit:obviously to put the selection screen back just untick
