two systems at start up,but only one installed

[sonic_emperor]

as written,my neighbour had two systems installed on its computer,he called me if i could remove one,i found a guide on the net saying its enough to format the other drive...but it isnt...
now,how can i delete the other system that actually isnt there?
does this have anything to do with master boot record or similar?

[Chewy]

is he having to choose between 2 different OS's at bootup?
If the choice is obvious then you can edit the boot.ini file,
carefully. yep the mbr keeps a record even after formatting and windows xp
sees that before the install, major glitch from my point of view

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

[LT. Columbo]

what could be the problem if there is 2 chewy? my other pc has two installs of xp on it, and at boot up it asks which one to load but defaults on the one i use and starts automatically. i have no issues with that machine.

[Chewy]

It's just a nuisance as the other is usually a leftover reference in the mbr.
Little tricky if you remove the wrong one from the boot.ini file, can't even remember how I fixed that mistake, probably with the xp cd or maybe a safe mode command prompt. fix mbr

[sonic_emperor]

is he having to choose between 2 different OS's at bootup?
If the choice is obvious then you can edit the boot.ini file,
carefully. yep the mbr keeps a record even after formatting and windows xp
sees that before the install, major glitch from my point of view

yes,two are there to choose,but only one installed,the other one is actually not there,if you choose it...you get an error

how can i change boot.ini.
if i open msconfig ,i get only to view it not edit

there is a option when booting with boot disk floppy - fix mbr / would that change anyhing?

[UncasMS]

the command for xp is: "fixmbr"

or "fdisk /mbr" for old-school users

these commands will rewrite the mbr

[Chewy]

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

open C drive and click on boot.ini and copy and paste into reply

[sonic_emperor]

sorry...i cant find boot.ini on my own computer,havent looked up for my neighbours
i made a boot disk,but cant get fixmbr...forgot ho to get that list of command working as well

[UncasMS]

in case there is no boot.ini create one

open notepad/wordpad... and paste content like this into the editor:

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Pro" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

save it to boot.ini in your c root directory

[sonic_emperor]

whats odd - shouldnt that file be a patrt of my system...why dont i have it?

[UncasMS]

looks like your explorer wont show hidden/system files (which boot.ini normally is marked as)

[sonic_emperor]

i checked it in folder options in control panel - (maybe i translated this false my winxp is in german) - it should show everyhing

[Chewy]

then under tools/folder options,
I check Use Windows classic folders, next in the View tab,
I uncheck Hide extensions(this is very important),

from poweruser stick

[sonic_emperor]

done...still no boot.ini ha ha ha - i cant believe this

did also these

then I uncheck hide protected system
files, now check Display contents of system folders, display full path in .., show hidden files,

[Chewy]

open C drive and give us a screenshot

if you hose a load, the boot files could be anywhere