Windows XP forum: Two copies of XP on system--how to remove?

When booting if the First one in the list goes to the correct XP install, do the following.

Open windows explorer, go to VIEW -> select "details"
Go to Tools - Folder Options -> View

check the boxes for
SHOW HIDDEN FILES AND FOLDERS

uncheck the boxes for

HIDE EXTENSIONS FOR KNOWN FILE TYPES

Click on APPLY
Click on APPLY TO ALL FOLDERS
Click OK

Now go to C:
look for boot.ini and open it in notepad
it should look like 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 Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

You will have 2 lines starting with
multi
The 2nd one you eill remove including the text up to and including the fastdetect word.

SAVE the file

When you reboot you will only have one entry so it will not show.

i had a similar problem with that and thanks to your post i got it fixed... but there is a next problem
i see a copy of windows at the bottom saying 'windows (default) each time the computer boots up that is the option that is automatically selected, where as i have too select the correct one which i dont want to do at every start up... how can i fix this?

Worked perfectly for me - thanks!

I've followed all the directions for editing the boot.ini file and have solved the problem of seeing two options on bootup, however, I can not find the file in which the second copy of XP is installed. I only have a WINDOWS file, nothin close to being a second WINDOWS file which I could delete. I obviously still have two copies of it on my drive because my memory is still occupied. Any ideas? thanks!

I'm gonna try to search for regedit and see what I find. I thought the "clean reformat was how I ended up with two copies in the first place? I'll see what the regedit search turns up.

Not sure exactly, but I think it is an older version or something it calls upon, but it is okay.

Have you verified that the files are in duplicate anywhere? Meaning, does your hard disk have more Used Space than it should? Regedit is automatically installed in Windows and if you are only finding one copy of it, then only 1 copy of Windows is installed.

What actually sounds like happened here is that you didn't reformat the drive, but just installed a 2nd copy of Windows right over the first. The files Windows first accesses says that there you've installed a 2nd OS (operating system). It's then stopping and asking which OS you want to boot to, in this case, both are Windows.

Windows has an option to reformat the drive, which takes about 20 minutes. Then, on top of that, there is about 30 minutes of windows installing, which will ask for time zone, name, etc. Times could easily vary by 10 minutes or more, depending on processor speed and hard drive size.

When you reinstalled windows, did you do it within Windows?

Here's what I'd like you to do, assuming there isn't anything that can't be replaced on your PC.

Reboot the machine, a black and white screen should come up at some point that says 'Press a key to reboot from disk...' or it may be a choice of Booting Windows with CD support, Starting windows without CD Support, not sure of all the options. I haven't paid too close attention the last several times I've reformatted, it's become sort of instinctual.

What we want here is to completely boot into the windows setup. THis should be a blue screen. There won't be any prompts, but at the bottom of the screen will be a display that will say things like 'reading kernel' and such. It will then ask you if you want to install windows on a partition. DON'T INSTALL IT TO A PARTITION! What we are actually doing is deleting your partitions first, so that you have only 'Unpartitioned Space'. You won't use your mouse for any of this section, just the keyboard. I think you will have to press D, and it will ask are you sure, and press L (L for deLete, in this case). Now you should have only 'Unpartitioned Space'. You will now need to partition it, I want to say F8 to continue. Format it in NTFS, non-quick version. After that, which will take about 20 minutes, you will be able to install to this drive by pressing I, I think. It should be at the bottom (I apologize, again, it's been several days since I last did this and I don't have any more PCs that need reformatting). You should finally (or it should be finally, as you should have reformatted at least a 60GB drive, approximately 20 minute long job) be getting to where it will let you install Windows and will take you to a more Windows-like screen.

After that unhelpful blue screen is gone, you will get to the basic Windows install screen. From here, it is fairly self-explanatory.

I know my instructions aren't the best, but the key here is that it sounds like you just installed and didn't reformat to clear the PC. What we're doing is completely erasing everything and doing a fresh install as if you just bought/built the computer.

This thread fits my problem exactly but this is what I have in my boot.ini file..which one do I delete?

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /safeboot:minimal

One of the installs works perfectly, the other one stalls the system and you have to reboot. The first one that comes up while booting is the one I use, the second one does nothing.