Re-installing windows / formating drive

Walter, 2 things:

1. It's easy to fix.
2. If you do something wrong while fixing it you will need to be able to find a way to edit one text file without booting windows normally.

OK first of all you're seeing the message because you did not install over the previous copy of winXP, instead you installed a 2nd copy. The "damaged" copy is still taking space on your hard drive, but if you've got plenty of free space left that's no big deal.

To prevent Windows from displaying which operating system to boot to, you need only edit one text file, called boot.ini (which is located in the 'C:\' folder). However, it is a protected operating system file. To see this file in Explorer you have to first tell windows to show protected operating system files.

Here's a quicker way to get to it: Click the Start button, then click 'Run'. In the window that pops up where it asks you which program or file you want to open, type the following..



That opens the file in Notepad.

Within the file, under the [operating systems] heading, there'll be two lines something like..



If you remove the line which points to the damaged XP installation, it'll get rid of the boot-up menu.

Which of the 2 lines to remove I can't tell you for sure without looking at your system. However, the first time Windows XP is installed it goes to the "\WINDOWS" folder by default, so it's a reasonably safe bet that that's the line to remove (as it was the first installation that's fouled up now). The second line, which you should leave well alone, will point to a folder with a name similar to "WINDOWS".

If you could copy & paste the entire contents of your boot.ini file to this thread I'll take out the unnessessary line & post the full text of what the file should have in it.

Thanks, Monger!

Done so, removed the files, all seems to be okay.
(I had already deleted the previous Windows versions completely some time ago.)

Great, Walter!

Actually, I'd only said to remove a single line from the file, but the fact that it's working means, I guess, that if Windows can't find the information it needs from there it'll figure it out automatically. That's good to know..I've leaned from this too.

Cheers mate.

Well, I've the same problem ... again!

This time, hoever (and don' ever ask for the reasons and if I have/had to re-install virtually everything again, this time!), Windows 'says', it has no "notepad boot.ini"

So, any good and simple (for me) working idea is again very welcome!

Do this: notepad c:\boot.ini

Thanks a million:

The file "boot.ini" is a hidden file. You can make it seen through "folder option" for free editing. After editing, the setting of hiding hidden files should be retrieved.

Thanks as well, satt!

That's correct, satt, but it is not the reason Walter was not able to open it using the command he mentioned. The reason I recommended opening it using Start->Run was so that the option to hide protected operating system files didn't need to be messed with.

Monger..
Nothing wrong in adopting the option of seeing a hidden file by itself.

Nothing per se wrong with it, satt ... just as there's nothing per se wrong with a loaded gun. Its all in what is done with the opportunity thereby afforded.

Seeing invisible files has no danger to life.

Yeah, that's true ... and with a boot disk, you can usually revive a 'puter, no matter what's been done to the folders. My analogy was a little strong.

The point is, though, that some things are best left beyond the sight and reach of folks who aren't competent to manipulate them ... and most likely have no backups. If a technogeek trashes an app or an OS or even a drive, no biggie ... recovery is at hand, or, if not, its the geek's own fault. If the average computer user does it, odds are they'll wind up payin' a geek to sort it out, and still will have lost most if not all of of their personal files. There's a reason there are hidden files, which can be unhidden if need and circumstances warrant. Uninformed curiosity meets niether of those qualifications. There's nothin' wrong with pokin' around in critical files, as long as you know what you're doin', how to undo it if you need to, and what to do if even that didn't work. On the other hand, I derive pocket money sorting things out for folks who don't quite have the grasp of that concept.