How to edit the boot.ini file

The first screen after truning on the computer is one where I am to select two window programs that have the same name. One loads a previous desktop that I had before system crashed and I reloaded windows. The other is the one I always use. How do I get rid of this problem?

This question was answered on May 4, 2005. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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This article describes how to remove a second installation of a Microsoft Windows operating system from a partition that is on your hard disk drive.

When you have determined that a second Windows folder exists on the same partition as your "working" Windows folder, follow these steps to remove the folder from the partition and to remove the startup selection when you start your computer.

Note Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps 1 Start the Windows operating system that you want to keep

2 To determine the Windows folder that you want to keep, click Start, click Run, type %windir%, and then click OK Remember the folder that is opened For example, the folder may be C:\Windows.

Note This is your "working" Windows folder Do not delete or remove this folder from the partition

3 In Windows Explorer, find the Windows folder that you want to remove.

Important Make sure that this folder is not the folder that you identified as your "working" Windows folder in step 2

4 Right-click the Windows folder that you want to remove, and then click Delete

5 Click Yes to confirm the deletion of the folder

6 Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties

7 On the Advanced tab, under Startup and Recovery, click Settings The Startup and Recovery dialog box appears

8 Under System startup, click Edit to modify the Boot.ini file.

The Boot.ini file opens in Notepad and looks similar to the following:[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

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.0="Microsoft Windows XP Home"

/fastdetect

9 On the File menu in Notepad, click Save As, and then save a backup copy of the Boot.ini file that is named Boot.old

10 On the File menu, click Exit to close the backup copy of the Boot.ini file

11 In the Startup and Recovery dialog box, under System startup, click Edit to reopen the Boot.ini file

12 In the [boot loader] section of the Boot.ini file, identify and then delete the line of text for the Windows operating system that you want to remove For example, if the Windows folder that you removed in step 4 was for the Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition operating system, remove the following line of text from the Boot.ini file:multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.0="Microsoft Windows XP Home"

/fastdetect

13 On the File menu, click Save to save your changes to the Boot.ini file

14 On the File menu, click Exit to close the Boot.ini file

15 Click OK to close the Startup and Recovery dialog box

16 Restart your computer

About the author

Posted by Ronald of Chandler-Gilbert Community College on May 4, 2005

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