Boot.ini - Howto Remove Dual Boot

[george]

I had a dual boot on my system with two hard disks.

Disk #1 Win XP Pro

Disk #2 Win Vista Beta

Harddisk number 2 with Vista was moved to another computer and doesn't exist in my system anymore.

My boot.ini looks 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" /FASTDETECT

--

I want to get rid of the boot prompt (asking me for XP or Vista bootup).

How do I do?

[Guest Reimar]

I had a dual boot on my system with two hard disks.

Disk #1 Win XP Pro

Disk #2 Win Vista Beta

Harddisk number 2 with Vista was moved to another computer and doesn't exist in my system anymore.

My boot.ini looks 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" /FASTDETECT

--

I want to get rid of the boot prompt (asking me for XP or Vista bootup).

How do I do?

Hi George,

open the Boot.ini from the C Root with an simple text edittor and ad after "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" the following text: /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

If you have a line which is poiting to Vista, delete the complete line.

That's all.

[farangsay]

Thank you for posting this question George.

I have a similar problem but it's a dual XP thing

one of which is a phantom from faffing about

getting a clean XP up which talked to the LAN

in my building.

George is waiting guys , I'm just hanging on

his coat tails.

[george]

Reimar,

My line had this

/noexecute=optin /fastdetect

but I took it off as advised by http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022

It doesn't matter if I have that line or not, the bloody machine still prompts. Better I go and drink Chang. Fuggin computers. I will go back to Commodore 64.

[hanuman1]

Reimar,

My line had this

/noexecute=optin /fastdetect

but I took it off as advised by http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022

It doesn't matter if I have that line or not, the bloody machine still prompts. Better I go and drink Chang. Fuggin computers. I will go back to Commodore 64.

George

thank you for making me feel less of a sad case. if you're currently in east asia, then i am not alone in flicking between threads on TV at 11:30pm on a saturday night with a couple of bottles of beer for company. Chang as it happens. PS - I'm watching The Masters snooker online. In Chinese. does life get any lower?

please advise.

H.

[Tywais]

Since it's not in the boot.ini file then it has to be in the MBR (master boot record) and this will have to be corrected. Vista does use a different boot manager for handling this and should have been done before removing Vista - but the following may work.

Uninstall Vista

1. Boot your computer in to Windows XP.

2. Ensure you have the Vista DVD image emulated or in the DVD drive.

3. Go to “Start” and “Run”. Type in “e:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force” (without quotes, and replacing e: with the drive letter of your Vista DVD).

4. Restart the computer, and you will notice the boot selection menu is gone.

5. Format the partition/drive where you had Vista installed.

6. Remove two files (Boot.BAK & Bootsect.BAK) on your XP drive’s root folder (C:), these were backup files of your previous bootloader, now no longer useful.

7. Optional: Restart to ensure it still works.

Another possibility but with some risk is using the XP fixmbr - the procedure for this is:

Boot from Win XP Cd ( you will get setup inspecting hardware configuration)

Will come to screen to setup or repair existing install press R to enter recovery console

You will be asked to choose install to repair enter number and you will get prompt for admin password followed by C:WINDOWS>

at this point type FIXMBR or HELP will give you list of options.

[cdnvic]

And don't forget to format your Vista partition afterwards.

[farangsay]

Thank you for posting this question George.

I have a similar problem but it's a dual XP thing

one of which is a phantom from faffing about

getting a clean XP up which talked to the LAN

in my building.

George is waiting guys , I'm just hanging on

his coat tails.

Hmm I finally got round to making boot.ini accessible and it looks 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

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Now it's that last line that I'm tempted to delete but should I do anything

about the other stuff.

Hoping you haven't ALL got me on your ignore list by now.

[lingling]

timeout=30

... ----->

timeout=0

[farangsay]

timeout=30

... ----->

timeout=0

Just done that.

Guess what. It even worked.

Thanks pal.