I have just reinstalled windows xp on an old machine that crashed. when trying to reinstall it to C drive it wouldn't let me. So i installed it to d drive and now have dual boot at startup. Can i just delete the copy on C drive as it does not work and use the d drive OS without any problems.

Thanks

Yes, You can.

Take also away the dual start up in boot.ini

Yo can do it with msconfig.

In start menu, select run and type in msconfig.

I assume C: is the 'active' primary partition or system volume. If this is the case, you can delete everything EXCEPT: boot.ini, ntdetect.com, ntldr. Do not format the volume! These (hidden) files at the root of C: are needed to start Windows.

I have just reinstalled windows xp on an old machine that crashed. when trying to reinstall it to C drive it wouldn't let me.

Why is that?

You should be given an option to delete or format the C: during text-mode setup.

I assume C: is the 'active' primary partition or system volume. If this is the case, you can delete everything EXCEPT: boot.ini, ntdetect.com, ntldr. Do not format the volume! These (hidden) files at the root of C: are needed to start Windows.

I have just reinstalled windows xp on an old machine that crashed. when trying to reinstall it to C drive it wouldn't let me.

Why is that?

You should be given an option to delete or format the C: during text-mode setup.

Thanks for your replies.

When trying to reinstall to C drive i kept getting the message "cannot create \windows\msagent\intl" so i thought i would just try installing to D and worked. No message to delete or format the C:

I will try your instructions and let you know how i get get on.

thanks for your interest.

When trying to reinstall to C drive i kept getting the message "cannot create \windows\msagent\intl" so i thought i would just try installing to D and worked.

Use the chkdsk utility to scan drive C: for errors.

Select these options:

[x] Automatically fix file system errors

[x] Scan and attempt recovery of bad sectors

No message to delete or format the C:

If you performed a clean install (boot from cd), you should be presented with a series of configuration screens during text-mode setup.