downgrading from xp hom to win2k leaves xp traces with dual boot screen

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white_rabbit

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just like the thread title says. my uncle got a new dell dimention 8400 and it comes with xp home. so he called me over as soon as he recieved it to ditch xp and help him format/install 2k. we did so and on the first normal restart it went to a screen that asks for which os you want to boot into. well, this is odd becuase i deleted all the partitions and left only one which i then formatted (have done this twice now). also to note, if you do choose to boot to xp it doesnt work. i dont know if this matters but apparently dell doesnt send backup/restore cds anymore as they rely on software restore for customers to return their pcs to orignal purchase state, i wonder if this has anything to do with traces of xp home being left on the hdd after 2 ntfs formats.

any ideas on how i can get rid xp and only have it boot into 2k automatically like a normal computer?

thanks, in advance
 
I'm not quite sure why anyone who paid for an XP license would actually want to get rid of it, but whatever. Your uncle should have asked for no OS then.

Anyhow, if your still seeing traces of XP, then you didn't do a full format. Wipe the drive clean and start over, if your downgrading an OS. Don't leave any partitions at all.
 
or you can edit the boot.ini file..

in xp, your right click on my computer, go to properties.. and go to the "advanced" tab.. on there it has "startup and recovery" it is on that tab.. for some reason though, i don' tthink it is the same in win2k.. and i don;t have a 2k comptuer to check on.. searching for boot.ini should get you there too though..

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003, Standard" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptOut
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP, Professional" /fastdetect

that's what mine looks like.. you could probably get away with:

[boot loader]
timeout=0
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows 2000"


with the timeout at "0", you won't even see the screen pop up..
 
i wasnt there when he ordered the system and as far as i know dell doesnt provide no os systems to home users (the drop down menu doenst have that option and xp home is as low as you can go). there may be a special way to do this if you say so, but like i said i wasnt there and he wouldnt know how to do it out of the drop down menus when customizing the system. that aside, i did do a full format to my knowledge, i realize that it obviously wasnt that complete as traces of the old OS are still there but i deleted all the partitions and reformatted the unpartitioned space to ntfs, last i remember that should have taken care of it. regardless... ill try scottatwittenberg's method as it seems to not so much solve the core problem but at least get around the annoyance of the dual os boot screen should a few more attempts at formatting not work. thanks
 
Dell also has some sort of utility/recovery partition at the very front of the drive. They do that with all of them.

Best bet is to use Partition Manager or something similar to delete that hidden partition, then format and start over again.

Of course, you could always just edit the boot.ini file in notepad if you don't feel like going through the trouble.
 
^interesting. you know, i was thinking there was something like that but i figured if the windows installer partition page didnt list it then i was wrong. apparently i wasnt so now i know what to look for. thanks scroatdog
 
You can manually edit out the Windows XP option in the boot.ini as stated above, or you could do this:


Start > Run... > 'msconfig' > boot.ini tab > search paths button

It will remove the invalid path.
 
The problem with editing the boot.ini files is that your hiding the issue, not solving it.

Also, if he had called in his order, once getting the pricing and configuration from the web page, he could have asked for the No OS option. I know we (HP) do it, and it takes $50 off the PC. Several people on these boards have done it with Dell and HP.
 
Dell and other larger system builders who use their "royalty" versions have the options of giving you a disc or a recovery partition for the os. If they give you a recovery partition ( thats the hidden part) they will include software that will allow you to make 1 copy for your archive.
 
djnes said:
The problem with editing the boot.ini files is that your hiding the issue, not solving it.
Click to expand...

Exactly. If the boot.ini has traces of both OS's, he didn't do a full format. This could cause unforseen problems down the road. It is best to start over now, rather than down the road when there may be data at risk.

Blow away all the partitions on the computer and start from scatch. It's maybe an hour or two long job. Small price to guarantee your computer will work properly.
 
You guys are over-complicating things. All he needs to do is repair the boot sector and remove the XP Home entry from the boot.ini file. That's it, there are no other vestiges of XP Home on the drive, just that tiny entry that makes the computer think XP Home is still on the machine.

As for the no OS option thing. Aparrently Microsoft has some deal with Dell where Dell can't sell a desktop PC without an Operating system. Since Poweredge Servers "Cannot be used as a desktop PC" they're off the hook and can offer those machines sans OS.
 
Mr_Evil said:
You guys are over-complicating things. All he needs to do is repair the boot sector and remove the XP Home entry from the boot.ini file. That's it, there are no other vestiges of XP Home on the drive, just that tiny entry that makes the computer think XP Home is still on the machine.
Click to expand...

How do you know? The original boot.ini file obviously wasn't removed, so who knows what else is on there.
 
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