help removing an operating system

[ChingChang]

My friend has a comp with windows xp home and windows xp pro installed I think. When it starts up, it asks him which one he wants to use. How do you delete one of the operating systems so he won't get that message again?

 

[S1nF1xx]

Open c:\boot.ini
it will look something 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 /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

Delete line that contains the OS you want to remove. It won't ask which OS you want to boot into anymore.

 

[ChingChang]

cool thanks

but that will just get rid of the message when it starts up, and not get rid of the operating system?

 

[GreNME]

Instead of going into the boot.ini, why not just use bootcfg to remove one of the entries?

1. Open a cmd window
2. Type bootcfg
3. Note the listed entries. Should look something like:

   Boot Entries
   ------------
   Boot entry ID:   1
   Friendly Name:   "Microsoft Windows XP Professional"
   Path:            multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
   OS Load Options: /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
   
   Boot entry ID:   2
   Friendly Name:   "Microsoft Windows XP Professional"
   Path:            multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
   OS Load Options: /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

4. Choose which one you want to remove (in this case, I'll remove the second one, since it is redundant anyway).
5. Type bootcfg /Delete /ID 2 to delete the chosen (2nd in this case) boot option
6. After the prompt comes back up, type exit
7. Go have a beer

This way, you don't have to worry about accidentally deleting only part of a listed entry, or accidentally deleting the wrong one in the list. When you type bootcfg, the order comes up in the same order that you see when given the choice before the OS loads, so keep whichever one he uses and delete the one he doesn't. It's that simple. You can go in and edit the file if you want, but if you want to just avoid all the steps of making the file visible and writeable and making sure it all gets set back properly. Check out bootcfg /? (or bootcfg /Delete /?) for more information.

And yes, it deletes only the option to boot into the other OS. To remove it completely—like, say, you have a Win2k install along side that starts in C:\WINNT\—then all you have to do is delete that extra folder. Be careful that you remove the right one.

 

[compslckr]

right click my computer, goto properties, click advanced, click start up, and change those settings and it will be removed from the list, then you can go and manually delete the files of the OS if you so desire