How do I disable an OS from booting?

A

adri1456

Gawd
Joined
Jan 15, 2004
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I just activated Windows on another hard drive, but whenever I boot the computer, it'll ask me for what OS I want to use. There was an old OS on it, but since I changed the mobo, I can't boot into it.

Is there a way to disable that OS w/out reformatting it?
 
You will need to edit your boot.ini(assuming XP), this is located in the root of your boot drive. You will need to uncheck "Hide Protected Operating System Files" under Folder Options to be able to see it. There will be more than one entry there, figure out which one you want to remove and remove it.
 
You need to remove the old version's line in boot.ini found in C:\. It is a hidden system file so you will need to either enable veiwing of them (an option in 'folder options') or manually open it with, say, a command prompt (>notepad C:\boot.ini).
 
You should never over lap operating systems on top of each other - it always ends up causing problems.
 
The thing is, that I can't get into the OS. I tried switching the hard drive connections, and it didn't do anything.

HELP!!
 
Elmo187 said:
You will need to edit your boot.ini(assuming XP), this is located in the root of your boot drive. You will need to uncheck "Hide Protected Operating System Files" under Folder Options to be able to see it. There will be more than one entry there, figure out which one you want to remove and remove it.
Click to expand...

Do this from the NEW OS that is working.
 
adri1456 said:
I can't get into any OS.
Click to expand...

Well...wouldn't that mean your last hope now is to format? + In my opinion, you should have done it in the first place. I am sure the time you put in trying to fix it could have been time spent inserting a cd and hitting NEXT a few times... :p
 
carloswill said:
You should never over lap operating systems on top of each other - it always ends up causing problems.
Click to expand...
:confused:

There is no inherent problems with dual booting systems. Though I'm sure the OP has both OSes on the same partition, even those issues can be worked out.

Please give some more information, otherwise your going to confuse someone.

I can't get into any OS.
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In that case I would seriously look at reformatting. First, you don't need the second OS, so at the very least it's dead weight. Worse case you will run into mixed versions of files and have an unstable OS (perhaps the reason the second install isn't working). Second, you don't have a working OS, so your options are to TS and repair a previously non-working OS, or start clean.

Starting clean sounds like the best option.
 
Backup any data you need, and format. Trust me, you'll thank us all in the long run :).

Get BartPE - that can help you troubleshoot things, and maybe back stuff up.
 
If you can't boot any OS then reformat and start clean is the best bet. You may be able to do a repair install.

If one OS does boot and you want to edit the boot.ini file, no need to set anything to show OS files. Just go to the System Properties, Advanced tab. Startup and Recovery, and the under "Default Operating System" click the edit button and you will get boot.ini file in notepad. I like this way as I do not have to change any settings.
 
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