Various number of Xp's installed

Hi everyone.

I have very strange question for all of you experts.
Yesterday I managed to install three different XP's to different part of
hard drives. Original one which I want to use is on C: device and others are
in d: e: etc.

So first question is following:
How can I use that original version which is working version and it holds
all my programs and other stuff? Now when I start my computer starts the new
version of the Xp. How I can disable that version and delete it?

So now I want to delete all the unuseful xp's and start to work with that
original version of XP. How that can be done?

Second question considers the startup section. When I start my computer
there will be start up section where I can decide wich xp I will use. How can
I delete all those unuseful selections and how can I make my computer start
always by the original version of windows?

I'm in big trouble with this computer and my nerves are broken.

If someone can help me it would be wonderful. If no one can't I have to rely
on professional computer mainentance corporation.

First, you need to determine which is the active partition. Hopefully it's
the one with the original copy. Use Disk Manager or DOS FDISK to do this.

Then you need to edit the BOOT.INI file on this partition.

Start>Run... cmd

c:
cd\
attrib boot.ini -r -h -s
notepad boot.ini

You should see a list of operating systems, and their locations. There is
also a "Default" entry which is used if no key is pressed, and a Timeout
value.

If ther is only one choice, you may need to add lines for the other
partitions. The syntax is fairly self-evident. At this stage DO NOT remove
any existing lines - if you do so and you get it wrong you may leave the
computer unbootable. The comment "Windows XP Pro" or similar on the RHS is
purely what displays oncreen, and you can adjust that to say which partition
is being booted.

Firstly you can increase the timeout if it's very short, to say 15secs. That
will allow you to make a choice at startup.

Now restart and check that you can make the right choice.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022

Once you've got it booting the right partition, you can then remove the
other entries, and in Disk Manager format or re-use the unneeded partitions.
(Obviously, make sure you get this bit right...)

"Ian" wrote:

> First, you need to determine which is the active partition. Hopefully it's
> the one with the original copy. Use Disk Manager or DOS FDISK to do this.
>
> Then you need to edit the BOOT.INI file on this partition.
>
> Start>Run... cmd
>
> c:
> cd\
> attrib boot.ini -r -h -s
> notepad boot.ini
>
> You should see a list of operating systems, and their locations. There is
> also a "Default" entry which is used if no key is pressed, and a Timeout
> value.
>
> If ther is only one choice, you may need to add lines for the other
> partitions. The syntax is fairly self-evident. At this stage DO NOT remove
> any existing lines - if you do so and you get it wrong you may leave the
> computer unbootable. The comment "Windows XP Pro" or similar on the RHS is
> purely what displays oncreen, and you can adjust that to say which partition
> is being booted.
>
> Firstly you can increase the timeout if it's very short, to say 15secs. That
> will allow you to make a choice at startup.
>
> Now restart and check that you can make the right choice.
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022
>
> Once you've got it booting the right partition, you can then remove the
> other entries, and in Disk Manager format or re-use the unneeded partitions.
> (Obviously, make sure you get this bit right...)
>
>
Thank You Ian!

You helped me a lot and now the right partition works like before.

Last question for you is that how do I remove those other entries. Do i only
delete them from the note pad or how? Also how can i uninstall these other
windows from different hard drives?

If you can help with those questions also it would be outstanding!

First point to realise is that a boot.ini entry is simply a reference; it may
be a reference to a partition or OS that doesn't actually exist. In that
case, just remove the boot.ini lines you no longer need, with Notepad. Or
just leave them; they don't do any harm.

To see what partitions you actually have, start compmgmt.msc and look at
Disk Administrator. Also, other partitions would normally show-up in My
Computer as driveletters D: E: etc.. - although it is possible to prevent
them showing here.

Here you need to exercise a little caution, as partitions other than C:
might contain data which is in-use, for example programs might have been
installed there if there was insufficient space on C:. Thus, don't delete or
ressign partitions' space unless you are sure that none of the contents are
needed any more.