Removing copy of Windows XP

MoneySavingUser

Have 2 copies of Windows XP on a laptop

one on c: drive

one on f: drive

installed a 2nd copy as first had problems

want to get rid of the first copy on c: drive

can I just format the c drive? or will it affect the master boot record in some way as it is the c: drive?

fwor

MoneySavingUser wrote: »

can I just format the c drive? or will it affect the master boot record in some way as it is the c: drive?

As you suggest, formatting the c drive will probably get you in a right mess (I've been there before!), as critical system files will almost certainly be on the c drive if it is assigned as the Boot partition.

If you're not short of disk space, probably the simplest solution is just to remove the original install from the boot menu and leave it where it is.

Typically a better solution than a second XP install is to do a Repair Install on the broken one.

JJ_Egan

Windows PC will look to boot from C drive first .

Choice i would make is to wipe both drives and reinstall on C windows
Or Keep C drive .

C drive is the windows default drive .

jje

esuhl

Here's what I would do:

• Make sure you can boot into the Recovery Console from CD.
• Format the C: drive.
• Boot into the Recovery Console and log in to the XP installation on F:
• Run the fixmbr command to write a new master boot record.
• You may also need to run fixboot to re-write the boot sector to the active partition.
• Exit and reboot.

You should now have an empty C: partition (except for the MBR and bootloader), and when you boot the machine you will have just one entry for "Windows XP" in the boot loader.

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Windows PC will look to boot from C drive first .

C: is just a mount-point label (not sure if that's the right technical term!). When booting, the PC will examine the MBR of the primary hard drive. This will point to the active partition (which may or may not be labelled as C: - and in a multi-boot environment, different OS installations may refer to the same partition with different letters).

JJ_Egan wrote: »

C drive is the windows default drive.

Windows doesn't really have a default drive/partition, but usually the partitions are labelled in the same order as they appear on the drive, and usually you only have one operating system on a PC, in which case the first primary partition on the primary drive would usually be C:... but I don't think that's always the case.

fwor

esuhl wrote: »

Here's what I would do:

This may work most of the time, but the problem I've had in the past is that the Windows install has written system files (e.g. boot.ini, ntldr, io.sys, etc.) to the active partition - typically c: - even though the rest of the installation is on another partition.

When you format the c: drive, these are gone, and I don't ~think~ fixmbr does anything to recreate them. You may be able to resolve this by using a partition editor to mark the partition that the f: drive is on as active, but you may still find that it won't boot with "NTLDR missing" or similar.

[Edit- just seen your reference to fixboot. You're probably right, and this will create the necessary system files, but they will probably be on the c: drive partition, not where you want them, which means it should work, but will be a bit of a mess if you then want to install something else on the c: drive partition!]

esuhl

fwor wrote: »

This may work most of the time, but the problem I've had in the past is that the Windows install has written system files (e.g. boot.ini, ntldr, io.sys, etc.) to the active partition - typically c: - even though the rest of the installation is on another partition.

When you format the c: drive, these are gone, and I don't ~think~ fixmbr does anything to recreate them. You may be able to resolve this by using a partition editor to mark the partition that the f: drive is on as active, but you may still find that it won't boot with "NTLDR missing" or similar.

[Edit- just seen your reference to fixboot. You're probably right, and this will create the necessary system files, but they will probably be on the c: drive partition, not where you want them, which means it should work, but will be a bit of a mess if you then want to install something else on the c: drive partition!]

Hmmm... perhaps you'd first need to set the F: partition to be active in fdisk. But I think that since the MBR will point to drive F:, fixboot will create the files there (but the files should be there already, which is why I don't think you will need to use fixboot).

esuhl

Node wrote: »

are any programs currently being run from Program Files on C: drive?

it may be that you will only be able to delete the Windows folder on C: drive, leaving the other stuff.

If that's the case, the OP has a seriously illogical filing system! But if files have been dumped all over the place and applications installed arbitrarily into random folders, then really the best thing to do would be to format the drive and start again (assuming personal data are backed up).

esuhl

Node wrote: »

Yes maybe, but there's nothing wrong with installing the OS on one partition and the Programs on another and maybe extra storage on another.
That makes backup & restore much easier.

Multiple partitions are a good idea when used appropriately. I wouldn't usually install programs in a different partition to the OS because you wouldn't ever want to format one partition and not the other. But it can help to have personal files in a separate partition as the OS shouldn't interfere with them and it does make backing up easier.

Node wrote: »

It's just that we don't know if that's the case and whether C: is still crucial for that config.
But either way, the questions have to be asked before any green light for formatting or deleting is given

Fair enough.