Inherited PC

GreenNotM

You may be removing your system partition which is really what you boot from - good ol'MS naming conventions


really TRYING to SAY

---

STOP and check !!

GreenNotM

CHR15 wrote: »

Boot.ini will be sitting on C: (and ntldr and a few more)

If C: is formatted it won't boot.

Not nescessarily ---- C will be the boot partition for the operating system ..... and hence interchangable ... C only occurs when the OS is running ..... need to look at the non MS named boot partition ... aka with the MBR ....

jasmin10

Right I hace gone into the admin tools and into computer management, disk management. I am looking for partition 2 but all I can see is Disk 0 Disk1 . backup d: and recover D drive. What do I do.

Is it just easier to reinstall xp home all over, if so how do I clear it all first?

GreenNotM

jasmin10 wrote: »

Is it just easier to reinstall xp home all over, if so how do I clear it all first?

When you start the pc are you asked to choose which OS to use ???? Or was that only at the install time ??

CAN'T help till you answer above

jasmin10

Right only have disk 0 which has boot c: and backup and recover e: Will xp pro be the d: ?


Sorry Green Notm, Yes when I start up it asks me if I want XP Home or XP Professionsl

albertross_2

Before you zap the pro installation, out of interest, has the xp home serial been installed on another PC, or is it a brand new disk and coa?

What happens if you select professional?

c:\boot.ini will tell you where pro is, view it in notepad, but don't change anything.

GreenNotM

k well we need to know what boot.ini says - just cut and paste it here ....

Right click over My Computer Icon >> select Properties >> Advanced Tab >> Click Setting Button for "Startup and Recovery" >>> Click edit Button >> copy and paste all the text here for the boot.ini file - close notepad do not save changes

jasmin10

I'm in the boot.ini file. Do I delete the line that refers to XP Pro. If I do this how to I get rid of the partition so that the space can be used by the o/s i want to keep.

GreenNotM

No paste what is in boot.ini here, so we can tell where the OS's are then

You may have XP and Home on the same partition and or even the same folder - so you may have really done an overwrite of XP Pro - as Albertross asked what happens when you select Pro ?

jasmin10

I can't cut and paste on here as I am using my laptop and cann't connect the desktop to my wireless yet. I have checked the boot.ini file and it reads like it should and I can see the botton two line refer to the two o/s systems
. partition 2 is xp home and partition 1 is xp pro