----------------------------------- person Sun Jan 30, 2005 4:51 pm deleting OS ----------------------------------- how do i delete an OS without formatting a drive (i've never done it before) (want to delete Windows XP) ----------------------------------- zomg Sun Jan 30, 2005 4:53 pm ----------------------------------- are u goin to reinstall XP? if so boot off the cd and just install over top of the current install, it will ask u if u want to delete the current windows directory. if you want some other OS, just install it then , after the installation just delete the windows folder ----------------------------------- person Sun Jan 30, 2005 4:58 pm ----------------------------------- wat if i have 2 XP, and i want to delete one. so..i dont know which windows folder to delete ----------------------------------- zomg Sun Jan 30, 2005 5:01 pm ----------------------------------- u have 2 xp installs on the same partition already?! :naughty: ----------------------------------- person Sun Jan 30, 2005 5:15 pm ----------------------------------- unfortunately...yes please help ----------------------------------- zomg Sun Jan 30, 2005 5:28 pm ----------------------------------- hmm im not quite sure where your OS's are installed, but it is more than likely u have them in the same directory, there u could not delete one without the other... if u want to get rid of the selection list that asks what OS u want to run, find the file "boot.ini" and open it in notepad and delete the last line, or second last line depending on which OS' u select on startup should look like this: "multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Media Center Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect" ----------------------------------- person Sun Jan 30, 2005 5:33 pm ----------------------------------- so there's no way of completely deleting an OS in my case? :( ----------------------------------- Martin Sun Jan 30, 2005 5:51 pm ----------------------------------- How did you manage to get two WinXP installs on the same partition? How does your computer know which one to boot? ----------------------------------- person Sun Jan 30, 2005 6:01 pm ----------------------------------- k, this is wat happened: 1) i bought a computer that only has one partition 2) i turned it on, and i installed XP without knowing it alreasy has XP 3) now there are 2 XP in the same computer 4) i dont know how my computer knows which to boot, it just does 5) am i beyond help? ----------------------------------- zomg Sun Jan 30, 2005 6:04 pm ----------------------------------- k, this is wat happened: 1) i bought a computer that only has one partition 2) i turned it on, and i installed XP without knowing it alreasy has XP 3) now there are 2 XP in the same computer 4) i dont know how my computer knows which to boot, it just does 5) am i beyond help? u cant really delete the windows directory if they both OS installs are running off it ----------------------------------- person Sun Jan 30, 2005 6:07 pm ----------------------------------- i just found something that might help. there's a WINDOWS folder in C:/ and there's also a WINDOWS folder in C:/C. r they the 2 OS in seperate folders? ----------------------------------- Mazer Sun Jan 30, 2005 9:34 pm ----------------------------------- there's a WINDOWS folder in C:/ and there's also a WINDOWS folder in C:/C. That didn't quite make sense to me. But anyways, if it is such a problem why don't you back up anything you need, then format and reinstall? ----------------------------------- Maverick Sun Jan 30, 2005 9:54 pm ----------------------------------- k, this is wat happened: 1) i bought a computer that only has one partition 2) i turned it on, and i installed XP without knowing it alreasy has XP 3) now there are 2 XP in the same computer 4) i dont know how my computer knows which to boot, it just does 5) am i beyond help? How could you not know it had xp on it? Fiirst of all wouldnt you turn on the comp first? and second of all if you bought ur comp than that means you bought the xp.... ----------------------------------- person Sun Jan 30, 2005 10:06 pm ----------------------------------- That didn't quite make sense to me. wat i meant was that there's a folder called WINDOWS located in my C drive (C:/) and there is also a folder called WINDOWS located in a folder called C my C drive (C:/C/) since there r 2 seperate WINDOWS folders, could they be the 2 seperate OS? ----------------------------------- josh Sun Jan 30, 2005 11:01 pm ----------------------------------- it sounds like you just bought this computer. So back up the few documents or whatever that you have on it now to a CD. Reformat the Hard Drive, and do a clean XP install. ----------------------------------- person Mon Jan 31, 2005 9:55 am ----------------------------------- it sounds like you just bought this computer. So back up the few documents or whatever that you have on it now to a CD. Reformat the Hard Drive, and do a clean XP install. actually, i bought this computer 14 month ago, i just havent gotten around to solving the problem cuz...i dont know how to ----------------------------------- Mazer Mon Jan 31, 2005 9:58 am ----------------------------------- Hehe. Is it really a problem though? You managed to live with it for a year already. It still seems strange to me. Do you remember installing it to C:\C\? It's a weird place for it to automatically install to... ----------------------------------- person Mon Jan 31, 2005 10:09 am ----------------------------------- Hehe. Is it really a problem though? You managed to live with it for a year already. It still seems strange to me. Do you remember installing it to C:\C\? It's a weird place for it to automatically install to... i dont really remember where i installed it 14 month ago, but i just assumed that since there already was a WINDOWS folder in my C drive, it didnt want to overwrite it, so it just made another folder named C. im now curious to know though, does anyone have a computer with only one OS that also has a folder named C and also has a WINDOWS folder in it, as well as a WINDOWS folder in ur C drive? btw : i know im an idiot for installing them in the same pertition, or even installing them at all ----------------------------------- Mazer Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:14 am ----------------------------------- I don't think I've ever had a C folder in my C drive. When I was a kid if my OS was messed up, my cousin would reinstall Windows and have the old Windows folder in C:\Windows\Winold. So yeah, that's my experience with the whole multiple windows thing. But what else is in that C folder? Try comparing the C:\Windows to C:\C\Windows, it's really curious to me. ----------------------------------- person Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:54 am ----------------------------------- I don't think I've ever had a C folder in my C drive. When I was a kid if my OS was messed up, my cousin would reinstall Windows and have the old Windows folder in C:\Windows\Winold. So yeah, that's my experience with the whole multiple windows thing. But what else is in that C folder? Try comparing the C:\Windows to C:\C\Windows, it's really curious to me. there's nothing else in that C folder. iv compared the contents, and there is more content in one of them than the other. and i have been using one of my OS 99.99% of the time ----------------------------------- Mazer Mon Jan 31, 2005 1:16 pm ----------------------------------- Then I'd guess you could go ahead and delete that C folder. Though you may want to back stuff up (because shit happens). Of course, if that is your windows folder it probably wouldn't let you delete it, I think. ----------------------------------- zomg Mon Jan 31, 2005 2:10 pm ----------------------------------- ya it wont let u delete the current windows directory, it'll say something like files are in use or something ----------------------------------- person Mon Jan 31, 2005 2:49 pm ----------------------------------- thanx for all the help, iv deleted that redundant OS :D