Leland,
First, do you have Windows XP Pro physically installed on two different
partitions? If not, then it's as easy as unchecking a checkbox, or removing
one of the paths in the boot.ini file. Here's how to do that:
1. Right-click on My Computer and select Properties
2. Click on the Advanced tab on the System Properties box that displays and
look at the bottom where it says 'Startup and Recovery'
3. At the top of the dialog box that opens you will see System Startup, and
a drop-down list showing the Operating Systems installed. It should say
something like: "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect. In yours,
there will likely be two entries for the same operating system.
4. You'll see a checkbox next to 'Time to display list of operating
systems:. Don't change the number, just uncheck the box. Then, only your
default Operating System (the Windows XP you installed last) should load
without the menu displaying both of them. If that doesn't work, try this:
5. You'll see a button that says 'Edit' and before it a line reading 'To
edit the startup options file manually, click Edit'. Click it.
6. Your boot.ini file will open up in Notepad (it's merely a text file with
an .ini extension). It should say something like this:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
7. Look at the entry for 'default='. This is the operating system you
boot to, and is likely the most recent one you installed. If the entries
below the [operating systems] are exactly the same, that is the same
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS, or something like that, then
you can safely delete one of them.
8. Save the file (just File >> Save, not Save as), and you should be good
to go. Keep unchecked the box that says Time to display list of operating
systems. Don't uncheck anything else.
That should work.
