How can I get rid of mystery OS at boot-up?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Johanna
  • Start date Start date
J

Johanna

Hi!
At boot-up I get a screen asking which OS I'd like to boot (the way you
got if you installed two MS OSs on the same machine, like a lot of
people had to do back in the 9x / NT4 days)

The problem is, I have only one OS -XP!

I THINK this may have been caused by the way I formatted the disk. I
typed " format c: /s " from a Win98 boot disk.

(I was getting a bit fed-up and irrational because I was having some
problems installing XP, so I tried all the tricks I could think of...
This command puts some Win98 files on the hard drive to facilitate
install if I remember correctly. The problem was incorrectly positioned
RAM, but I didn't know that until later.)

I don't want this fake OS listing at boot-up, because it delays the boot
by 30 seconds while it's counting down waiting for the user to select OS.

Do you know how I can get rid of this listing, or at least set the
counting to 0, or a low number? (Re-formatting the disk is not an option
:-) of course! )

Jo
 
Thanks all for helping me with this!

Rod said:
At boot-up I get a screen asking which OS I'd like to boot (the way you got if you installed two
MS OSs on the same machine, like a lot of people had to do back in the 9x / NT4 days)

The problem is, I have only one OS -XP!

I THINK this may have been caused by the way I formatted the disk. I typed " format c: /s "
from a Win98 boot disk.
Click to expand...


Nope, it wont have been that. Most likely the second
install you did after doing that. You should have
formatted the partition within the XP install instead.

(I was getting a bit fed-up and irrational because I was having some problems installing XP, so I
tried all the tricks I could think of...
This command puts some Win98 files on the hard drive to facilitate
install if I remember correctly.
Click to expand...


Yes, but it isnt relevant to XP.

The problem was incorrectly positioned RAM, but I didn't know that until later.)

I don't want this fake OS listing at boot-up, because it delays the boot by 30 seconds while it's
counting down waiting for the user to select OS.

Do you know how I can get rid of this listing,
Click to expand...


Yes, manually edit boot.ini

The entrys should be obvious.

or at least set the counting to 0, or a low number?
Click to expand...


You can do that too, but its better to just clean up the mess
and have just a single bootable OS specified in the boot.ini

Right mouse click on the My Computer icon in the Start,
select Propertys, then the Advanced tab. Then its the system
startup settings. The boot.ini Edit button should be obvious.

The boot.ini should look like

[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
/NoExecute=OptIn

(Re-formatting the disk is not an option :-) of course! )
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Johanna said:
At boot-up I get a screen asking which OS I'd like to boot (the way you got if you installed two
MS OSs on the same machine, like a lot of people had to do back in the 9x / NT4 days)
Click to expand...
The problem is, I have only one OS -XP!
Click to expand...
I THINK this may have been caused by the way I formatted the disk. I typed " format c: /s "
from a Win98 boot disk.
Click to expand...

Nope, it wont have been that. Most likely the second
install you did after doing that. You should have
formatted the partition within the XP install instead.
(I was getting a bit fed-up and irrational because I was having some problems installing XP, so I
tried all the tricks I could think of...
This command puts some Win98 files on the hard drive to facilitate
install if I remember correctly.
Click to expand...

Yes, but it isnt relevant to XP.
The problem was incorrectly positioned RAM, but I didn't know that until later.)
Click to expand...
I don't want this fake OS listing at boot-up, because it delays the boot by 30 seconds while it's
counting down waiting for the user to select OS.
Click to expand...
Do you know how I can get rid of this listing,
Click to expand...

Yes, manually edit boot.ini

The entrys should be obvious.
or at least set the counting to 0, or a low number?
Click to expand...

You can do that too, but its better to just clean up the mess
and have just a single bootable OS specified in the boot.ini

Right mouse click on the My Computer icon in the Start,
select Propertys, then the Advanced tab. Then its the system
startup settings. The boot.ini Edit button should be obvious.

The boot.ini should look like

[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
/NoExecute=OptIn
 
Since some Win 98 files installed ahead of XP, the only way to get rid of
them is, unfortunately, reformatting.
The way to change the 30 second OS Boot selection at startup is to go to:
Control Panel
System
Advanced tab
Startup & Recovery
Settings
"Time to Display List of Operating Systems" should
be set to around 3 seconds.
Hope this helps !
 
DaveW said:
Since some Win 98 files installed ahead of XP, the only way to get rid of them is, unfortunately,
reformatting.
Click to expand...

Wrong, the XP install will have done what is necessary with those.
 
boot from the xp disk
choose repair option
after you select the operating system and type in admin password a
command prompt will entice you to typesomething
type " fixboot"

it will ask if you are sure say yes and reboot
 
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