invalid boot init file

  • Thread starter Thread starter luciferscrutch
  • Start date Start date
L

luciferscrutch

how do i edit my boot file, i've been to the spot before,
however i only got the problem half fixed i went from
having multiple instances of windows XP operating system on
multiple drives to trying to use only the one i preferred,
however the one i prefer says invalid boot init file and
the computer still boots from the other drive, this is
frustrating as i would like to eliminate the other instance
of xp as it is basicalloy wasting alot of drive space. any
assistance would be appreciated
 
How many physical disks do you have currently containing volumes with
windows xp?
Describe the physical disk/volume layout.
Which of the volumes contain any of the files, boot.ini ntldr or
ntdetect.com. Make sure you look in the root directory of ALL volumes, not
just the ones containig XP.
They can occur in places you wouldn't expect.

Which physical disk is set as the boot disk in the bios. Check in bios,
normally in the Advanced Settings off the bios main menu.

Run disk manager

start/run
diskmgmt.msc

Which volume on which disk is labelled the Boot partion, and which is
labelled the system partition ?

The boot partition is the partion containg the version of xp running.
The system partition is what actually gets read first at system startup, it
contains the MBR (Master Boot Record), it should contain the boot.ini ntldr
and ntdetect.com
and before you ask, no, I don't know why Microsoft labelled them this way
around. You would have thought the boot partition was the one you were
booting from, and the system partition contained the operating system. Never
mind :-)

Post the info requested and we'll see where to go from there.

Paul
 
Back
Top