Repairing or Removing an OS in dual boot environment

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joe Burlein
  • Start date Start date
J

Joe Burlein

Hello,

NE1 know how to safely remove (or repair/re-install) an
older OS (in this case 98SE) without hosing XP Pro? 98SE
is on the primary boot partition (C:) and XP is on D:.

Thanks,

Joe
 
Simply delete everything except the hidden files boot.ini, ntldr, and
ntdetect.com.
This leaves the boot files intact and removes Win98. You can edit the
boot.ini file with msconfig, notepad or in the startup and recovery area
of system properties.
 
Would I do the same thing if I remove WinXP from my D drive, and have XP on
drive C be my boot drive? I'm afraid of messing it up, but I really don't
need the second copy of WinXP on drive D. It's just there because new.net
wiped out my internet connection on C, and it looks like I'm going to have
to format to be able to connect with C. At that point, I want to remove all
Windows from D.

Hope that made sense.

Thanks.
 
Think it makes sense.
If you want to format C: and do a clean install, and remove everything
from D: Then boot to the CD and choose the new installation. They have
prompts that will allow you to format the drive and even remove
partitions. In that instance you would not need to save any files XP
will create what is needed. It is a good idea to know what drivers you
need and back these up.
Other thought.
Does the Internet connection on D: work?
If so, check your settings in the network properties. Make note of the
drivers for the NIC also.
Couple ways to get there.
Start, Control Panel, Network and Internet connections, Network
Connections, Local connection, right click Properties, double left click
the Internet Protocol. Write down the settings and check the advanced
tabs respective attributes.
Easier route, right click the My Network Places icon, select Properties,
et al.
After you've documented everything, boot up the C: and check the same
properties and NIC driver versions. Change as needed.
Or, uninstall the IP and setup with the info from D:
Once that works and you are happy with C:
Open and save the hidden boot.ini file (on the system drive, normally C)
as boot.old.
Edit the file to remove the reference to the D: drive. Good article on
the editing here.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;289022&Product=winxp
 
Thanks for replying. I am able to connect from drive D. C just gives me
the 169 IP, and when I try and repair it fails. I compared both C and D and
their connections are setup the same. I don't get why it's so difficult to
get it back without having to format. I've tried a bunch of different
things that are around to help restore it after new.net, but they don't
work. My system is clean now. All the nasties are gone. Everything seems
okay on drive C other than the internet connection...oh, and for some
reason, Pest Patrol won't load there. It is installed on C, not D, but it
does run from D.

I just switched over my boot drive in the Bios to the CD. I wasn't sure if
I should do it from the regular CD or the burner, so I picked the regular
CD. I guess I'm preparing for the inevitable.

When I edit the boot.ini file to remove the reference to drive D, do I then
rename it to boot.ini from boot.old? Won't the installation of a fresh
version of the OS write a new boot.ini file?

I'm a little confused.

Thanks again.
 
Sorry for the confusion. Yes if you reinstall no files need to be kept,
the boot.ini will be rebuilt.
 
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