startup problems - two OS's

[Jay Turney [MSFT]]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no rights.

Hi Rodger,

I don't know of any easy way to remove the partial
install, but you might try the following to change the
default OS:

First check to see if the boot.ini file is set to read-
only. If it is, remove the read-only attribute and then
edit the boot.ini file which should be in C:\ - you can
use notepad or any of a number of other programs to do
this. You should see something like the following:

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft
Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft
Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

Change the number in parantheses following the word
partition in the line starting with "default=" to the
other one show in the lines under "[operating systems] -
in this example, you would change the 2 to a 1 so the
line would now read:
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

Save the modifed boot.ini file back to C:\ (If the file
is set to read-only, you will have to change that

That should change the default option to the healthy
one. Reboot the machine and give it a try.


I hope this helps,

Jay

 

[Rodger]

Thanks so much for your help. I tried to find the
boot.ini file and I only found on called boot.ini.backup

-----Original Message-----
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no rights.

Hi Rodger,

I don't know of any easy way to remove the partial
install, but you might try the following to change the
default OS:

First check to see if the boot.ini file is set to read-
only. If it is, remove the read-only attribute and then
edit the boot.ini file which should be in C:\ - you can
use notepad or any of a number of other programs to do
this. You should see something like the following:

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft
Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft
Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

Change the number in parantheses following the word
partition in the line starting with "default=" to the
other one show in the lines under "[operating systems] -
in this example, you would change the 2 to a 1 so the
line would now read:
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

Save the modifed boot.ini file back to C:\ (If the file
is set to read-only, you will have to change that

That should change the default option to the healthy
one. Reboot the machine and give it a try.


I hope this helps,

Jay

-----Original Message-----
I recently tried to reinstall XP pro, but was only able to
partially install the OS. Now when I reboot, my computer
prompts me early in the boot to choose between two
differnt versions of XP. If I let the computer boot to
the default OS it will crash. I need to manually toggle
down to the earlier install. Does anybody know how I can
delete the partial install and default to the healthy
install? Or, at the very least, can I switch start-up
options so the computer loads the healthy install
automatically?

Thanks!
.

.