why oh why does it show 2 OS when i only have 1?

[blade85]

Okaaay

my problem is this: I have 1 250 gb HDD which has been formatted and split into 2 (one half for OS and general stuff + one half for game files)

Now...When i built my pc, I had the HDD from an old pc where the exact same thing was happening, so i figured, if i just format the whole drive and reinstall windows it should work...i hoped. Any way it didnt.


When I start my pc and it goes through the usual checkups...it eventually comes to a screen asking me to pick my OS from a list of 2. But obviously only one of them works, the other just says some error (cause there is only one OS). Why does it ask me to choose? its not really a hassle, but i'd just like to sort it out if its possible.

 

[pscowboy]

Eliminate the one THAT YOU KNOW FOR SURE doesn't work in boot.ini. Look for it in the [Operating Systems] section.You'll find boot.ini at the root of "C".

A word of caution - make very sure that you are deleting the right one. Write down the EXACT wording, that you see on the screen, of the one you know is no good so you can identify it while editing.

Put a copy of boot.ini into C:\windows\Temp before you do this.

Right-click boot.ini - go down to Properties and uncheck Read Only. Then double-click it to open it in Notepad to work on it. When done, restore the Read Only attribute.

 

[blade85]

I see the following two lines:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect


which is the one that works? However when i search for it it says that this is infact a backup file. What exactly do you mean by " you will find it at the root of C"

 

[edklite]

by root of C he means the location of your C:\

he was directing you to boot.ini which you found. it should be here C:\boot.ini

copy that file and put it some place else so you have 2 of them.

once you got the copy made and in place figure out which of those 2 is the one that boots I thinkg its the second one but wait for pcowboy to tell you, however you are the best person to figure that out.

 

[pscowboy]

Upon bootup, on the menu screen you are given to choose from, they will appear in the order you see them inside of boot.ini.

SO - if the first one brings you to the desktop - leave it alone.
If the second one chosen gives you nothing - that's the one you delete.

You are probably going to find that the second one (which is pointing to the second drive. Notice the rdisk(1)) is the one that's no good.

Just be certain.

 

[blade85]

its definitely the first choice that lets me in and the 2nd choice that doesnt. So fingers crossed.....

If i reply here in the next 5 mins..then its worked....other wise...i'll try and figure something out :lol:

 

[blade85]

okay, well nothing happened still asks me the same questions.

Im just wondering why it says backup file next to it. Is it supposed to say that?

 

[edklite]

blade those 2 are copies the boot ini you are looking for is gonna be at C:\boot.ini

the 2 you are showing one is in the "pss" folder and the other is in the "temp".

listen where have you kept the copy we asked you to make?

 

[blade85]

the one in the temp folder is the copy that i was told to make

 

[blade85]

I understand what your trying to say now, i can type in C:\boot.ini in my firefox and it open it. however i obviously cant edit it in firefox and i cant see it in just C:\ either even when i enable hidden items. sooo how exactly am i supposed to access it??

*Edit* Dont worry I found it, un-ticked read only and deleted the second line. made it read only again and hid it. Guess what...

IT WORKS! You guys are geniuses! good work

 

[edklite]

next time remember you can edit it by going to:

Right click on my computer>properties>advance>startup and recovery>settings>edit

when you hit edit it will open boot.ini and allow you to edit it from there without having to change its properties from read only, you can also pick your default os there

glad you got it and good luck. pscowboy does it again

 

[blade85]

next time remember you can edit it by going to:

Right click on my computer>properties>advance>startup and recovery>settings>edit

aha nice, i didnt know that. Well i learn something new everyday . Thanx again to both of you.