Intalling windows XP pro question

[welchs101]

Hi,

I am helping a friend install XP pro on his computer after a virus got on his computer. The computer initially had XP home edition. The computer is a dell vostro.

Anyway, my question is this. I have installed XP pro and when doing so i deleted all the partitions and created just one partition. After the first "restart" on the computer ...........i get a question asking me which to log into.......XP Pro or XP home edition. Looks like something did not get removed from the hard drive when i did the install?

Can someone explain whats going on and how to get xp home off entirely?

 

[aford10]

Check the boot.ini file. You likely need to remove the extra entry under the 'operating system'.

 

[welchs101]

i checked it and there are two entries there one for XP pro and one for XP home.

But why is the xp home there? How did the system know about XP home when i wiped HD clean?

Also, how to remove entry for XP home.......

thanks.

 

[aford10]

Just deleting the partitions doesn't wipe it all out. That's why it's a good idea to do a full format during an install.

start-->control panel-->system-->advanced-->startup and recovery settings-->edit button-->remove the unwanted entry from the file-->file-->save.

 

[welchs101]

what should i have done to format the hard drive? i thought removing all partitions and installing NEW OS would format hard drive........if not how to format hard drive?


thanks

 

[aford10]

As part of the install process, there is an option to do a full format, or quick format.
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm

 

[welchs101]

i did not do the quick format........so does this mean i formatted the entire drive? If so why did the XP home show up in that file you mentioned.

Thanks.

 

[aford10]

It's usually caused by multiple efforts to install an OS, and not fully formatting.

The full format screen would look similar to this.

 

[welchs101]

hi,

thats the one i used. Very strange that it would still know about xp home. But oh well. I did what you suggested with the boot.ini file. I removed the line referring to xp home and resaved the file. And i have not see this screen again asking about which operating system i wanted.

thanks.

 

[welchs101]

Best answer selected by welchs101.

 

[aford10]

Good to hear it's resolved. Thanks for the vote