too many XP starts on my computer

Discussion in 'Software' started by lynnvance, Oct 6, 2007.

  1. lynnvance

    lynnvance Private E-2

    I am PC illiterate. My system crashed again a couple of months ago and my husband bought me a system at the flea market. I kept getting 'this is an not a genuine Microsoft Windows program your computer could be at risk' message. All my programming had been done on Microsoft Windows XP Professional which we had bought and my husband had installed on my crashed computer; so we got what we thought was the CD for the XP Professional and started to reinstall it hoping to get rid of the 'not genuine' message; unfortunately the disk was for XP Home edition. Now every time I start my computer I have to chose between XP Home and XP Professional - and I have to do it fast or I have to reboot the whole thing and start again. Is there any way to get rid of the partially installed XP Home edition? As non-technical as possible please. I looked at another 'thread' that talked about partitions and Bios and I had not a clue.:confused. Thank you! Lynn
     
  2. lynnvance

    lynnvance Private E-2

    How will I know when someone answers? Do I stay here? Can I go do other stuff and come back to this? THX!
     
  3. shanemail

    shanemail Fold On

    Welcome to Major Geeks :major

    Someone with the correct information will hopefully be along soon :)

    By default you will receive an email notification every time someone replies to this thread.
    So yes, you may "go do other stuff and come back to this"

    Next time you come back to Major Geeks you can click the 'User CP' (User control panel) button at the top of the page
    Once that page opens, if you look through the menu on the left hand side you will see
    'List Subscriptions' near the bottom, if you click on that it will show any posts that you have made so that you can easily find your way back to this thread.

    Good luck :wave
     
  4. dlb

    dlb MajorGeek

    You need to rewrite or edit your 'boot.ini' file. Open My Computer. Click on Tools at the top. Select Folder Options. Scroll down and make sure "view hidden files and folders" is allowed and the same for "view protected system files and folders". Also make sure you enable "show extensions for known file types". Now open Drive C: (double click it). Look for "boot.ini" and rename it to "old-boot.ini". This is in case we mess up, we still have the original file. Now, double click it and it should open in Notepad. It should look like this:

    [boot loader]
    timeout=30
    default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
    [operating systems]
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

    Chances are, yours doesn't. At this point, you can either edit your file to look like this, or (preferably), open a new Notepad document window, copy and paste the above into your Notepad window, and Save As "boot.ini" on drive C:. Remember, we still have "old-boot.ini" just in case; leave this old one alone. You may need it someday (why? who knows. Just leave it alone). After saving your new "boot.ini" to drive C:, reboot your PC and it should boot straight into WinXP Home without any problems.... if you decided to edit your existing file, be sure you save it as "boot.ini" and NOT as "old-boot.ini" otherwise the PC will not boot to Windows and we'll have another problem to deal with. So, regardless of how you edit/create the correct boot.ini file, when you're done, right before restarting, you should have the two files: the old one "old-boot.ini" that doesn't look like the code above, and the new one "boot.ini" that should look EXACTLY like the code above. Like I said, copy-n-paste it into a new Notepad document and be sure to Save As "boot.ini" on drive C:
     
  5. lynnvance

    lynnvance Private E-2

    Thank you -I will try that :)
     
  6. lynnvance

    lynnvance Private E-2

    Hello again. I did everything up to searching in all hidden files and folders (after enabling these per instructions under tools etc.) but the "boot.ini" did not show up; I searched C: drive. ?
     
  7. lynnvance

    lynnvance Private E-2

    Hello.....anyone still trying to help me? I can't get to the boot.ini file----look somewhere else? THX-Lynn:cry
     
  8. augiedoggie

    augiedoggie The Canadian Loon - LocoAugie (R.I.P. 2012)

    Click on run, type in 'msconfig' without the quotes, choose the boot.ini tab and click on 'Check all boot paths'. This should get rid of your partially installed XP or you can edit out the entry you don't want.
     
  9. EEEEDIOT

    EEEEDIOT Specialist

    augiedoggie's solution seems to be simpler, but if you want to continue with the boot.ini, chances are that it's hidden. To unhide it open my computer. On the toolbar click tools->folder options->view you should see that there is a option that says "Hidden files and folders". Under that, select the option that says show hidden files and folders. After you do that, close my computer and open up to c: again and you should be able to find your boot.ini
     
  10. lynnvance

    lynnvance Private E-2

    OK thanks my geek friends! I tried the mcconfig, but I still get the page showing the two options (XP Pro and XP Home) and an opening Dell page that seems to stay up forever. But it does (eventually) start in XP Pro. I tried to delete the XP Home line of info from the boot.ini but it wouldn't go away.
     

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