Get rid of Dual booting facility.

I want ot get rid of the dual booting from my W98SE and XP Pro laptop.

(1) What programs do I need to get rid of out of my c:\ (W98SE) root directory.
So far I have removed, renamed or lost ntdetect.com, ntldr and boot.ini.

Are there any others that need to be removed?

(2) What does bootsect.dos in c:\ do?
It was apparently created at the same time I installed XP.

(3) I have searched my c:\ root directory for anything else installed on that day.

(4) I assume there may be Registry entries I have to remove. Can you point me towards anything relevant?

I want to remove the dual boot because when "Ntldr" was "missing" I could not boot off either W98Se or XP. I am now booting off another hard drive with an older W98 installed.

Bazza

 

To clarify:

I just want to delete the programs that my PC looks for, to enable the dual boot. I do not wish to remove W98SE or XP Pro from my dual hard drive system.

I will just alter my boot sequence to either boot up from W98SE hard drive or XP Pro hard drive, depending on my requirements at the time. Baz

 

Bazza, could you post a copy of the Boot.ini? The bootsect.dos is the Win98 boot sector it makes the DOS partition visible to NTLDR.

If I understand you correctly, you still want a daul boot system. I am assuming that XP is the default OS you want to use.

 

I think this is my boot.ini. I'm having to swop/unassemble/assemble hard drives to get my old W98SE to log on to the net, so am not completely sure at this stage. When I logoff I will do the drive swopping bit and copy boot.ini out to my jump drive.

[boot loader]
timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)windows="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /no execute =optin /fastdetect
c:\="Microsoft Windows"

Remember I have 2 hard drives, one with W98Se, 1 with XP pro, so this probably different to a dual boot with W98SE and XP on the one drive.

My major problem is still to get into XP. I tried "How to repair NTLDR missing", but no joy.

M$ recommend obtaining acopy of their "Bcupdate2" utility, so I will give that a try.

Priorities at the moment keep on changing.
(1) Get XP working on dual boot.
(2) Get XP modem driver that works
(3) Update BIOS (doesn't appear possible for my gateway Solo 9300) to support XP.
(4) Remove dual boot interface software.

Sorry to keep swopping around but each time I try to proceed, something different happens. Ah well, I'm learning more about Xp, quicker than I ever thought possible. Bazza.

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Copy and paste this into notepad the save to floppy as boot.ini

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS

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

Then

1. Use the Windows XP CD-ROM to restart the computer.

2. At the Welcome to Setup screen, press R to repair the Windows XP installation.

3. Type the number that corresponds to the Windows installation that you want to repair, and then press ENTER. For example, type 1, and then press ENTER.

4. Type the Administrator password, and then press ENTER.

5. Type the following command at the Recovery Console command prompt to copy the Boot.ini file from the floppy disk to the computer:

copy a:\Boot.ini c:\​

6. Type exit, and then press ENTER. The computer restarts.

{EDIT} If that doesn't work there is one more option. Rebuild the boot.ini with bootcfg.

 

Still no joy. Hope do I use bootcfg? Have you ever used Bcutil2? Bazza

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Bcupdate2 isn't going to help you, it merely defrags the MBR.

To be able to boot to XP, you will need ntldr, ntdetect.com on the XP drive. YOu then have to write the XP info into that drive's MBR, which can be done in Recovery Console by running fixmbr on that drive.

As for 98, you would need the 98 bootsector written to that drive via running the dos command sys c: (assuming the C: drive is where 98 is.) You must do this outside of the OS, in DOS.

As for what files are also needed on that drive, I do not know.

This is what you could do to have two separately booting drives, depending on how you set your boot order.

This should theoretically work, but beware, it doesn't always. Back up your data and prepare for the worst, just in case.

 

OK, Baza, back to the recovery console.

Please print out these instructions so that you can operate with All Browser Windows CLOSED.
​

1. Use the Windows XP CD-ROM to restart the computer.

2. At the Welcome to Setup screen, press R to repair the Windows XP installation.

3. Press C to repair the Windows XP installation by using the Recovery Console.

4. Type the number that corresponds to the Windows installation that you want to repair, and then press ENTER. For example, type 1, and then press ENTER.

5. Type the Administrator password, and then press ENTER.

6. Type map, and then press ENTER. Note the drive letter that is assigned to the CD-ROM drive that contains the Windows XP CD-ROM.

7. Type the following commands, pressing ENTER after you type each one, where drive is the drive letter of the drive from step 6:

fixmbr

copy drive:\i386\ntldr c:\

copy drive:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\

If you are prompted to overwrite the file, type y, and then press ENTER.

NOTE: In these commands, there is a space between the ntldr and c:\, and between ntdetect.com and c:\.

8. Type the following command, and then press ENTER: type c:\Boot.ini

A list similar to the following list appears:
[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 Professional" /fastdetect

If you receive the following message, the Boot.ini file may be missing or damaged:

The system cannot find the file or directory specified.

9. If the Boot.ini file is missing or damaged, create a new one. To do so, follow these steps:

a. Use a text editor, such as Notepad or Edit.com, to create a boot loader file similar to the following boot loader file:

[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 Professional" /fastdetect

b. Save the file to a floppy disk as Boot.ini.

c. Type the following command at the Recovery Console command prompt to copy the Boot.ini file from the floppy disk to the computer:

NOTE: If you used Notepad to create the file, make sure that the .txt extension is not appended to the Boot.ini file name.

copy a:\Boot.ini c:\

10. Type exit, and then press ENTER. The computer restarts.

If you still have problems with the boot.ini the do the following:

1. Configure the computer to start from the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. For information about how to do this, see your computer documentation, or contact your computer manufacturer.

2. Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer.

3. When you receive the "Press any key to boot from CD" message, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM.

4. When you receive the "Welcome to Setup" message, press R to start the Recovery Console.

5. If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you have to use from the Recovery Console.

6. When you are prompted, type the administrator password, and then press ENTER.

7. At the command prompt, type bootcfg /list, and then press ENTER. The entries in your current Boot.ini file appear on the screen.

8. At the command prompt, type bootcfg /rebuild, and then press ENTER. This command scans the hard disks of the computer for Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000, or Microsoft Windows NT installations, and then displays the results. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to add the Windows installations to the Boot.ini file. For example, follow these steps to add a Windows XP installation to the Boot.ini file:

a. When you receive a message that is similar to the following message, press Y:

Total Identified Windows Installs: 1

[1] C:\Windows

Add installation to boot list? (Yes/No/All)

b. You receive a message that is similar to the following message:

Enter Load Identifier

This is the name of the operating system. When you receive this message, type the name of your operating system, and then press ENTER. This is either Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.

c. You receive a message that is similar to the following:

Enter OS Load options

When you receive this message, type /fastdetect, and then press ENTER.

NOTE The instructions that appear on your screen may be different, depending on the configuration of your computer.

9. Type exit, and then press ENTER to quit Recovery Console. Your computer restarts.

 

Thanks Adrynalyne. I'm confused. Original error was "Ntldr missing". I have gone through the Repair method more than once. Doesn't work for me. Original explanation says too many files on XP boot drive (D. When I look at "D" there are only about 10 files/folders in the D: root drive, so that can't be the explanation. As I don't have much XP stuff on my XP drive, I think I should just start all over again. The NTLDIR error has stuffed up my ability to boot into my W98SE drive ("C"). What can I remove from my "C"drive, that the XP install has put there, so I can get back to booting into my "C"drive?

I assume that I should remove Ntldr, ntdetect.com, boot.ini. Anything else? Thanks, Bazza

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If all you want to do is boot to 98, then sys c: should do the trick. It will remove all ability to boot to XP though.

boot.ini, ntdetect.com, ntldr, bootsect.dos are the only thing XP adds to the C: drive.

 

Thanks Adrynalyne, , getting my W98SE drive to boot is my first priority. Then getting XP to work is next. I will remove those items from my C: drive, then sys it. thanks again, Bazza

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Thanks Adrynalyne. Sys C: worked like a charm and I am back on my newest W98SE drive. Now to try and repair my XP dual boot installation. I think I have to alter my boot.ini file from one suggested to me to another. Will try that and report back tomorrow. One problem solved, a few to go. Bazza

 

Bazza, your boot.ini would porbably look something like this one.

[font=Verdana, Arial][boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /KERNEL=kernel1.exe
C:\="Windows 98"

This is assuming 98 and XP are on the same drive and that 98 was installed first.
[/font]

 

Thanks for the effort, again, S_P_D.
W98SE and XP pro are on different physical hard drives in my laptop, though.
Latest wrinkle is that bootsect.dos is missing from W98SE drive (C.
Have downloaded a bootsect zip file, and instructions. I'm progressing, slowly, thanks to you guys. Bazza

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OK, Bazza, after some headscratching, research and more headscratching, I believe I have a solution for you.

1. Download to your desktop boot98SE.zip, unzip, place blank floppy in drive double-click exe. This will write a modified Win98SE startup disk. The disk contains 3 files in addition to the normal files on the 98SE startup disk. the files are BTSECT.BAT, bootread.scr, and BTSECT.TXT.

2. Download to your dektop XP_DualBootFiles.zip, unzip to a foppy disk. The zip file contains ntldr, NTDETECT.COM, and boot.ini.

The boot.ini looks like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\="Windows 98"
​

This should work for your configuration with WinXP Pro on the second hard drive.

3. Boot with Win98SE boot disk. Run A:\Btsect.bat and use its SYS C: option. Reboot. Win9x boots.

4. Boot with the XP CD.
Enter the XP Recovery Console.
Insert the XP_DualBootFiles floppy in to the floppy drive
Run these commands:

FIXBOOT C:
COPY A:\NTLDR C:\
COPY A:\NTDETECT.COM C:\
COPY A:\BOOT.INI C:\
FIXMBR
​

5. type EXIT and the system will reboot. Remember to remove all disks from the Floopy drive and CD drive.

If the boot.ini fails the from the recovery console issue the following command;

BOOTCFG /rebuild
​

This LINK is an interesting read.

 

Thanks S_P_D. I've succeeded at last, while you were posting your last reply. A combination of downloading and installing btsect25.zip. Creating a floppy with system files, attrib.exe, choice.com, debug.exe, sys.com, bootread.scr, btsect.bat and btsect.txt. Creating my boot.ini (that I had written down previously), very similar to the one you suggested. Then booting off XP CD and following your previous suggestions again (copy ntldr, etc., even though they were already there from my previous attempts). I think the command "FIXBOOT", from my D: drive repair prompt finally did the trick.

Altered my BIOS to boot up from C: (win98) and the dual boot (boot.ini) came up and I was able to access XP Pro again.

Hallejuhah. Hurrah, and all that stuff, problem solved.

Thanks to your persistance and help from the others who posted answers.
Now I gotta set a Restore point as soon as I log off W98SE.

Next problem is to get a modem driver that works in XP.
Now I will go back to my previous post about modem drivers and resume that battle.

Will leave the original request to get rid of dual booting facility until much later when all other problems have been solved. Don't want to stuff up what has been achieved so far.

Thanks again to all at MG. Bazza

 

When your ready, I think getting rid of the dual boot will be easier than getting it to dual boot.http://forums.majorgeeks.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

 

Thanks. I agree with you. Eventually all I will need to do is alter the BIOS bootup sequence and select what OS I want to use. Have just downloaded drivers for 3cxm356, 556, 656 and 756. What a farce! Driversguide.com was so slow that I gave it away. I ended up keying the driver number and exe into google. This got me to u.s.r site. That was so slow, as well, but I perservered. Don't know why those 2 sites were so slow in selecting the driver I wanted. Once it was selected I used leechget to download it and there was no further problem. On to solve driver problem now. Bazza

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