Reinstalling Windows Help

Hello everyone,

I'm an idiot, I've done a dirty installation of windows vista and now I have two options for Windows Vista at start up. I tried to get technical support but they asked for £198 which I cannot afford.
How can I fix this. Thank you so much

 

what exactly do you mean by a dirty install? Do you have a valid Windows Vista disk and license w/ key?

 

Hi there, like senlis said, "what exactly do you mean by a dirty install" ? :confused

 

go to start and in the box type in msconfig
click boot (after the "Windows needs your permission to continue" window closes)
there will bee 2 options in the box at the top.
click the one that doesnt say default in it
press delete.
hit ok
reboot

 

I think she probably installed new(another) OS on top of other and it now shows 2 options at the post (windows startup) section. If this is the case, this is simple fix. Go to your system property, and click on "Advanced" tab. You'll see "startup and recovery" section at the bottom. Click on Settings button. Now, if everything is working fine and you do NOT want dual OS, easies thing for you to do is uncheck the box "Time to display of operating systems:". Then you will not see two options at startup. If you DO have problems with OS, or if you WANT to have dual boot system, then write back to us.

 

Hey,

Sorry I was told dirty install was the correfct term.
I reinstalled a OS over a current one.
I was told that I had to reinstall and remove other previous OS otherwise my system would have big problems at some point.

 

Hey so I did this and now it is blocked in start up. I'm a little worried this has just hidden the problem instead of getting rid of it all together...is this the case?

 

Yea, after you back up your information you should probably install Windows fresh. Save you a lot of trouble in the long run.

 

Thanks...now could you please tell me what i should format? Everything? Nothing? How do I get rid of the old OS? I have two hard drives and I'm not sure which Vista is on.

 

Thanks but now I wonder do I have to format everything to remove previous vista installs and which hard drive shoul I put the new install in?
Thank you

 

It depends. If you want to wipe out everything and start fresh, you can use darik's boot and nuke http://www.dban.org/download
This will ensure your entire hard drive is empty.

Otherwise, you can probably get by with reformatting the c:/

 

I do. I just want it all gone! So the nuke thing is best? or just format both?

 

It's all just a bit confusing, dell said I would need to get rid of the previous OS as have some people here and others say no need. I'm very confused

Thanks

 

Thank you very very much. I suck at technical stuff but if you guys ever need tips on burlesque...gimme a shout