Removing 1 of 2 Windows XP Pros

I need to know how to remove 1 of my windows xps. I had to recently put a second xp on my computer because of past malware issues that hosed the original version. Both XPs are on the same partition. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

what you want to do is edit the boot.ini file in windows so that it doesnt display two titles. There are'nt really 2 XP installs, but since you didnt do a clean reformat, the boot.ini file added a 2nd line. Easy fix.

Right click on My Computer and go to properties
On the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery
Under System Startup, click Edit. This opens the file in Notepad ready for editing.

you should see two lines regarding WindowsXP. If you paste the info here we can tell you what to change.

 

This is what displays...


[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS2
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS2="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /noexecute=optin

 

feel free to delete the entire bottom line (assuming windows2 is the one that you boot to).

 

I agree that your second 'installation' is called windows2, thus you can safely delete the last line.

However, the original setup had a DEP setting

I would copy this to the new windows2 line.

2 of the 4 possible DEP settings can be changed from within windows, 2 can only be changed in boot.ini.

 

what does this "/noexecute=optin" line do?

The reason I installed the second version is because the first version wouldnt even let me log into my windows account. I tried doing a repair install but would only get an error message. Finally i gave up and did a clean install for the second version

After i change this boot.ini I'll need to delete the first version. Do you know of any straightforward support pages that could direct me how to do so?

Thank you

 

Boot.ini is just a regular text file on the root of the C drive.
You can edit it in any text editor such as notepad (not Word).
You can delete it with windows explorer. Better to rename it something like boot.old. It is not active once you have booted, until the next boot so you can do all this in Windows.
But there must be valid boot.ini for an operating system to boot.


Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is a security measure introduced in recent processors,both AMD and Intel. Essentially it only allows execution of code from memory locations, occupied by legitimate programs. Malware often squeezes into odd locations and gaps. The Sasser and Blaster worms are examples of this.
Anyway with the right processor and Windows XP SP2 or later you can fully employ DEP. SP2 provides software emulation for older processors.
There are four possible settings of the line /noexecute=

optin......this is the default and protects all key Windows components and other programs that can use it.

optout....Allows user to create an exceptions list that are not DEP protected.

AlwaysOn..protects everything with no exceptions

AlwaysOff..turns DEP off

These are the entries for boot.ini

You can also look at DEP in Windows
Right Click My computer>properties>Advanced>performance>settings>DEP

You only have the first two options here though.

 

What should i do about deleting the corrupted version of XP. There seems to be two of a lot of things on my compter including documents and settings and various programs. Is there any helpful tutorials or walkthroughs u could recommend for me?

 

I think we have some confusion over terminology here. A clean install wipes the hard drive of all its previous contents. This is achieved by reformating the drive before installing the new.

You either installed a second copy of windows, probably to a folder called windows2.
Or you installed windows 'over the top' of the existing. This would have created the second entry in boot.ini only if you did this from within the old windows.

Did you install by booting from the windows CD or by starting setup from the old windows?

I am not sure exactly what you have done so can't suggest any 'tutorials'

 

I booted up from the windows cd. I put both XP's on the same partition.

Sorry for the confusion

 

So in windows explorer you need to check over the hard drive and identify the original Windows installation and the new one.

Windows XP is installed to C:\Windows by default unless you either

(1) Specify somewhere else at install

(2) Use an Upgrade CD

If you like post a screenshot or list of explorer showing the C drive. Also show c:\windows expanded in case windows2 is in there.

 

Inside the c drive there are two seperate folders

c:\windows
c:\windows2

When i installed the second version of windows i put them on the same partition but gave the new version the name windows2 so i could keep everything from my original windows.

I expanded c:\windows and there's no windows2 in there.

I would have attached some screenshots but the files are too big for these posts.

 

have you got

'show hidden files' enabled

AND

'hide system files' disabled

tools>folder options>view

set all folders the same

Also set view to details in View

 

i didnt at first but i do now have...

1) "show hidden files" enabled

2) "hide system files" disabled

 

So what can you now see in the windows2 and windows folders?
What size does explorer report for them?

 

Windows2 is 1.16 GB
Windows is 2.82 GB

There is files that were hidden before that are now displayed but both windows are still in seperate folders.

 

Rename the windows folder (careful not windows2) to Awindows.

If things continues to work normally, as they should, you can safely delete the entire folder after about a week.

 

What does naming the windows folder AWindows do? If i decide to delete this a week after changing the name of the folder, what all does this get rid of? Does it delete all documents and settings associated with the windows version? Does it delete all the applications that were installed with that version of windows. I was wondering this because I've had to download office as well as many other apps since I installed the second version of windows and i believe these apps are still located on my machine somewhere.

 

Once deleted something is gone.

If , instead of deletion, you simply rename then the renamed folder will be inactive, but not lost. If you change your mind and want it back again, all you have to do is rename it back to the original.

You can also temporarily disable executables by changing the extension from .exe to .aaa or for instance.

Whilst there are many legitimate uses for these techniques this is also one way for malware to hide.

 

well ive made a back-up of pretty much everything of any importance from my first windows. I was wanting to delete all the stuff from the previous windows to free up some space. Right now i have 5% free memory space on my hard drive after installing office 2007 and visual studios.

 

You asked the reason for not deleting immediately. If your new Windows is now working properly I would now delete all of the old.

 

I cant delete AWINDOWS. Everytime i try to delete it, it shows right back up.