Stupid Question WinXP Pro???

OK here goes a stupid question I could probably figure out but anyway the problem is at one time or another I for some reason tried to install XP something happened or what not I dont remember but I ended up having to re-install XP a second time now when I start up I have to pick between two XP OSs and I have to chose the bottom of the two I hate having to stand around if I reboot to tell it to start using the second and if I let it chose the first it fails saying some file or another is missing anyway to the point again how can I get rid of the first choice or just tell it to automatically chose the second one ????? I hope that made sense if not let me know

 

Do you have two harddrives? If you have just one, you need to delete both partitions then format in full and full install without creating partition. Just delete and enter to install then you will see format option, choose long one not quick one, Dont click C to create paritions.

 

In 'System Settings' in the Control Panel you will find 'Boot settings', where, if supposing there are 2 OS'es on the pc then which OS should be loaded by default or the menu to choose which OS the pc should boot into should be displayed for how long, are shown.

From there if you choose 'Edit', the file where these settings are mentioned. Now delete the line which corresponds to the Os'es entry that you don't want. Save the file and reboot. You will find the troublesome entry gone.

If it is a multi-boot system (for ex. Win98 & WinXP) then you will still have to choose between them during boot. But if it is just a WinXP system then it will straightaway boot into the present OS. This should solve your problem.

p.s. : I might have got the locations of the settings wrong as I don't currently have WinXP installed on my system. But if you look around properly in 'System Settings' in the control panel then you should find these settings.

 

Go to "run" and type msconfig and hit OK. In the resulting screen one of the tabs will say "BOOT. INI" select it. Click on "Check All Boot Paths" it will show you the invalid one and allow you to delete it. This is very safe I have used several times on different customers computers.

Don't mess around anywhere else in there or you could really screw things up.

 

Thanks for the info folks that helped out : )