Removing a Operating System from a Dual Boot

Jitter · Jan 18, 2005, 11:11 PM

A guy I knows computer just started rebooting before windows fully loaded up and he ended up installing XP Pro on the same partition that he had Home on. Now when he restarts it gives him a choice which one to boot into. I told him that he should just reformat, but he doesnt really want to do that and he only has about a 30GB HD. Is there anyway to remove the home installation w/o having to reformat?

thanks

shadowfield · Jan 18, 2005, 11:16 PM

hmmm, if he installed over home with pro, a good majority or even all of the files from home were probably just over written by pro copies. So basicaly, there shouldnt be anything of importance to remove

i agree with reformat and starting scratch ^_^

Jitter · Jan 18, 2005, 11:28 PM

well hes saying he has 2 windows folders windows1 and windows........so for some reason stuff didnt seem to get overwritten. I am not sure what he did exactly

shadowfield · Jan 19, 2005, 12:07 AM

in that case, i dont really think you can just uninstall the os, your going to have to delete it manualy..... i think

so figure out which os owns which windows folder, and delete the home one

then edit out the home entry in the BOOT.INI( located in system root but is hidden )

but then again, ive never been in a situation like that... and dont currently have time or a home cd to try so try what i said if you have no other choice... or trust my judgement and try anyways.

Jitter · Jan 19, 2005, 06:02 AM

I think ill tell him just to suck it up and reformat. I think his HD will be a mess otherwise

CDsDontBurn · Jan 19, 2005, 06:25 AM

well, if it is set up as two seperate partitions, then it can be done. Using a program like partition magic, you can remove the first installation of winXP (home) and just move over and expand the second installation of winXP (pro). But to me it sounds more like winXP pro was installed over winXP home. The best solution is to just reformat. If the winXP pro installtion wasn't done too long ago, then he shouldn't be attached to that installation of windows anyways.

PangingJr · Jan 19, 2005, 07:37 AM

he will have to make a backup of whatever he needs on the system anyway, reformat/reinstall would be the best choice, i think.

it can be done but the big problem i can think of would be how we can assist him to do it right, especially, when working together on another system remotely with someone who you don't know him at all, like something that he might do while you don't want him to do and you forgot to tell him.. take or pick a wrong steps when it's supposed to be last or first, we always forget something, well communication is a must.. another thing would be the Windows registry, some of them will be updated after one of the Windows been removed, but i'd say it's still will be full of references that would not get updated, never have this problem myself so can't really tell for sure. edit out the unwanted entry in the boot.ini is not a problem and can be done last.

CDsDontBurn · Jan 19, 2005, 07:44 AM

tell him to just do another clean install of windows. it is absolutely the best way to do it, especially if he doesn't want any major problems down the road.

Jan 18, 2005, 11:11 PM	#1
Jitter HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 534 Rep Power: 0	Removing a Operating System from a Dual Boot A guy I knows computer just started rebooting before windows fully loaded up and he ended up installing XP Pro on the same partition that he had Home on. Now when he restarts it gives him a choice which one to boot into. I told him that he should just reformat, but he doesnt really want to do that and he only has about a 30GB HD. Is there anyway to remove the home installation w/o having to reformat? thanks __________________ Sony Vaio PCV-RX670 P4 1.8ghz XP Pro SP2 1 GB PC2100 RAM ATI All in Wonder 9700 pro Audigy 2 ZS Aquamark ~29,500 3dMark03 ~ 5,000

Jan 18, 2005, 11:28 PM	Thread Starter #3
Jitter HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 534 Rep Power: 0	well hes saying he has 2 windows folders windows1 and windows........so for some reason stuff didnt seem to get overwritten. I am not sure what he did exactly __________________ Sony Vaio PCV-RX670 P4 1.8ghz XP Pro SP2 1 GB PC2100 RAM ATI All in Wonder 9700 pro Audigy 2 ZS Aquamark ~29,500 3dMark03 ~ 5,000

Jan 19, 2005, 06:02 AM	Thread Starter #5
Jitter HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 534 Rep Power: 0	I think ill tell him just to suck it up and reformat. I think his HD will be a mess otherwise __________________ Sony Vaio PCV-RX670 P4 1.8ghz XP Pro SP2 1 GB PC2100 RAM ATI All in Wonder 9700 pro Audigy 2 ZS Aquamark ~29,500 3dMark03 ~ 5,000

Jan 19, 2005, 06:25 AM	#6
CDsDontBurn Lurking DriverHeaven Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 22,806 Rep Power: 235 System Specs	well, if it is set up as two seperate partitions, then it can be done. Using a program like partition magic, you can remove the first installation of winXP (home) and just move over and expand the second installation of winXP (pro). But to me it sounds more like winXP pro was installed over winXP home. The best solution is to just reformat. If the winXP pro installtion wasn't done too long ago, then he shouldn't be attached to that installation of windows anyways. __________________ Her First Day \| A year later

Jan 19, 2005, 07:44 AM	#8
CDsDontBurn Lurking DriverHeaven Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 22,806 Rep Power: 235 System Specs	tell him to just do another clean install of windows. it is absolutely the best way to do it, especially if he doesn't want any major problems down the road. __________________ Her First Day \| A year later

Jan 18, 2005, 11:16 PM	#2
shadowfield DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 117 Rep Power: 0	hmmm, if he installed over home with pro, a good majority or even all of the files from home were probably just over written by pro copies. So basicaly, there shouldnt be anything of importance to remove i agree with reformat and starting scratch ^_^

Jan 19, 2005, 12:07 AM	#4
shadowfield DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 117 Rep Power: 0	in that case, i dont really think you can just uninstall the os, your going to have to delete it manualy..... i think so figure out which os owns which windows folder, and delete the home one then edit out the home entry in the BOOT.INI( located in system root but is hidden ) but then again, ive never been in a situation like that... and dont currently have time or a home cd to try so try what i said if you have no other choice... or trust my judgement and try anyways.

Jan 19, 2005, 07:37 AM	#7
PangingJr Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 5,989 Rep Power: 71	he will have to make a backup of whatever he needs on the system anyway, reformat/reinstall would be the best choice, i think. it can be done but the big problem i can think of would be how we can assist him to do it right, especially, when working together on another system remotely with someone who you don't know him at all, like something that he might do while you don't want him to do and you forgot to tell him.. take or pick a wrong steps when it's supposed to be last or first, we always forget something, well communication is a must.. another thing would be the Windows registry, some of them will be updated after one of the Windows been removed, but i'd say it's still will be full of references that would not get updated, never have this problem myself so can't really tell for sure. edit out the unwanted entry in the boot.ini is not a problem and can be done last.