kAoS

Too cut a long story short I unintentionally copied the Windows XP setup files onto my hard drive that already has a copy of windows XP on it. Now when I turn my computer on it asks me whether I want to run Windows XP or Windows XP startup (or similar to that effect)...Anyone have a clue as to where these setup files are stored so I can remove them safely?

If yas need the whole story let me know...

dont do this but look into it.....i think....... fdisk /fixmbr ??????????? ring any bells peeps?



then just go find windowsses crap an delete it.



mbr=master boot record just fyi

way pain in da arse...

reformat and reinstall

or just live with the dual boot


=]

Cheers sirro, I had a look into it and from what I could get out of what the mbr actually is, it could possibly work as it rewrites the boot record which could return it to how it was booting earlier but I found loads of warnings and "Dont do if..." stuff so I dont really feel confident in performing it...and I dont wanna have to format and reinstall, so ill just live with it as it is for now.

It wouldnt bother me so much but it only gives me 4 seconds to select an option before it defaults to "Run Windows XP setup" and Im worried itll start rewrting stuff... =(

Thanks anyway guys =)

Sounds like you copied ur windows xp setup cd into the root or c:\ directory.

Just click "my computer", then "c:" and look for autorun.inf (110 bytes) and setup.exe (1.25 MB). Rename these 2 files to whatever you want and on reboot it should just boot as normal. You can then just delete the the 2 files.

If you want to you can then delete the xtra stuff you copied from the cd by comparing c: with the cd

Hey larz, cheers man Ill give that a go right now!!

=)

Oh well I couldnt find the files so it was a quick look =(

Heres what happened exactly;

We had this HDD in a 2nd computer that wouldnt let me install WindowsXP onto it even though it was a clean formatted HDD...itd let me install the setup files but when it loaded up the next part it gave me a blue screen telling me "Unamountable_boot_volume." So i just figured it was a problem with the HDD and didnt think about it for awhile. Then the other day I thought Id put the HDD into my computer and see if it could be recognised, which it did easily.

SOOO I thought if i could get WindowsXP installed onto it I could put it back into the other computer and have it run fine...which was all good and well in theory. So I put the XP CD into this computer and went install fresh copy of XP or whatever and it installed the setup files onto what I first thought was the 2nd HDD but turns out was the HDD im using at the moment.

So now it asks me how I want to boot everytime I turn the comptuer on, and when I forget about it and it defualts to Windows XP setup files it just brings up a an error screen saying its missing a .dll file (forget which one) and jsut sits there so its no risk of messing something, but its just a slight annoyance which ive come to live with for now =(

But thanks anyway mate

Hey no problemo

I think I understand your problem a little better now.

If you are still interested in fixing it:

1) Boot into Windows XP however you do it

2) Search your hard disk for "msconfig.exe" (it is 155kb and usually found in c:\windows somewhere or on the XP Setup CD - I can send it 2 you if you can't find it)

3) Double click "msconfig.exe". A new window will pop up and click on the "BOOT.INI" tab.

4) 2 boot options will probably be there - one for Windows XP (whatever you have, Professional or Home Edition) and another for XP Setup. Just disable the XP Setup boot option. When you reboot it should load up XP straight away.

or

from the start menu, hit RUN then in the input box that opens up type:

msconfig


and hit enter...

Coool larz youre spot on, Ive found what I need but Im not too sure what option I need to selet to disable it, thanks for the shortcut gammo.

This is what my Boot.ini screen looks like, and the options I have available;



And heres the advanced options I have;



I just thought Id check with you too see what I need to do to disable it without messing anything too critical up =)

just blow it all the fuck up man...

much more funz0r

Oh dont you worry, its crossed my mind a few times

format c:/q/s

Highlight the line (just single click it) that says"multi(0)disk(0)...XP /fastdetect" (under the [operating systems] heading) and click "set as default".

When you reboot, it should now just allow you to boot straight to XP without having to do anything.

If this does work for you, you can change the "timeout" to 0 or 1 second (in the msconfig boot.ini tab) and then you wont have to wait 5 seconds for XP to start loading. Just delete the stuff in the "timeout" box and put in 0 or 1.

Cheeers larz youre a champ!!

Much appreciated mate =)