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HELP! I Reformatted but Windows now Prompts Me to Choose 2 Windows XP Pro's on Start

post #1 of 11
5/18/05 at 12:49am
Thread Starter 
It asks me to choose an operating system and the choices are:

Windows XP Professional
Windows XP Professional

If I choose the first then it starts up normally, but If I choose the 2nd then it tries to load the old copy of windows on the non-existant partition.
How do I get my laptop to realize there isn't the 2nd copy of windows anymore?

Thanks!
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post #2 of 11
5/18/05 at 12:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Valkryst
It asks me to choose an operating system and the choices are:
Windows XP Professional
or
Windows XP Professional

If I choose the first then it starts up normally, but If I choose the 2nd then it tries to load the old copy of windows on the non-existant partition.

How do I get my laptop to realize there isn't the 2nd copy of windows anymore?
Start->Control Panel->System->Advanced(tab)->Startup and Recovery(click setings
Under System Startup click "Edit"

Mine looks like this

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Media Center Edition" /fastdetect



Remove the entry that points to the bad partition.
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post #3 of 11
5/18/05 at 12:54am
Re-reformat and delete all partitions
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post #4 of 11
5/18/05 at 1:01am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Re-reformat and delete all partitions
I did do that, and it still asks me which copy of windows I want to load...

Daddyof2girls, that sounds easy enough... but is there anyone else that has had this problem?
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post #5 of 11
5/18/05 at 1:05am
yeah, i'm just gonna use msconfig til something blows up and i'm forced to format. I'm too lazy to do otherwise.
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post #6 of 11
5/18/05 at 1:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Valkryst
I did do that, and it still asks me which copy of windows I want to load...

Daddyof2girls, that sounds easy enough... but is there anyone else that has had this problem?
When it shows you all partitions on the blue screen delete them all, then format. It will make the entire HD 1 partition (the whole hd itself) then reformat.
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post #7 of 11
5/18/05 at 1:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by halfchuck
yeah, i'm just gonna use msconfig til something blows up and i'm forced to format. I'm too lazy to do otherwise.
Slacker
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post #8 of 11
5/18/05 at 1:11am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
When it shows you all partitions on the blue screen delete them all, then format
I did do that, I only have 1 partition.... That's why it gives me an error when I try and select the 2nd copy of windows (it doesn't exist anymore on a partition I deleted)...

I'm just looking for an easy way to get rid of the prompt, because everything else is working fine
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post #9 of 11
5/18/05 at 1:24am
Follow DaddyOf2Girls' suggestion.

Or edit boot.ini in the root directory of your system drive.

Note that you'll have to remove the read-only and system attribute before you can actually save it.
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post #10 of 11
5/18/05 at 2:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Revenent
Follow DaddyOf2Girls' suggestion.

Or edit boot.ini in the root directory of your system drive.

Note that you'll have to remove the read-only and system attribute before you can actually save it.
Doing what i suggest or using start->run->msconfig both do the exact same thing. They allow you to edit the file c:\boot.ini

Windows always allows you more than one way to skin a cat.

The reason that you see two partitions is probabbly because after you repartitioned and formated you start the install and canceled and started again. Or you did not format. What ever the reason there was a residual c:\boot.ini file which already had one entry like
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect


Remove the bad entry that starts with "multi" and your off and running.
If there is only one entry you will not be prompted to choose.
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post #11 of 11
5/18/05 at 2:48am
Read the FAQ--last item on this page:
http://notebookforums.com/showpost.p...00&postcount=5
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