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Un-Install WinXP

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by cyberghost_1

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I recently had a problem booting into WinXP, it wouldn?t let me repair the inst. so I installed another instance if XP choosing to install into C:\windows2. Now I have two installations of XP on my PC. How can I UNINSTALL ONE INSTALLATION, THE MORE RECENT ONE (WINDOWS2)? The origional inst. is the one I need and I already reapired it, so it works now, I no longer need the other inst. I can't edit the boot.ini file so only the origional inst. of XP loads. This is really afrfecting performance and space. I really would like to uninstall the XP I don't use.

9 replies

by rewrite

You can edit the boot.ini file by removing the hidden attribute. Don't know why you can't edit it just because it's hidden but that's the way ms made it. To remove your 2nd copy of xp I would rename the directory to win2 or something and run your system for a few days to make sure nothing is trying to access that copy. If everything works fine then just delete the directory.

Cheers.

RW

by p.j.hutchison

You can delete the unwanted windows2 directory (assuming you booted to the original one) and then modify boot.ini. To modify it, you need to
type:
attrib c:\boot.ini -s -h
Change it in notepad and reset it:
attrib c:\boot.ini +s +h

by cyberghost_1

I need to know the safest and easiest way to uninstall the second inst. of XP. The inst. that I am not going to use. How exactly do I go about editing the boot.ini file? How can I just uninstall the XP I don't want. Installed to C:\Windows2. Can't I just boot to the XP CD and remove it from there...i.e. the partition, second installation of XP, when it detects them from the installation process of the XP cd? ASAP Please

by sgt_shultz

so you are booting ok into your new installation? otherwise how do you know it works ok?

by cyberghost_1

yes I can boot into both installs of XP. The origional install is the one with all the programs and everything. The second install is a repaired version installed into c:\WINDOWS2. This one doesn't have anything oon it.

This is what I did and everything seems to work fine now...I opened boot.ini, and deleted the line stating the second OS. Now only the origional version of XP boots. Which is what I wanted. Next I sent the WINDOWS2 Folder to the recycle bin. I haven't emptied it out yet, is it OK to fully delete every trace of the second version? Since it was a clean install, and has no programs or anything of value?

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