Removing Dual-Boot

[Randy]

Ok I have two HD's dual-boot WinME and XP. I want to removing the one with
WinME on it (C drive) no more dual-boot, just XP and make my (d) drive with
XP on it the (c) drive. I'm also installing a new 80g drive. What I want to
know is can I just move the XP drive where the WinMe drive was set the drive
jumpers and boot from the XP CD and run the XP repair then install all the
XP updates and all will be fine or will I have to just install XP again from
the beginning after I move everything where I want it. In other words, Will
XP boot if it is made the boot drive after removing the dual-boot.

Thanks
Randy
P.S. I'm off the next few days so I want to get it done soon.

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

To resolve your dilemma, perform a "clean install" correctly:


The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral hardware
devices, except the monitor, mouse and keyboard, before installing XP.

NOTE: If you have an internal Zip Drive installed, physically disconnect the
EIDE and power cable to it before proceeding, otherwise your main
hard drive may not be assigned the customary C: drive letter.
After installing Windows XP, you may then reconnect it.

1. Open your BIOS and set your "CD Drive as the first bootable device".

===> Accessing Motherboard BIOS
===> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete all the existing
Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the primary
partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.

5. Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. ==> Immediately after installing Windows XP, turn on XP's Firewall.
==> http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

7. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
and download the available "Critical Updates".

8. After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support website
of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any
available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter
and audio drivers.

9. If you happen to run into any installation difficulties, use the following resources:

How to Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310064

Troubleshooting Windows XP Setup
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Kelly Theriot]

Note: If you are unable to activate Windows XP again via the internet,
then select the option to "activate by telephone".

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Randy" > wrote in message:
...

| Ok I have two HD's dual-boot WinME and XP. I want to removing the one with
| WinME on it (C drive) no more dual-boot, just XP and make my (d) drive with
| XP on it the (c) drive. I'm also installing a new 80g drive. What I want to
| know is can I just move the XP drive where the WinMe drive was set the drive
| jumpers and boot from the XP CD and run the XP repair then install all the
| XP updates and all will be fine or will I have to just install XP again from
| the beginning after I move everything where I want it. In other words, Will
| XP boot if it is made the boot drive after removing the dual-boot.
|
| Thanks
| Randy
| P.S. I'm off the next few days so I want to get it done soon.
|
|

[Jim]

Not quite that simple, in the end, it will easier to follow Carey's advice
and reinstall.

The problem is the MS boot loader, it can't hide partitions (which is why
many of us use third party boot managers!, like BootIt NG or XOSL, removal
of an OS with *these* boot managers is trivial).

Like I said, the MS boot loader can't hide partitions, so it's only choice
is to install subsequent OS's using D; E:, etc. , introducing a drive letter
dependency, and keeping the boot files always on the C: partition. Yeah,
the MS boot loader *seems* acceptable, OK, maybe even a bargain when you
*install*, it's when you want to UNinstall that you pay the price and all
the crapola starts.

So now XP has two dependencies, the D: drive letter assignment and the boot
files location. Attempting to change the D: drive letter dependency, if
even doable (have serious doubts Repair will work), is a scary prospect, not
easily done. Your registry (and god knows whatever else is NOT using the
registry) has D: specifications all over the place. You can't just move the
partition around and magically have it all run under C:. If you don't want
to reinstall, the only safe, easy thing to do is remove the reference to
WinME in boot.ini. Then use the C: partition for data, being careful to not
muck with the boot files any further. Or simply change the boot menu
timeout to 0 secs, same effect, as long as XP remains the default).

It's either that or start over. In the future, I recommend installing
BootIt NG, XOSL, Boot Magic, whatever your preference, to avoid this
problem. Unfortunately, MS happily leads you down this path, never telling
you it's, for all practical purposes, a one-way journey. Eventually, for
many people like yourself, they will only come to realize this "trap" once
they want to UNINSTALL or otherwise muck with partitions/HDs (move, delete,
whatever). Too bad this lesson always has to be learned the hard way.

HTH

Jim


"Randy" > wrote in message
...
> Ok I have two HD's dual-boot WinME and XP. I want to removing the one with
> WinME on it (C drive) no more dual-boot, just XP and make my (d) drive
with
> XP on it the (c) drive. I'm also installing a new 80g drive. What I want
to
> know is can I just move the XP drive where the WinMe drive was set the
drive
> jumpers and boot from the XP CD and run the XP repair then install all the
> XP updates and all will be fine or will I have to just install XP again
from
> the beginning after I move everything where I want it. In other words,
Will
> XP boot if it is made the boot drive after removing the dual-boot.
>
> Thanks
> Randy
> P.S. I'm off the next few days so I want to get it done soon.
>
>

[Jim]

Not quite that simple, in the end, it will easier to follow Carey's advice
and reinstall.

The problem is the MS boot loader, it can't hide partitions (which is why
many of us use third party boot managers!, like BootIt NG or XOSL, removal
of an OS with *these* boot managers is trivial).

Like I said, the MS boot loader can't hide partitions, so it's only choice
is to install subsequent OS's using D; E:, etc. , introducing a drive letter
dependency, and keeping the boot files always on the C: partition. Yeah,
the MS boot loader *seems* acceptable, OK, maybe even a bargain when you
*install*, it's when you want to UNinstall that you pay the price and all
the crapola starts.

So now XP has two dependencies, the D: drive letter assignment and the boot
files location. Attempting to change the D: drive letter dependency, if
even doable (have serious doubts Repair will work), is a scary prospect, not
easily done. Your registry (and god knows whatever else is NOT using the
registry) has D: specifications all over the place. You can't just move the
partition around and magically have it all run under C:. If you don't want
to reinstall, the only safe, easy thing to do is remove the reference to
WinME in boot.ini. Then use the C: partition for data, being careful to not
muck with the boot files any further. Or simply change the boot menu
timeout to 0 secs, same effect, as long as XP remains the default).

It's either that or start over. In the future, I recommend installing
BootIt NG, XOSL, Boot Magic, whatever your preference, to avoid this
problem. Unfortunately, MS happily leads you down this path, never telling
you it's, for all practical purposes, a one-way journey. Eventually, for
many people like yourself, they will only come to realize this "trap" once
they want to UNINSTALL or otherwise muck with partitions/HDs (move, delete,
whatever). Too bad this lesson always has to be learned the hard way.

HTH

Jim


"Randy" > wrote in message
...
> Ok I have two HD's dual-boot WinME and XP. I want to removing the one with
> WinME on it (C drive) no more dual-boot, just XP and make my (d) drive
with
> XP on it the (c) drive. I'm also installing a new 80g drive. What I want
to
> know is can I just move the XP drive where the WinMe drive was set the
drive
> jumpers and boot from the XP CD and run the XP repair then install all the
> XP updates and all will be fine or will I have to just install XP again
from
> the beginning after I move everything where I want it. In other words,
Will
> XP boot if it is made the boot drive after removing the dual-boot.
>
> Thanks
> Randy
> P.S. I'm off the next few days so I want to get it done soon.
>
>

[Jim]

Not quite that simple, in the end, it will easier to follow Carey's advice
and reinstall.

The problem is the MS boot loader, it can't hide partitions (which is why
many of us use third party boot managers!, like BootIt NG or XOSL, removal
of an OS with *these* boot managers is trivial).

Like I said, the MS boot loader can't hide partitions, so it's only choice
is to install subsequent OS's using D; E:, etc. , introducing a drive letter
dependency, and keeping the boot files always on the C: partition. Yeah,
the MS boot loader *seems* acceptable, OK, maybe even a bargain when you
*install*, it's when you want to UNinstall that you pay the price and all
the crapola starts.

So now XP has two dependencies, the D: drive letter assignment and the boot
files location. Attempting to change the D: drive letter dependency, if
even doable (have serious doubts Repair will work), is a scary prospect, not
easily done. Your registry (and god knows whatever else is NOT using the
registry) has D: specifications all over the place. You can't just move the
partition around and magically have it all run under C:. If you don't want
to reinstall, the only safe, easy thing to do is remove the reference to
WinME in boot.ini. Then use the C: partition for data, being careful to not
muck with the boot files any further. Or simply change the boot menu
timeout to 0 secs, same effect, as long as XP remains the default).

It's either that or start over. In the future, I recommend installing
BootIt NG, XOSL, Boot Magic, whatever your preference, to avoid this
problem. Unfortunately, MS happily leads you down this path, never telling
you it's, for all practical purposes, a one-way journey. Eventually, for
many people like yourself, they will only come to realize this "trap" once
they want to UNINSTALL or otherwise muck with partitions/HDs (move, delete,
whatever). Too bad this lesson always has to be learned the hard way.

HTH

Jim


"Randy" > wrote in message
...
> Ok I have two HD's dual-boot WinME and XP. I want to removing the one with
> WinME on it (C drive) no more dual-boot, just XP and make my (d) drive
with
> XP on it the (c) drive. I'm also installing a new 80g drive. What I want
to
> know is can I just move the XP drive where the WinMe drive was set the
drive
> jumpers and boot from the XP CD and run the XP repair then install all the
> XP updates and all will be fine or will I have to just install XP again
from
> the beginning after I move everything where I want it. In other words,
Will
> XP boot if it is made the boot drive after removing the dual-boot.
>
> Thanks
> Randy
> P.S. I'm off the next few days so I want to get it done soon.
>
>

[Jim]

Not quite that simple, in the end, it will easier to follow Carey's advice
and reinstall.

The problem is the MS boot loader, it can't hide partitions (which is why
many of us use third party boot managers!, like BootIt NG or XOSL, removal
of an OS with *these* boot managers is trivial).

Like I said, the MS boot loader can't hide partitions, so it's only choice
is to install subsequent OS's using D; E:, etc. , introducing a drive letter
dependency, and keeping the boot files always on the C: partition. Yeah,
the MS boot loader *seems* acceptable, OK, maybe even a bargain when you
*install*, it's when you want to UNinstall that you pay the price and all
the crapola starts.

So now XP has two dependencies, the D: drive letter assignment and the boot
files location. Attempting to change the D: drive letter dependency, if
even doable (have serious doubts Repair will work), is a scary prospect, not
easily done. Your registry (and god knows whatever else is NOT using the
registry) has D: specifications all over the place. You can't just move the
partition around and magically have it all run under C:. If you don't want
to reinstall, the only safe, easy thing to do is remove the reference to
WinME in boot.ini. Then use the C: partition for data, being careful to not
muck with the boot files any further. Or simply change the boot menu
timeout to 0 secs, same effect, as long as XP remains the default).

It's either that or start over. In the future, I recommend installing
BootIt NG, XOSL, Boot Magic, whatever your preference, to avoid this
problem. Unfortunately, MS happily leads you down this path, never telling
you it's, for all practical purposes, a one-way journey. Eventually, for
many people like yourself, they will only come to realize this "trap" once
they want to UNINSTALL or otherwise muck with partitions/HDs (move, delete,
whatever). Too bad this lesson always has to be learned the hard way.

HTH

Jim


"Randy" > wrote in message
...
> Ok I have two HD's dual-boot WinME and XP. I want to removing the one with
> WinME on it (C drive) no more dual-boot, just XP and make my (d) drive
with
> XP on it the (c) drive. I'm also installing a new 80g drive. What I want
to
> know is can I just move the XP drive where the WinMe drive was set the
drive
> jumpers and boot from the XP CD and run the XP repair then install all the
> XP updates and all will be fine or will I have to just install XP again
from
> the beginning after I move everything where I want it. In other words,
Will
> XP boot if it is made the boot drive after removing the dual-boot.
>
> Thanks
> Randy
> P.S. I'm off the next few days so I want to get it done soon.
>
>