I have a question about How do I uninstall Windows?:

Accidently installed a 2nd XP. At start up I have to choose between 2 os: "win XP home edition" or "Win XP home edition" Yes, 2 exactly the same Os' but the top one(at startup) is the one I accidently double installed and need to get rid off again... They're both on the same Partition since I only have one partition. How do I uninstall that one??

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

There are two things you can do here. first yoou can go to my computer properties click on the advanced tab. Under start up and recovery click settings. Under default operating system in the drop down list you should see two things highlight one of them and uncheck time to display list of operating systems: click ok Or double click on your c drive look for the windows folder if you see two the delete one of them.........


On Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 9:05 am, Baze wrote:
>I have a question about How
>do I uninstall Windows?:

>
>Accidently installed a 2nd XP.
>
>At start up I have to choose between 2 os:
>"win XP home edition" or "Win XP home edition"
>
>Yes, 2 exactly the same Os' but the top one(at startup) is the one I accidently double
>installed and need to get rid off again...
>They're both on the same Partition since I only have one partition. How do I uninstall
>that one??
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I give up - how does one "accidently" install XP? At any rate, are you sure it is actually on there twice? You would have had a different folder name for the second install. Otherwise, it could be a boot.ini setting. The boot.ini is a file under C: that has boot info and menus. It is read-only, but you can change that in order to edit it. If you open it (double-clicking will do) you can read the entries. Leave the top entries alone and look at the entries under [Operating Systems]. There are probably two exact entries, one above the other. If this is so, you can delete one of them (the one that shows a different name than the original folder for the OS in the "multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT" line where the second OS will be different than WINNT) and should be in good shape. But BEFORE you edit the file, make a boot disk. Format a floppy on your system and copy the following files from C: boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect.com onto the floppy. Then, CHECK the floppy by leaving it in and rebooting. If it gets accessed during the early stages, then the machine boots normally, you have a good boot disk. Now you can edit the boot.ini file and check it out. If the machine doesn't boot, you can use the boot disk to get it booted, then copy the boot.ini from the disk onto the drive again and try editing again. If this works, you should be able to delete the folder structure for the extra OS (the non-WINNT directory line). If this all sounds confusing, find a friend who is more familiar to help.


On Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 9:05 am, Baze wrote:
>I have a question about How
>do I uninstall Windows?:

>
>Accidently installed a 2nd XP.
>
>At start up I have to choose between 2 os:
>"win XP home edition" or "Win XP home edition"
>
>Yes, 2 exactly the same Os' but the top one(at startup) is the one I accidently double
>installed and need to get rid off again...
>They're both on the same Partition since I only have one partition. How do I uninstall
>that one??
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

You can "accidentally" install the os a second time. I did an upograde of xp home to xp professional. At startup, I opted for upgrade. Several times during the installation, windows will reboot and ask if you want to boot from cd; unfortunately, I hit the key, which now forces a new installation. I did not realize that I had just started a new installation and did not cancel setup when asked because I thought I was still installing the upgrade. So now I have an upgrade of win xp pro and a clean install of win xp pro on the same partition. The question is how do you remove the clean install and leave the upgrade w/o reformatting the 'c' drive ?


On Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 9:55 am, Bobby B wrote:
>I give up - how does one "accidently" install XP?
>At any rate, are you sure it is actually on there twice? You would have had a different
>folder name for the second install. Otherwise, it could be a boot.ini setting.
>The boot.ini is a file under C: that has boot info and menus. It is read-only, but
>you can change that in order to edit it. If you open it (double-clicking will do)
>you can read the entries. Leave the top entries alone and look at the entries under
>[Operating Systems].
>There are probably two exact entries, one above the other. If this is so, you can
>delete one of them (the one that shows a different name than the original folder
>for the OS in the "multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT" line where the second
>OS will be different than WINNT) and should be in good shape. But BEFORE you edit
>the file, make a boot disk. Format a floppy on your system and copy the following
>files from C: boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect.com onto the floppy. Then, CHECK the
>floppy by leaving it in and rebooting. If it gets accessed during the early stages,
>then the machine boots normally, you have a good boot disk. Now you can edit the
>boot.ini file and check it out. If the machine doesn't boot, you can use the boot
>disk to get it booted, then copy the boot.ini from the disk onto the drive again
>and try editing again.
>If this works, you should be able to delete the folder structure for the extra OS
>(the non-WINNT directory line).
>
>If this all sounds confusing, find a friend who is more familiar to help.
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I'm with you Michele, I did the exact same thing, I, like you I suspect just want to try and remove the '2nd' accidental XP, that is sitting on a drive on top of files I would like but do not need. If it can be removed either remotely or not fine, please share with us your secrets. If not then reformat and be done with it. So that's how you accidently'double install' xp now tell us if we can take the second one out or not....?


On Thursday, September 5, 2002 at 8:32 pm, michele wrote:
>You can "accidentally" install the os a second time. I did an upograde of xp home
>to xp professional. At startup, I opted for upgrade. Several times during the installation,
>windows will reboot and ask if you want to boot from cd; unfortunately, I hit the
>key, which now forces a new installation. I did not realize that I had just started
>a new installation and did not cancel setup when asked because I thought I was still
>installing the upgrade. So now I have an upgrade of win xp pro and a clean install
>of win xp pro on the same partition. The question is how do you remove the clean
>install and leave the upgrade w/o reformatting the 'c' drive ?
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

All the information I found simply gave you instructions on how to prevent you fromhaving windows ask you which os to start when booting. I, fortunately, already had a formated 2nd hard drive, so I basically installed the OS on the second drive and reformatted the first drive that had the two copies.


On Thursday, October 3, 2002 at 11:03 am, Stevebri wrote:
>I'm with you Michele, I did the exact same thing, I, like you I suspect just want
>to try and remove the '2nd' accidental XP, that is sitting on a drive on top of files
>I would like but do not need. If it can be removed either remotely or not fine,
>please share with us your secrets. If not then reformat and be done with it.
>
>So that's how you accidently'double install' xp now tell us if we can take the second
>one out or not....?
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

In Windows XP...go to Control Panel...then Click System...then Advanced. Under "Startup and Recovery" (bottom), select "Settings". Then Select "EDIT". For SAFETY...PRINT THIS PAGE. However, look at DEFAULT Line. It might read "Windows" at the end or possibly WINNT and this word will be listed in one of the two lines below after the (1). Whichever you have...switch to the opposite one and your computer will "default to that setting". You won't ERASE the second OS, but you can get around it SAFELY. In addition you can reduce the time your computer takes to THINK about WHICH operating system, by editing the "Time to display list of operating systems" from it's 30 second default. I had the same problem and set mine to 4 seconds. I reboot without a hitch and into the CORRECT OS. Good luck and "Save" often. :)


On Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 9:05 am, Baze wrote:
>I have a question about How
>do I uninstall Windows?:

>
>Accidently installed a 2nd XP.
>
>At start up I have to choose between 2 os:
>"win XP home edition" or "Win XP home edition"
>
>Yes, 2 exactly the same Os' but the top one(at startup) is the one I accidently double
>installed and need to get rid off again...
>They're both on the same Partition since I only have one partition. How do I uninstall
>that one??
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

i have the same problem except mine are on both partitions, and regarding the second post, the boot.ini does not exist in windows xp, only in 2000 and nt i think


On Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 9:05 am, Baze wrote:
>I have a question about How
>do I uninstall Windows?:

>
>Accidently installed a 2nd XP.
>
>At start up I have to choose between 2 os:
>"win XP home edition" or "Win XP home edition"
>
>Yes, 2 exactly the same Os' but the top one(at startup) is the one I accidently double
>installed and need to get rid off again...
>They're both on the same Partition since I only have one partition. How do I uninstall
>that one??
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Go to SYSTEM in the control panel, click on ADVANCED, click the 3rd SETTINGS button, and if you choose to edit startup options manualy, windows xp actually gives you access to the otherwise not found boot.ini. Now you can delete the unwanted os line and delete the second windows folder as you would wish. I am soooo good, :D, am I not?


On Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 9:05 am, Baze wrote:
>I have a question about How
>do I uninstall Windows?:

>
>Accidently installed a 2nd XP.
>
>At start up I have to choose between 2 os:
>"win XP home edition" or "Win XP home edition"
>
>Yes, 2 exactly the same Os' but the top one(at startup) is the one I accidently double
>installed and need to get rid off again...
>They're both on the same Partition since I only have one partition. How do I uninstall
>that one??
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Go to SYSTEM in the control panel, click on ADVANCED, click the 3rd SETTINGS button, and if you choose to edit startup options manualy, windows xp actually gives you access to the otherwise not found boot.ini. Now you can delete the unwanted os line and delete the second windows folder as you would wish. I am soooo good, :D, am I not? You should all invite me to dinner LOL.


On Friday, October 4, 2002 at 7:15 am, michele wrote:
>All the information I found simply gave you instructions on how to prevent you fromhaving
>windows ask you which os to start when booting. I, fortunately, already had a formated
>2nd hard drive, so I basically installed the OS on the second drive and reformatted
>the first drive that had the two copies.
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Found this out with my customer, should have been a DUH! Make sure you're not in the install you're trying to delete. I am so blonde sometimes. Amy


On Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 9:53 am, Johnny wrote:
>There are two things you can do here. first yoou can go to my computer properties
>click on the advanced tab. Under start up and recovery click settings. Under default
>operating system in the drop down list you should see two things highlight one of
>them and uncheck time to display list of operating systems:
>click ok
>Or double click on your c drive look for the windows folder if you see two the delete
>one of them.........
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Please reply


On Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 9:05 am, Baze wrote:
>I have a question about How
>do I uninstall Windows?:

>
>Accidently installed a 2nd XP.
>
>At start up I have to choose between 2 os:
>"win XP home edition" or "Win XP home edition"
>
>Yes, 2 exactly the same Os' but the top one(at startup) is the one I accidently double
>installed and need to get rid off again...
>They're both on the same Partition since I only have one partition. How do I uninstall
>that one??
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Thanks for that info. I myself installed windows millenium and then could not get rid of it when i went back to xp and your helpful answer did it for me! I owe you dinner too!! :) And look, even down the line in August your comments helped someone out. hehe.:)


On Friday, January 3, 2003 at 5:58 pm, Divine_messiah wrote:
>Go to SYSTEM in the control panel, click on ADVANCED, click the 3rd SETTINGS button,
>and if you choose to edit startup options manualy, windows xp actually gives you
>access to the otherwise not found boot.ini. Now you can delete the unwanted os line
>and delete the second windows folder as you would wish.
>
>I am soooo good, :D, am I not?
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Well everyone, all of your help was good for one thing onlly and that was not having the second Windows XP show up when your system is booting. However, it doesn't solve the problem of removing that OS system from your hard drive. It's still there; it didn't disappear. I want to know how to uninstall it and not just get rid of it when my system boots up. And by the way, I checked upgrade too (Home to Prof) and it still put it in separately.


On Thursday, July 3, 2003 at 9:10 pm, Robert McLeod wrote:
>Please reply
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I agree with you, all this help is not that helpfull because it simply hides the problem. I acually want to delete one of the operating systems. If anyone accualy has any idea on how to do that, please reply. Thank you very much for your time


On Saturday, October 25, 2003 at 10:01 am, flygal911 wrote:
>Well everyone, all of your help was good for one thing onlly and that was not having
>the second Windows XP show up when your system is booting. However, it doesn't solve
>the problem of removing that OS system from your hard drive. It's still there; it
>didn't disappear. I want to know how to uninstall it and not just get rid of it
>when my system boots up. And by the way, I checked upgrade too (Home to Prof) and
>it still put it in separately.
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

ugh -- I just did the same thing (tried to reinstall xp, but somehow installed a second copy on my second drive.) if anyone knows how to uninstall, please let us know (tho I may just reformat the second drive.)


On Sunday, December 28, 2003 at 11:49 pm, Lionel Barbier wrote:
>I agree with you, all this help is not that helpfull because it simply hides the
>problem. I acually want to delete one of the operating systems. If anyone accualy
>has any idea on how to do that, please reply. Thank you very much for your time
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Bump
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Just a quick note on deleting the boot.ini entry.  It can also be accessed by clicking 
start/run/"msconfig"/boot.ini/check all boot paths/.

This will save you the trouble of figuring out which one to delete and possibly messing 
up.  It does it for you.

Thanks,
Luc







On Tuesday, February 17, 2004 at 10:10 am, Uri wrote:

>

>Bump

>>
 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Hello All, I to have two copies of XP on the same hard drive but I used the information her to get it to boot to the correct version then I just deleted the copy I did not need. So far it seems to work. I installed the second copy of XP in a folder Windows2 so after I got Windows working well I edited the boot.ini, changed the default order in the msconfig from and got the my system to boot from the copy I wanted. I hope this helps


On Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 9:05 am, Baze wrote:
>I have a question about How
>do I uninstall Windows?:

>
>Accidently installed a 2nd XP.
>
>At start up I have to choose between 2 os:
>"win XP home edition" or "Win XP home edition"
>
>Yes, 2 exactly the same Os' but the top one(at startup) is the one I accidently double
>installed and need to get rid off again...
>They're both on the same Partition since I only have one partition. How do I uninstall
>that one??
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I have installed two windows xp pros on two different partitions&I need to remove one.To say it briefly I cannot even format any drive


On Friday, January 3, 2003 at 5:58 pm, Divine_messiah wrote:
>Go to SYSTEM in the control panel, click on ADVANCED, click the 3rd SETTINGS button,
>and if you choose to edit startup options manualy, windows xp actually gives you
>access to the otherwise not found boot.ini. Now you can delete the unwanted os line
>and delete the second windows folder as you would wish.
>
>I am soooo good, :D, am I not?
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Can you run two bootable hardrives separately each with their own operating system? I was wondering this so I could not be shut down should a hardrive fry.


On Thursday, January 29, 2004 at 10:45 pm, andy deemer wrote:
>ugh -- I just did the same thing (tried to reinstall xp, but somehow installed a
>second copy on my second drive.) if anyone knows how to uninstall, please let us
>know (tho I may just reformat the second drive.)
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Right-click on the folder you want to delete (it was C:\WINNT for me), and select 
'properties'.

Uncheck "Read-only".

Click 'Apply'.

Select 'Apply changes to this folder, subfolders and files' and click 'Okay'.

After that, you can go into the WINNT folder and manually delete items.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I did the same thing. My system crashed and I tried to reinstall xp pro, it said something to the effet that it would overwright all files and you may not be able to your old stuff. so apperently it installed it again beside the origanal. I believe one is in windows folder and other is in winnt. Thanks for keeping such old archives. Four years later still useful.


On Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 9:55 am, Bob B wrote:
>I give up - how does one "accidently" install XP?
>At any rate, are you sure it is actually on there twice?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I found the following when doing a files search windows windows.1 windows.2 windows.3 windows.4 can i delete the ones with 1,2,3,4 at the end?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

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