2 Operating Systems In Win Xp Pro ?

[luckydog]

Hi, This one mystifies me .... When I turn on my computer and it boots up, a black screen appears which askes me to choose which operating system to choose but the strange thing is they are both WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL ! If I do not make a selection the screen shows a countdown from 5 seconds and then starts as normal. Do I have 2 operatings systems on the computer or is it nothing to worry about ? ANY help or comments would be much appreciated.

Yours in anticipation, Luckydog (Dave)

[pyromonkey]

in order to help... i need a bit more info... is your harddrive partitioned?

[Jg427]

The option to choose o.s. is turned on. To turn it off go to start > control panel > system >advanced... on start up and recovery click settings, choose the right o.s. in the drop down box then uncheck the box "time to display list of operating systems"

[Jg427]

Originally posted by balamm@20 April 2003 - 21:56
It's an uncompleted second install often used as a repair step. The second boot should have been edited out after the repair( or a messed up first install).

boot.ini messed up

Yes, If you did a second install or repair. I did not but still had the option to choose untill I turned it off, even with only one o.s.

[Livy]

[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect

this is what my boot.ini looks like, if you only got one os it should look like that, just change home to corporate and ya should be ok.

edit: my hardrive isnt partioned. and windows is on my c: drive in the windows folder.

[Jg427]

[boot loader]
timeout=0
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect
C:\ = "Microsoft Windows" [list]With only one o.s. does that last line belong there? Under choose default o.s. to start it has "microsoft windows" listed along with XP Home. @ Livy do you need a timeout of 3 with one o.s. Aren't you just adding 3 seconds to boot up? [list]
Edit :typo

[Somebody1234]

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

----------------
This is the default boot.ini for Windows XP Professional or Corporate Edition.

[Jg427]

O.K. I edited out the line C:\ = "Microsoft Windows" and now only one listing under choose default o.s. The "choose time to display list of operating systems" is no longer active even if checked. I'm still not sure it would be a good idea for some to modify the boot.ini file , safer to uncheck the box.[/list]
@Livy I see, timeout is not active with only one default o.s. listed.

[Jg427]

I am on XP Home, it does have disk management. It shows only one disk and only one primary partition. This hard drive has never had but one clean install of XP so I don't know where the phantom OS. choice came from. It never has been a real problem but I edited it out anyway.[list] Thanks for your responses balamm, this is why computers are fun, I learn something new every time.

[luckydog]

Hey Guys, Cannot believe the response to my problem ..... many, many thanks to you all. I will look at each one and will let you know how I get on - I am confident that a cure will be there !

Thanks again, Luckydog (Dave)