I used to have the Windows 7 RC on one partition to test it out as well as XP on my main partition until I decided to nix the Win 7 RC since I installed real Windows 7 on my desktop and XP is working just fine for my laptop, but apparently I'm not aware of the process used to uninstall an operating system. I figured if I just formatted the whole partition it'd go away but it still asks me if I want to boot from Windows 7 or "Previous version of Windows", and if I don't choose in 30 seconds it annoyingly defaults to Windows 7 and throws an error because I formatted it D:
I'm hoping there's just a quick fix for this, I'm just not entirely sure what it is. I assume I just need to be told where it stores the list of installed operating systems to choose from and remove "Windows 7" from the list, or something similar to that.
ID:181767
 Sep 21 2009, 11:18 am
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Sep 21 2009, 11:48 am
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Kuraudo
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Have you tried deleting the partition?
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You should be able to change those settings by modifying boot.ini. Its invisible, so make sure hidden files are shown to find it.
You can also edit boot.ini through: Right click My Computer - > Properties -> Advanced -> Startup and Recovery Settings -> Edit Probably looks something like this: [boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows 7" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect Just nix the line that says Windows 7. | |
Well now this makes no sense; I found Boot.ini but this is all it has:
;Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems. ;Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options. [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" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT No Windows 7 line... I also tried searching for that "BCDEDIT.exe" (including hidden files) since 7 looks a lot like Vista but it couldn't find it. It looks a lot like this isn't being used, because it seems like this should default to XP. | |
What bootloader are you using?
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I do not know what a bootloader is... *shruggles*
Do you mean that thing I pasted? I assume that's what's used. EDIT: Okay, I've fixed it. First I made a folder named "OH GOD GET DOWN." There is no reason why I named it this. Then I threw in the hidden folder "Boot" and the hidden file "Bootmgr" and rebooted, and it took right off into XP. I shall now delete that folder and assume my laptop will work tomorrow. Another EDIT: These files are proving harder to delete than expected ("Disc full/write-protected/in use" error). Any ideas? D: I suppose I can just keep the folder on my hard drive until my next format; it's just 14MB. | |
The problem is the boot settings came from the Win7 partition. I'm guessing that Windows just copy's all that data into the boot sectors of the hdd. I recommend running "fixmbr" from cmd in XP. Even though it is working right now, I'm not convinced this wont cause issues in the future.
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"fixmbr" does not seem to work; I tried it in a couple different folders in the command prompt and also in Run but it claims there's no such file/command.
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It should be an OS level command. It might not be in Windows by default, but only on the recovery CD. If you have XP CDs that aren't horrible manufacturer broken ones, you can go to the recovery console from the CD and run that command.
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Danial.Beta wrote:
It should be an OS level command. It might not be in Windows by default, but only on the recovery CD. If you have XP CDs that aren't horrible manufacturer broken ones, you can go to the recovery console from the CD and run that command. Aye, it is only available from the recovery console. | |