Duel Boot System

[Patrick]

Hi Again Folks

Still messing about with this new Laptop, those that read my previous posts will possibly remember I was attempting to set up a duel boot system with XP on one partition and Vista on another. Well it has proved to be less than stable and I have now given upon the idea, and will stick with it as XP.
This has all left me with a little problem, nothing serious but irritating.
I deleted and reformatted the partition containing Vista and merged it with what was the third partition containing data. The computer works fine, but every time I boot up it continues to ask if I want to go to either XP or Vista, how can I rid myself of this message?
I tried backing up all the data and reformatting this partition but I still get the request, perhaps there is still a folder or something within this data now it's been put back that is causing the problem.

Patrick

[Stephen]

Re: Duel Boot System

Hi Again Folks

Still messing about with this new Laptop, those that read my previous posts will possibly remember I was attempting to set up a duel boot system with XP on one partition and Vista on another. Well it has proved to be less than stable and I have now given upon the idea, and will stick with it as XP.
This has all left me with a little problem, nothing serious but irritating.
I deleted and reformatted the partition containing Vista and merged it with what was the third partition containing data. The computer works fine, but every time I boot up it continues to ask if I want to go to either XP or Vista, how can I rid myself of this message?
I tried backing up all the data and reformatting this partition but I still get the request, perhaps there is still a folder or something within this data now it's been put back that is causing the problem.

Patrick

Patrick, I installed Vista Beta on my D drive as part of a dual boot setup. As you know it created a startup screen giving the option to load Vista or the previous installation of XP on my C drive.

Now I have the same issue as you in that I can simply delete Vista Beta from the D drive but it will leave the startup screen which requires my input to move the cursor to the XP option. This means that you can't switch on and walk away as windows loads.

I have found this page http://vista-uninstall-bootloader.fr...native.uni.cc/ which I haven't as yet tried but seems to offer a solution

[Guest]

Re: Duel Boot System

I had a similar problem recently after installing Acronis Boot Manager. What these duel boot programs do is to alter you master boot record and in order to get back to normal to boot into only a single OS the master boot record needs to be reset. Roger (Rogleale) gave me good instructions on how to do this in a PM after I contacted him when I put a cry for help on the forum. I will see if I still have the PM with instuctions and if I find it I will post it here.

[Stephen]

Re: Duel Boot System

I had a similar problem recently after installing Acronis Boot Manager. What these duel boot programs do is to alter you master boot record and in order to get back to normal to boot into only a single OS the master boot record needs to be reset. Roger (Rogleale) gave me good instructions on how to do this in a PM after I contacted him when I put a cry for help on the forum. I will see if I still have the PM with instuctions and if I find it I will post it here.

Please do Dennis, or forward them to me in a PM

[Guest]

Re: Duel Boot System

Stephen - My problem was that I could not get my computer to boot at all which is not your problem but it is similar. I have just looked at the link which you gave and the second method which is outlined there, is exactly what I did, with the exception that I did not do the last instruction - 'fixboot'. The previous step 'fixmbr' then allowed me to boot up. I found that once in I used the Acronis Software to allow me to get rid of their boot loader completely. I would think that if you followed all the steps in part 2 shown in the link it would probably do the trick you require, although I cannot give any guarantees. ! Incidentally I was using Windows XP Home.

[Patrick]

Re: Duel Boot System

Patrick, I installed Vista Beta on my D drive as part of a dual boot setup. As you know it created a startup screen giving the option to load Vista or the previous installation of XP on my C drive.

Now I have the same issue as you in that I can simply delete Vista Beta from the D drive but it will leave the startup screen which requires my input to move the cursor to the XP option. This means that you can't switch on and walk away as windows loads.

I have found this page http://vista-uninstall-bootloader.fr...native.uni.cc/ which I haven't as yet tried but seems to offer a solution

[Patrick]

Re: Duel Boot System

Patrick, I installed Vista Beta on my D drive as part of a dual boot setup. As you know it created a startup screen giving the option to load Vista or the previous installation of XP on my C drive.

Now I have the same issue as you in that I can simply delete Vista Beta from the D drive but it will leave the startup screen which requires my input to move the cursor to the XP option. This means that you can't switch on and walk away as windows loads.

I have found this page http://vista-uninstall-bootloader.fr...native.uni.cc/ which I haven't as yet tried but seems to offer a solution

Hi again Stephen

Used option Two, the warnings are quite frightening but I just went ahead and risked it .

Did the trick.

Patrick

[Stephen]

Re: Duel Boot System

Never had any of those problems Patrick. TBH I never used the Vista Beta a great deal except to become familiar with it. I could never log on to my WiFi with it, yet a direct cable connection worked OK. I also was expecting the prog to time out ages ago, but it still seems to be working OK. Really I could do with the space freeing up so no want to get rid of it and the dual boot screen.

[Stephen]

Re: Duel Boot System

Hi again Stephen

Used option Two, the warnings are quite frightening but I just went ahead and risked it .

Did the trick.

Patrick

This is all good news, I may give it a go, thanks for the info

[Stephen]

Re: Duel Boot System

Just by way of an update I used option 1 from the site I linked to earlier and downloaded VistaBoot Pro. If I'd known it was so easy, I'd have done it much sooner With pretty much a couple of mouse clicks it deleted the dual boot option and my system now boots straight into XP, brilliant.

[bigbob]

Re: Duel Boot System

Has the bios been configured to dual boot , if it has then you need to disable the vista option .
But why would you prefer XP over Vista Patrick? .
I've 2 machines running Vista and they are both secure and very stable .(so far)

B..

[paul.r.w]

Re: Duel Boot System

Isn't it great Bill gets all you nice peeps to test out his latest software for him and charges you lots of money for the privilege!

[Stephen]

Re: Duel Boot System

Isn't it great Bill gets all you nice peeps to test out his latest software for him and charges you lots of money for the privilege!

Not sure what you mean Paul, I get a free trial beta version of Vista, the opportunity to offer feedback. It can only be good, and has been proven in the case of Adobe Lightroom with a product that is what photographers want.

I'd accept the point that most quality software is not cheap, but as yet I have not bought Vista, perhaps when I upgrade my PC/laptop it will come with it though

[Patrick]

Re: Duel Boot System

Has the bios been configured to dual boot , if it has then you need to disable the vista option .
But why would you prefer XP over Vista Patrick? .
I've 2 machines running Vista and they are both secure and very stable .(so far)

B..

[Patrick]

Re: Duel Boot System

Oh I forgot to mention, since upgrading I now have two Vista options at boot up, I cured it under XP but Vista doesn't install in the same way so how do I get rid of the second Vista option.
Download that utility Stephen suggested or is there another way.

Patrick