How Do I Remove A Second Installation Of XP From The same Partition

Having a second copy of Windows XP on the same partition is not particularly desirable, as it is possible that the second installation may conflict with the first. If it is imperative that you have two copies of XP on your PC (and be aware that you will require a separate license for each installed copy of XP on your PC) you should consider creating a dual boot system by installing the second copy of XP on a separate partition or hard drive. If, however, you are in the position of having two installations on the same partition, here is how to remove the surplus copy. 1/ Boot Up your PC 2/ At the boot menu select the Windows copy you intend keeping. At this point it would be wise to make a note of whether the copy you intend keeping is listed first or second on the boot menu. You will need this information when you finally come to edit the boot.ini file to remove the reference to the second (unwanted) copy of XP 3/ Once XP has booted to the desktop, click Start>All Programs>Accessories>Command Prompt 4/ At the command prompt type: echo %windir% and press Enter. This will provide you with the information regarding the current Windows folder you are accessing 5/ Next open Windows Explorer and click the Plus sign (+) next to My Computer 6/ Navigate to the C: drive and delete the folder containing the XP installation you want to remove. Check carefully that you have the correct folder before highlighting the folder for deletion. The original installation will be in the Windows folder. Additional installations may have names such as Windows1, Winnt, or you may have even used a name of your own for the installation, such as WindowsInstall. 7/ After deleting the 'correct' windows folder you will need to remove the Windows entry from the Boot.ini file. To do this click Start>Control Panel>System 8/ In System properties click the Advanced tab and press the Settings button in the Startup and recovery section 9/ In the Startup and Recovery settings window click the Edit button 10/ The boot ini file will now open in Windows Notepad 11/ before proceeding click File and then Save As 12/ Now rename the boot ini file to boot.inibak This is just as a precaution 13/ Now take a look at the boot ini file. It will have two entries for Windows XP 14/ Remove the line which refers to the Windows installation you have just removed. You were asked in step 2 of this tutorial to make a note of the position - first or second - of the installation you booted to. If you booted to the first option on the boot menu you will need to remove the second line. If you booted to the second option on the menu you will need to remove the first line. 15/ After you have removed the line referencing the installation you deleted look at the top of the menu for an entry marked Set Timeout=. Change the timeout figure (usually 30 seconds) to 0 (zero). This will enable the PC to boot directly into Windows without any time delay. 16/ Now click File>Save As 17/ Save the file as Boot.ini 18/ After the file has been saved Exit Notepad 19/ Finally reboot your PC and you should boot straight to the XP desktop.