I had a very bad virus problem, which entirely locked up my computer.  To clean it, I finally installed xp pro on my computer.  The computer was a Dell, which came with xp home edition installed. 

Because of the virus, the computer would not recognize the mouse or keyboard, and would not allow recover to run.  I finally installed the xp pro and was able to run anti-virus programs and clean the computer. 

Now when I start up, I have to choose which operating system to boot to, and the default is xp pro.  I want the default to be xp home, but have not been able to get it to change. 

The xp pro was installed in its own directory, WINDOW, instead of windows.  Of course, since no other programs were installed under it, it does not recognize the programs I had under xp home, hence the reason I want to set home as the default and delete pro.

Both copies are on C:\ drive, just in different directories.  I tried to rename the WINDOW directory to see if it would then boot to pro, but then got an error message the path to a file was not valid.  I did this prior to erasing the directory as a test. 

XP pro is not listed in the uninstall menu, and I tried to go to the command prompt, move to the window\system32 directory, and manually run osuninst.exe but it would not allow this.

Can anybody help me get this extra program off WITHOUT reformatting the drive?  Or at lease is there a way to change the default order so it will automatically boot to the home edition?

thanks

Edit the boot.ini by unchecking "read only" and
open it with notepad.. preferably, just go to Start >
Run > and type "notepad C:\boot.ini".

Remove any lines that say the operating system you
DON'T want.. like if you want to remove XP Home edition..
remove the line(s) that have XP Home in them..

Note: It might not say Windows XP home.. so remove the line
that points to the directory you don't want to boot up..

An alternative is to create a line under [boot loader]
named "Default=" and copy the XP Pro's (or XP Home's)
line under [operating systems] and paste it into "Default="

like this:

[boot loader]
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(0)\WINDOW

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(0)\WINDOW="Windows XP Pro." /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(0)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Home" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


Restart the computer and then remove what
it seems to be, the WINDOWS directory, not the
WINDOW directory..

Rename your WINDOW dir. to WINDOWS and
right click My Computer > properties > Advanced (Tab) >
Enviroment Variables..

edit all of the lines that say "WINDOW" to "WINDOWS"
and it will all seem as if everything is new!Thanks for the quick reply.  I tried to locate the boot.ini file but couldn't find it.  I typed it into "run" as you suggested and it opened.  I deleted the line with the xp pro in it, then restarted the computer.  I still got the option menu, but xp home was listed first now.  The computer started normally when I pressed enter on this menu.

I then went in and renamed the "window" directory to "test" to see what would happen before I deleted it.  When I rebooted after this, the message:

Invalid Boot.ini file
Booting from C:\Windows\


flashes on the screen for about 1 second, then I got the following message:


Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:  \system32\hal.dll.  Please re-install a copy of the above file.

I tried to restart in safe mode and got to the screen to choose the operating system, which now had only one choice, "Windows (default)" which was the directory from which I WANTED to start.

I did not change anything in the Windows directory before this started happening.

Can you please help me out again?  This really makes me long for the days when DOS made things easier :-)

Thanks again

Robert



In the future, don't CHANGE the boot.ini to nonexistent directories- the boot loader tends to have much less robust error handling.


Even better- just change the DEFAULT entry to the windows installation you want.


If you can access the boot.ini file in safe mode or somehow, simply change boot.ini to it's previous setting (change test back to window)Now this makes even less sense to me.  First, I did not move the boot.ini file, it is still in the root directory, c:\.  I made it to the command prompt and can view the file, which reads

[boot loader]
timeout=30
multi<0>disk<0>rdisk<0>partition<2>\windows="microsoft windows XP Home Edition"/noexecute=optin /fastdetect

I was also able to move into the Windows directory, and find the system32\hal.dll file is listed there.  From what I read in the reply from caHarkness this is what I wanted the boot.ini file to read  to boot to the windows directory, which contained the xp home edition I wanted to use.

I still wish I had DOS again.

As you guys can tell, I am a novice to XP and find more to dislike every day.

Thanks for all your help.
I believe if an error occurs in boot.ini, it simply ignores all the settings and uses all defaults. Might cause the hal.dll load error.

Did you even SEE my previous post? simply change the INI file back to the way it was,then change the DEFAULT= line."multi<0>disk<0>rdisk<0>partition<2>\windows="microsoft windows XP Home Edition"/noexecute=optin /fastdetect"
That line should not be under "[boot loader]", it should be
under "[operating systems]"..

If you only have one partition on your hardrive, do not use
"partition<2>", use "partition(0)".. also, dont c/p the whole
line into "Default=". ^^Notice you're supposed to use ()'s

If the Windows folder is WINDOWS then just use this
as your entire BOOT.INI:

Code: [Select][boot loader]
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(0)\WINDOWS
timeout=1

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(0)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Home" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
This should work.. do not modify it!
If it doesn't work. Just. Tell us =)I think this computer is possessed!!!!

Yes, I saw the posting BC_Programmer.  I don't understand how I changed the boot.ini file to a non-existent directory.   I only opened the file and deleted the line referring to the window directory, the one with xp pro.  I then saved the file and rebooted the computer.  It started OK. 

I didn't think about it at the time, caHarkness, but the boot.ini file did not have any line about the operating systems.  The file was complete with the following

[boot loader]
timeout=30
multi<0>disk<0>rdisk<0>partition<2>\windows="microsoft windows XP Home Edition"/noexecute=optin /fastdetect

EXCEPT it had a second line starting with multi<0> that was exactly the same as the one above except it had the window directory and the xp pro reference.  I didn't rewrite anything in the program, only deleted the one line.

Is it possible it was booting from lines contained within the xp pro directory somehow?  When I boot from the install disk and try to run the recovery console, the os menu page asks which installation would you like to log onto and gives the choices

1: c:\test
2: c:\windows

Notice it picked up the directory I renamed the xp pro directory to.  But I can't get past this as it keeps asking for a password.  I can't get in to modify the boot.ini file now or rename the test directory back to window.

What is really baffling to me (other than the entire mess called windows xp :-)) is that I had previously renamed the window directory to see what would happen should I delete it.  The computer booted then.

I know I apparently am flogging a dead horse, but with DOS I could boot with a system disk and edit files.  Is there any way to do this with xp?

Folks, I REALLY do appreciate your help.  If you have anything that might help me, please let me know.

Thanks again.

I Quote from: rhall on July 25, 2008, 07:00:53 PM

I don't understand how I changed the boot.ini file to a non-existent directory. 

I then went in and renamed the "window" directory to "test" to see what would happen before I deleted it.