uninstalling windows xp!

I have two instances of windows xp installed on my desktop. Please let me know, how to uninstall one instance of windows xp?

Hi vijay.gupta, Do both installations of XP work? Can you use or access both installs? If the other doesn't work, it could be easier to remove safely. Rich

Yes, both work absolutely fine…

If you post a copy of your C:\boot.ini file contents, we can try to identify which is the main install that you intend to keep.

Hi vijay.gupta,

I have two instances of windows xp installed on my desktop

What do you actually mean "installed on my desktop"?

Do you mean you have a duel boot system? That is, XP installed on two separate hard-drive partitions, where when you boot up you have to choose which OS to boot too (this happens in the post screen, before you get to your desktop). One OS would have the letter C: Drive and the other would be on another Drive with a different letter.

Cheers,
Lee

There is no boot.ini file in c: I looked into hidden files as well.

If you can't find the boot.ini file, this alternative method should work. Follow the steps on this article for saving a backup copy of boot.ini

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022 - How to edit the Boot.ini file in Windows XP

Open the file you save afterwards with notepad, and copy the contents.

I'm fairly sure that all "boot.ini file" in XP is going to show on vijay.gupta's Computer, is the boot info for XP (one XP OS on one drive). It won't show any OS information for another OS in another partition drive, so the file will not tell us if there is more than one XP OS on the computer. I just had a look at my own boot.ini file in XP and there was no info. or recognition about another OS I have on the same Hard Drive (duel-boot). Copy of my boot.ini.file: ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————– 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 /USEPMTIMER ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————– It is just not possible to have more than one OS on a drive (or desktop) unless it is a "virtual" OS such as a virtual XP operating in W7, Cheers, Lee

I don't know why your's only shows one Lee, but I think it should look something like this:

[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="Windows XP Professional, C:" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Embedded, D:" /fastdetect

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms…edded.5%29.aspx

I'm assuming the following: "1. The partition boot sector loads Ntldr (NT Loader). It then switches the processor to protected mode, starts the file system, and reads the contents of Boot.ini. The information in Boot.ini determines the startup options and initial boot menu selections (dual-booting, for example.).." Upgrading & Repairing PCs 18th Ed. by Scott Mueller, pp. 1391 to be correct..

Hi Tomk, That's what I originally thought. It would show both my XP and W7, so I tried it on my XP and it only showed XP, so I had to go with that result. That's why my "fairly sure", not "sure" in my post as it didn't seem right.. Maybe my use of EasyBCD to setup and occasionally swap 1st. boot order has something to do with it ? Cheers, Lee

Hi rharrison, Both you and tomk are obviously right. Why my boot.ini file in XP does not show my W7 is a mystery. I can't check it in W7 as there is no boot.ini file in W7. It would be good to know what vijay.gupta means by two instances of XP on his desktop (?). Minimal and vague info. is being provided. Cheers, Lee

Sorry lee, I will try to provide more information. Windows XP was installed previously on my system. This was the only os installed on my system. Now, i inserted windows xp cd and just checking that whether another instance of windows xp can be installed. But, to my surprise, it is installed and i think in the same c drive as there are 2 windows folder there: one windows and another windows(0). Now, i want to uninstall instance of windows xp that i installed later as first instance has all the apps installed and antivirus is updated on that.

It's impossible to install two instances of XP on the same drive. Cheers, Lee

It's impossible to install two instances of XP on the same drive.

Cheers,
Lee

Sure it is possible.

Parallel install of XP operating system is a rarely used, but possible operation.
Original XP is ordinarily installed at C:\windows
A second parallel installation may be installed at C:\windows2 (or any other naming)
Sometimes called a "dirty reinstall", installing a parallel instance of XP onto the same partition as the original XP install, can be used to retrieve Data from a damaged XP installation.
A down-side of parallel installation, is that it leaves the damaged XP installation in place. The damaged XP installation may contain corrupted system files, and may be infected by malware, or have whatever problem that originally can to the user's attention.

"Data" can be transferred to the new parallel XP installation for retrieval, but any application software will have to be freshly installed to work properly.
It is "not recommended" but using the new XP installation, the original XP located at C:\windows could be repaired (for instance, replace system32 files) and then the "new but dirty installation" can be deleted by deleting C:\windows2

Far better, would be to simply perform a Repair Installation, upon the original XP installation using the XP CD install media and Repair option.



What we need from vijay.gupta is a look at the machine's present boot.ini
_________________________

vijay.gupta –

rharrison has supplied a method for you to view and post a copy of your boot.ini, using methods explained at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022

using the below quoted portion of the KB article only, you will get a notepad version of you boot.ini.
Then you can post a copy of it in your next reply.
Hopefully that will help your helpers offer additional suggestions.

Save a Backup Copy of Boot.ini

1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
-or-
Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl, and then click OK.
2. On the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery.
3. Under System Startup, click Edit. This opens the file in Notepad ready for editing.
4. In Notepad, click File on the Menu bar, and then click Save As.
5. Right click in an empty area of the Save As dialog box, point to New in the context menu, and then click Folder.
6. Type a name for the new folder, for example temp, and then press the ENTER key to create the folder named temp.
7. Double-click the new folder named temp, and then click the Save button to save a backup copy of the Boot.ini file.