Stupid question about loading windows

[FXGuy3369]

Ok I just loaded XP Pro on a XP Home laptop, and I formatted the drive, deleted all the old partitions, and when it boots it still gives a home or pro option. Home isn't installed anymore though. How do I get home out of the boot directory???

 

[powerMarkymark]

Right click My Computer and choose Properties, then advanced tab, Startup and Recovery Settings, click the Edit button and then delete the home option, save and close.

Voila

M@rc

 

[FXGuy3369]

Thanks!!!

 

[D3kTrix]

Originally posted by: powerMarkymark
Right click My Computer and choose Properties, then advanced tab, Startup and Recovery Settings, click the Edit button and then delete the home option, save and close.

Voila

M@rc

Never noticed that, that 1 will come in handy for a few PCs at work =)
thx

 

[RelaxTheMind]

Somehow a full format wasnt comleted as the Home is still resident in the master boot record. fdisk/debug-then format with xp ntfs would be a bit cleaner.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: RelaxTheMind
Somehow a full format wasnt comleted as the Home is still resident in the master boot record. fdisk/debug-then format with xp ntfs would be a bit cleaner.

What the hell are you talking about? You just make this crap up don't ya?

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Smilin

Originally posted by: RelaxTheMind
Somehow a full format wasnt comleted as the Home is still resident in the master boot record. fdisk/debug-then format with xp ntfs would be a bit cleaner.

What the hell are you talking about? You just make this crap up don't ya?

While I don't think there is any need for such drastic action at this point, he sounds correct (the original poster claimed to have nuked the entire drive, so how did the boot.ini still exist to reference the other install?)

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: Smilin

Originally posted by: RelaxTheMind
Somehow a full format wasnt comleted as the Home is still resident in the master boot record. fdisk/debug-then format with xp ntfs would be a bit cleaner.

What the hell are you talking about? You just make this crap up don't ya?

While I don't think there is any need for such drastic action at this point, he sounds correct (the original poster claimed to have nuked the entire drive, so how did the boot.ini still exist to reference the other install?)

mmm, no he's clearly making this crap up. If you do the repartitioning and/or formatting from within Windows text-mode setup the old boot.ini entries are loaded into memory before the format and then placed back in afterwards.

example:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304829

 

[bsobel]

mmm, no he's clearly making this crap up. If you do the repartitioning and/or formatting from within Windows text-mode setup the old boot.ini entries are loaded into memory before the format and then placed back in afterwards.
example:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304829

Cool, I did not know that (definately explains why we answer this question so often here). Never considered they were persitiing in memory thru the format (makes sense, too bad it's not slightly smarter and only does that if there are multiple volumes)

Bill

 

[Smilin]

Yeah, it's sort of an odd behavior. Necessary though. If you have a bunch of different OS's loaded you don't want them to drop off the face of the earth just because the partition with boot.ini got formatted.

Still scratching my head about what an extra boot.ini entry would have to do with the MBR being intact or not.?

 

[RelaxTheMind]

If you fdisk and wipe out all partitions or debug the drive it really does get rid of everything. which i would recommend as to not run into lockups/bsods during a fresh install. I meant boon.ini but the mbr and boot.ini do go in hand... sorry but i dont make things up.

From your microsoft link "On future installations, you can prevent this behavior by deleting and then recreating the System partition before the formatting process. However, if you do delete and then recreate the System partition, existing operating systems cannot boot."

aka fdisk or debug (which is cleaner than wiping them out in the windows setup screens)

 

[xtknight]

A real format will wipe the whole drive, including its MBR. It's possible, and likely, XP's partition manager doesn't do that.

 

[Smilin]

fdisking and/or formatting ahead of time would clear this up, sure. The part I didn't get was "Somehow a full format wasnt comleted as the Home is still resident in the master boot record".

Having an entry get left behind in your partition table won't cause a file (such as boot.ini) to appear in a partition that's been formatted. Also, the presence of such an entry does not indicate whether a format has been completed or not. A format only alters a single byte in the MBR and in this particular case it won't alter anything whether successful or not. There is also no indication at all in the MBR of what OS is present on any particular partition (XP home, pro etc.)

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: xtknight
A real format will wipe the whole drive, including its MBR. It's possible, and likely, XP's partition manager doesn't do that.

XP's setup formats a partition, not the entire physical drive.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: xtknight
A real format will wipe the whole drive, including its MBR. It's possible, and likely, XP's partition manager doesn't do that.

Dang, twice in one thread. Someone else is making sh*t up.

I think you may be confusing MBR with boot sector. Also, format is used on partitions, not drives.