dell desktop question

[gracika]

my kids received an old dell desktop to play on it;when I start it  I see it has 3 versions of windows on it :windows,windows 200 server and windows xp;how can I delete the first 2 and just keep the xp?

thanks

[hot dog]

boot into the Windows XP version and go here:

START>control panel>system>Advanced Tab>Under "start up and recovery" click "settings", next under "system startup" click "edit", Next copy and paste the text you see in your next post

[gracika]

thnks;this is what i get:

[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
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server" /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows"

[hot dog]

[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
 

Change the text to what I quoted above...

Restart the computer and you should go right into Windows XP....Next thing you should do is go into Disk Management and to the right of where it says "DISK 0", right-click on each of the two Windows Partitions (NOT THE "C" Partition) and click "delete partition" on each of them....Once you've deleted both partitions, right-click on the "unallocated" space and select "create partition"....when given the option, select NTFS as the file system...  This will allow you to use all the extra space for file or whatever you desire

[hot dog]

oh, after you change the text to what I said, be sure to click on "file" at the top and click on "save", otherwise your changes will not be saved and it won't work


edit: forget what I said about going into Disk Management, it looks like the Windows 2000 and other Operation system  is on the root of the C drive, so if you want the extra space, just go into "my computer" click on the C drive and delete the WINNT folder and the Microsoft Windows folder


I'm curious, have you booted into the "windows" operating system...You said you have Windows XP and Windows 2000 Server, but when you boot into the other one, what Operating system is it?

[gracika]

thnk you;

I was able to delete WINNT and got some free space(beeing that we had 200mb and now it has 1.50gb is much better)but I can not find MICROSFT WINDOWS folder;I have a WINDOWS folder but when I try to delete it I can not;

if there is anything else I can try to delete that please let me know;

also,when I start the computer now,it takes right into xp-thanks again;

[hot dog]

don't try deleting the WINDOWS folder, that belong to Windows XP, you shouldn't delete that folder or anything in that folder

What version of Windows was it when you booted into the "Windows" operating system, when you first got the computer?

You said you had Windows XP, Windows 2000 Server, and something else, what version of Windows was the other one?

[gracika]

it just said WINDOWS...nothing else..

[hot dog]

Did you ever actually boot into it?  The very first time you turned on the computer and noticed the "Windows", did you ever boot into it?  If so, what version of Windows was it? Example: "Windows 98" ??    Or something else?

[gracika]

sorry,I am not a computer literate...just a mom trying to make her kids happy with their computer;I never booted into it,I just went into xp

[hot dog]

No problem....I hope everything works out for you...   

[gracika]

thank you for everything;it is better already;now,if I ask the previous owner ,maybe he knows what he had on it,and I find the version of windows,where can I delete it?

[hot dog]

Could you please list the folders that are currently on the root of your C drive...

go back into "my computer", click on the C drive and list ALL the folders you see on the screen.....NOT files, only the folders

[gracika]

dell
ASFRoot
DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS
INETPUB
pra
PROGR-1
PROGRAM FILES
SYSTEM VOLUME INFO
TEMP
WINDOWS

[BC_Programmer]

it's fairly simple what happened.

The first OS on the PC was windows 95,98,98SE or ME.

windows 2000 was then installed- which placed itself, by default, in C:\WINNT, leaving the old install in C:\WINDOWS.

Windows XP was installed, and that overwrote the first windows install in C:\windows, however the XP setup program, not knowing any better, kept the boot.ini entry that windows 2000 had made for it.

the end.