Re: Got two copies of WinXP on my computer.

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Yes, a regular or retail Windows XP cd inspects your disks and partitions and then gives you the options to delete, create and format partitions and/or select the installation partition. Fdisk should also be able to delete all the partitions, it is a quick and easy way to do it.

John

Dee wrote:

Thank you for the fdisk suggestion. No, I do not need to save anything on the hard disks. At first glance it seems to be getting into what is for me deep waters. I last used fdisk with Win95, which was a long time ago, and I have forgotten all I ever knew about it. I shall consider it carefully though. I never thought I should ever be thinking of using fdisk again.

In case fdisk does not work out, would a WinXP (or Vista) full installation disk give all the options needed to remove all unwanted system partitions and leave me with only one system/boot partition containing Windows? If so, that could be my other option.

Regards,

Dee.


"John John (MVP)" <audetweld@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:%23h71Gp5sIHA.1872@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Do you want to keep anything at all on this first hard disk? If not boot the computer with a Windows 98 boot disk and use fdisk to remove all the partition then create only one of the desired size to install Windows XP on. Don't format the partition, Windows 98 can only format to FAT32 and you don't really want that, after you create the new partition with fdisk just exit and see if your XP setup cd can take it from there and format the partition NTFS for you. You can create other partitions with the XP Disk Management Tool after Windows XP is installed.

If you get caught up in a logical drive loop error with fdisk and find that you cannot delete partitions get delpart.exe http://www.russelltexas.com/delpart.htm and copy it to the Windows 98 floppy, you can use it to deleted NTFS drives.

John

Dee wrote:


John,

I disconnected the second HDD, booted from the first HDD, and ran this recovery-type disk.
I got yet another copy of Windows (i.e. the third one) this time on volume D. I now have a 'Windows' folder on C, D and K. The Windows disk I have gives no options - it is run it and see what happens, or nothing.

Attempts to delete any of the Windows folders produce that message that it is a Windows system folder; it cannot be deleted.

Would getting a full WinXP installation disk let me delete partitions containing system files, and let me install a single copy of Windows wherever I want. Is this going to be the only way out of this mess?

Regards

Dee.


"John John (MVP)" <audetweld@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:O6Fudh4sIHA.5096@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Your are booting the Windows installation on that drive, Windows will not let you delete the folder that was used to boot the installation.


From reading your first post you wanted to reformat the Windows drive on

the first hard disk (C:) and reinstall Windows there. If you still want to do that I would advise that you disconnect the power supply to the second hard drive (or turn it off in the BIOS) and then proceed to reinstall Windows XP on the first hard disk. Temporarily turning off and removing the second hard disk from the picture will eliminate the risk of further drive mixups or accidental deletion of important files on that disk.

Once you are satisfied that Windows is properly installed and working on the first hard disk you can bring the second hard disk online and then delete the unwanted Windows installation.

John


Dee wrote:



Thanks.
But I get 'Windows is a system folder. It cannot be deleted.'
Where can I go from there?

Dee.




.

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