I need a quick help for my computer

[Pangloss]

I have no idea how it works in Chinese. I've never even seen the Chinese version of Windows.

 

No offense, but I'm actually making it very simple. I think that if you are unable to determine whether you have a C:\WINNT folder and a C:\WINDOWS folder, or even locate Windows Explorer, or find My Computer, then you really should not even THINK about editing the BOOT.INI file. It's an extremely dangerous thing for a novice to do.

 

Please turn your computer over to an expert. Trust me on this -- you've done something REALLY unusual with your installation, it is NOT stable in its current configuration, and one false move and your computer will be rendered completely inoperable.

[Dak]

Gosh

you are making it complicated

Just give me a brief way to delete the unwanted WIn System

Plus' date=' I am using Chinese Win XP, you gotta tell me in detail[/quote']

 

I think this is what pangloss is after:

 

double-click on the "my computer" icon.

 

double-click on "Local disk (C:) "

 

Question 1/ Can you see a folder named "windows"?

 

Question 2/ Can you see a folder named "Winnt"?

[Pangloss]

Well that's if he has "My Computer" on his desktop. Most computers don't get that by default anymore, sadly.

[Dak]

Ho yes, i forgot about that (i hate that display so i always change it.)

 

well, ps2huang, if "my computer" isnt on your desktop, go to "start", and click "my computer".

 

then double-click on "Local disk (C:) "

 

Question 1/ Can you see a folder named "windows"?

 

Question 2/ Can you see a folder named "Winnt"?

[ps2huang]

Weird, I click (D:) there is a ghost file along with WUTemp

But when I click (C:) there is windows and winnt

[Pangloss]

Ok, so like I said, you installed the operating system twice to the same partition. That's a grim situation, for the reasons I described above.

 

If you think the WINNT folder is the correct one, you can delete the Windows folder, remove the line that ends with Windows from the BOOT.INI file, cross your fingers and hope for the best. Best case scenario, nothing happens. Worst case scenario, your programs stop working.

 

Be sure and back up your important data files before you do anything. And good luck!

[H2SO4]

First, got to start menu and right click on my computer, then go to manage >disk management. Are there two partitions on your HD?

 

No there is not, i have one healthy partition. To solve this, ill just do what pangloss said was the easiest, just uncheck the boxes. As far as im concerned, theres not much data on the second choice, if any at all. Basicaly, its just something in a text file, from what im reading here. And if i screw up that text file ill have to reformatte again (well, im not sure if the consequences are more serious than that....)

 

So far, after i reformatted, i have 74.5 gb of free space on my laptop (with an 80gb HDD and win xp home installed, along with three cd's, about thirty 5mp pictures, all my drivers and notebook software, and some video's), so as far as im concerned, theres barely any data on that other "choice."

 

Thanks pangloss for your help, that os choice menu was getting annoying. Just out of curiosity, when i eventualy reformatte my computer again, will there be three winxp choices, one being the only operateable one?

 

Why has'nt microsoft fixed this problem? Do they think people do not reformatte there computer?

[Pangloss]

(To H2SO4) Last I checked, you could get around that issue (where it remembers your old BOOT.INI contents) by turning off the computer after deleting all the partitions. When you reboot (off the CD, obviously) it will have forgotten the old BOOT.INI contents, and give you a virgin BOOT.INI file.

 

That's why I remember this at all, because I used to have to setup classrooms without Norton Ghost because the school owner was such a tightass, so I'd run around the room booting and rebooting just so the students wouldn't interrupt my lecture to ask me what partition to boot off of so they could surf the Internet instead of listening to me! (grumble)

 

(Which is how I learned about 9/11, by the way, but that's another story.)

 

There's a reason why it does what it does, but I can't for the life of me remember what it is. Which is a little embarassing, because I think I actually wrote the Knowledge Base article on this for support.microsoft.com, but now I can't remember the number of the article and it's not coming up in a search. (So much for sticking that on my resume, huh?) (chuckle)

 

(I believe there's also an obscure switch for this in the setup program, but since the setup program launches automatically and your CD is already burnt, that piece of information is really only useful if you do the slipstreaming trick (i.e. make a customized installation CD), which fun in a geeky sorta way, but definitely not for the casual power user.)

[H2SO4]

so , how are you supposed to delete your partitions when your computer is turned off?

 

And since were talking about reformatting, when i got my dell laptop, they had a gay dell system restore program installed, that also needed two extra partitions. I didnt want two extra partitions or the system restore software, i wanted my resource and winxp disk's. I called them and they sent them overnight for free, so that was cool, but before i called them for my disks i wasnt sure if they would give them to me, so i was wondering, could someone make a winxp installation disk for their computer by just simply burning their windows files to a dvd-r-double layer? Or is their an installation componet missing or something. Im almost sure its not this easy. Maybe, would you be able to boot from the disk, but not reinstal with it?

 

Anyway, here its 2:30 and i usualy never stay up this late, so im tripping.

[Pangloss]

In other words:

 

1) Boot off the Windows CD, proceed to the partition selection screen, and delete all of the the partitions currently avaiable

2) Turn off the computer

3) Turn the computer back on, boot off the Windows CD, and proceed to the partition selection screen, create a new partition, and proceed with installation

 

If you do it that way, it will give you a virgin BOOT.INI file, since it doesn't have the old partition info in RAM.

 

 

Regarding your other question, you don't need a dual layer DVD or even a DVD at all. You can create a bootable, customized Windows XP installation disc with a normal CD. It's called "slipstreaming", and it's a very complicated process, but in a nutshell it involves pulling the "i386" folder off a normal WinXP disc onto a hard drive along with all the drivers you want to have available, any service packs or other updates you want to include, and any RAID drivers you want (which is typically why this is done, for floppyless builds, since the Windows installer won't read RAID drives off a CD). You run through a complicated series of steps and burn the new CD. I use the Microsoft OEM pre-installation kit and a script I found on the Internet for this years ago, so I don't have any suggestions for you on web sites, but if you google "slipstreaming" you'll find plenty of help. It's not really recommended for one installation, though -- too much work.

[H2SO4]

so how much space does it use on a cd-r?

 

And thanks for the parttion thing, next time in a few onth i reformat ill have to do it that way.

[Pangloss]

Well the i386 folder is well under 500mb, and that's the main thing. Drivers don't usually take up more than a few tens of megabytes.