Some time ago I installed a second drive and installed XP on it. My main drive was running Windows 98. Then I switched the drives, so the XP drive was my main (I guess Master) drive - the C drive - and the Windows 98 the D drive.

This is handy since I can run IE 5 on the Win 98 drive (for website testing) and IE 6 on the XP drive. I switch which drive I'm booting from via BIOS settings.

The problem is, something called Windows XP Setup is still on the Win 98 drive. So when I switch my BIOS to boot from that drive, during the boot process I get the option to select Windows XP Setup (the first option) or Windows 98 (the second option). This is accompanied by a countdown, and if I'm not paying attention it automatically loads XP Setup, and then I must wait for it to go through its "preflight" before I can exit/quit, reboot again, and make sure to hover over the keyboard to switch to option 2 (Win 98) before the countdown finishes.

How can I get rid of this XP Setup (which I no longer seem to need for anything)?

Thanks - I'm a PC moron - Mac wizard, but I am a fish out of water when it comes to the PC.


- Bob

Hya Bob , welcome to PCHF.

It sounds like there is an unfinished XP install on the 98 HD.

But give this a try , it might fix youre problem:


1.Boot with XP CD or 6 floppy boot disk set.
2.Press R to load the Recovery Console.
3.Type bootcfg <hit enter

That didn't do it - when I hit R, it asks which drive I'd like to log onto and I only get C as an option. I tried typing bootcfg but it only took the "b" as it seems to be looking for a single letter. The install problem is on drive D, which doesn't show up as an option.

Maybe I should just buy a copy of 98 (can I still get 98? the computer came (preowned) with 98 and I don't have a CD) and reformat/reinstall.

- Bob

Hey there bunner bob

Could you boot into your Windows 98 and then go to START - RUN and type
C:\BOOT.INI <press enter>

Would you be able to post the information that is inside that file onto the forum.

Here it is:
[Boot Loader]
Timeout=5
Default=C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT
[Operating Systems]
C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows XP Setup"
C:\="Microsoft Windows"

So clearly this file is the responsible party.

Can I just edit it? Get rid of the first "C:\" option, and change the default to....something?

- Bob

You can change it to:

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=5
Default=C:\="Microsoft Windows"
[Operating Systems]
C:\="Microsoft Windows"



And you can delete this from the (win98 ) HD:

C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT