Windows XP loading question

[Ruflyf]

I know this is way off topic, but since doing the occupations thread and seeing the diversity I figured I'd ask the question here before I go hunting down a computer help forum.

I tend to format my comp occasionally just to clear it all up and I have found the easiest way of doing so without losing all my data is throw another hd in with a o.s. and copy the relavent stuff over. Soo, now I have two o.s's installed on two drives, no prob, xp recognizes this and asks which I want to boot up on. The problem comes when I am done copying files and remove the original drive xp still asks which o.s. I want to boot up on. I am sure this is a matter of just deleting a line or command or something, but I cannot find it anywhere. Any ideas?

Also looking to disable the log in screen on bootup that asks which user I want to load even though I only have 1 user installed. I have heard this is related to xp patch 2, but havent figured out how to disable it yet either.

Thanks
Keith

[nfpgasmask]

OK, to edit your startup options, do the following:

RIGHT-CLICK on My Computer
CLICK on Properties
CLICK the Advanced Tab
In the Startup and Recovery section, click SETTINGS
This will open the Startup and Recovery dialog box
In there, click on the EDIT button
This will open your boot.ini file in Notepad
You boot.ini file should look something like this:

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S

Except yours probably has 2 lines under the [operating systems] section
From here, you can just highlight and delete the line for the XP load on the hard drive you removed, leaving you with only 1 option

Now, to disable the login screen at bootup, look at this link, it will save me some time :)

http://www.petri.co.il/disable_the_welcome_screen_in_xp_pro.htm

I hope that works for you.

Bart

[Moncha]

With that all answered, you can also Dl the TWEAK UI (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx) interface for XP. It's put out by MS and there is a setting that allows you to automatically log in a default account. I also believe if you only have one account, don't use a password and that will bypass the screen too.

[nfpgasmask]

Hey Moncha, yes, if you are just using Administrator, or if you configured only one user are the begining, you should be able to bypass the login screen easily.

Tweak UI is bad@55, I have used it for years.

Bart

PS - As soon as I have a spare $20, I am going to become a site supporter. But I was wondering, is there a place I can see what all the ranks mean? (Like VXer and SuperVXer?) Just curious.


With that all answered, you can also Dl the TWEAK UI (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx) interface for XP. It's put out by MS and there is a setting that allows you to automatically log in a default account. I also believe if you only have one account, don't use a password and that will bypass the screen too.

[Moncha]

The "Ranks" are just a silly way of see how many posts folks have made the more the posts the title changes.. I'd have to look myself, it's been so long since I set them up.. I'll post when I figure it out. :D

[nfpgasmask]

No big deal, I was just curious ;)

Bart

[Ruflyf]

Cool, thx for the quick info, btw I am thinking they will be in the order that they are listed on the screen, but how screwed am I if I delete the wrong one?

The top line is:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect

The next one is:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

On bootup I have to choose the bottom one, so I am assuming it would be the same here.....I guess I could always change the text that is displayed just to be on the safe side.

[Ruflyf]

With that all answered, you can also Dl the TWEAK UI (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx) interface for XP. It's put out by MS and there is a setting that allows you to automatically log in a default account. I also believe if you only have one account, don't use a password and that will bypass the screen too.


Moncha, thats the way it use to work, or will work as long as you dont let xp update automatically. I only have 1 user, me being admin and it still pops up even without a password. Will check into the Tweak UI though..thx

[nfpgasmask]

Yes, I believe that you should delete the line for the one that YOU DO NOT choose during startup. I do not think you will be hosed either way though, but then again, I never tried deleting the wrong one ;)

And just as an FYI, one thing to consider, if you reload a lot, is to buy a second hard drive and store all your data on it, and keep the main drive (usually C:) for the OS and for all your applications. This way, when you need to reload, you can safely format C: and install Windows again leaving your second drive with all your data alone. I like to reload about every 6 months myself, and what I did is just like what I said above, but after I initially installed a clean copy of the OS and all my applications, I used Ghost to create an "image" of my C: drive. So now when I want to reload, I can do it fast and not have to re-install/setup all my applications again. At most, I just need to do a Windows update and a mail restore (this is the only "data" I keep on C:).

I hope that made sense....

Bart



Cool, thx for the quick info, btw I am thinking they will be in the order that they are listed on the screen, but how screwed am I if I delete the wrong one?

The top line is:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect

The next one is:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

On bootup I have to choose the bottom one, so I am assuming it would be the same here.....I guess I could always change the text that is displayed just to be on the safe side.

[transio]

Just a PS:

You may want to consider investing in Norton Ghost. It'll save you loads of time over reinstalling everything. Just do a clean install of all your software, patches, and set everything up the way you like it, then Ghost your whole system onto a backup drive and you're set. :) Just make sure to keep your data files separate from system files.

[nfpgasmask]

Yup, thats exactly what I do! Ghost rocks.

Bart