Hi all, my friend decided to reinstall his XP OS and ended up with two copies of XP. Is there a way of getting rid of the second copy so that he can run a repair on his first copy of XP? I presume that would be quicker and simpler than a clean reinstall.

The second article tells how to add or remove an O.S. from the boot.ini file. The Purpose of the Boot.ini File in Windows XP HOW TO: Edit the Boot.ini File in Windows XP Print the articles to use as reference.

HI Tonto, What your friend did is known as XP parallel installation. What this means is that a parallel install is the clean install of an operating system to another folder. You cannot undo it without reformating the HD and performing a clean reinstal. Chuck's approach will only help you to boot to one of the two OS. I wish there was a much simplier solution. i_XpUser

Presuming there is one version that is OK (and its the one you want to keep), boot to it; set it as default OS to boot; reboot to verify it does just that. Presuming so, locate/delete (via Explorer) the other/unwanted version from the drive; reboot to ensure yiou have removed the correct one and can still boot OK to preferred version. Presuming so, edit out references to unwanted (now deleted) version from the boot.ini. Empty recycle-bin; defrag drive to tidy up the scene. Job done. Going back a litle in "your time": what was the reason for a second installation; what was (is) wrong with the original installaltion; why the thought to "repair" the original if the second version is in OK? Is a repair faster than a fresh start? Depends on how you feel about backing up data etc. (prior to fresh start)?

I found this also: How to remove a second installation of a Windows operating system from a partition

More or less what I outlined above (with a few safeguards along the way)...?

Thanks all for your input. My friend knows bugger all about computers. He got this brand new Dell computer with XP already installed and found that he could not turn on the anti-virus . Dell support, who appear to know even less, suggested that he reinstall the XP. What I wanted to suggest to him was to remove one of the copies and then run a repair (works everytime with W2K).