Insert your Windows CD, start computer, press a key to boot with it.
At the first screen where you are asked if you want to Repair Windows, press R to go to the black screen interface called the Recovery Console.Setup will look for Windows installations.
Each one found will start with a number.
Type the number, press Enter.
If there is only one Windows installation found, press 1, press Enter.
If there is more than one Windows installation found, press the number for the one the computer booted with before, press Enter. Usually that's 1 too, or the one on C:\Windows .
you will see
Password:
If there are no asterisks beside password ("stars"; the uppercase of 8 on your keboard) just press Enter.
If there are asterisks beside Password, the password is the same one you use as Administator in Windows, then press Enter.
Type: BOOTCFG /rebuild (press Enter) (a space between BOOTCFG and /)
(this takes takes a few minutes)
8. At the command prompt, type bootcfg /rebuild, and then press ENTER. This command scans the hard disks of the computer for Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000, or Microsoft Windows NT installations, and then displays the results. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to add the Windows installations to the Boot.ini file.
For example, follow these steps to add a Windows XP installation to the Boot.ini file:
a. When you receive a message that is similar to the following message, press Y:
Total Identified Windows Installs: 1
[1] C:\Windows
Add installation to boot list? (Yes/No/All)
b. You receive a message that is similar to the following message:
Enter Load Identifier (my note - type something or you will see no label when you boot)
This is normally the name of the operating system. When you receive this message, type the name of your operating system, and then press ENTER. This is either Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.
c. You receive a message that is similar to the following:
Enter OS Load options
When you receive this message, type /fastdetect, and then press ENTER.
Note The instructions that appear on your screen may be different, depending on the configuration of your computer.
If there was more than one Windows installation detected on your computer, you will now see:
[2] D:\Windows (or similar)
Add installation to boot list? (Yes/No/All)
Repeat steps a, b, c for all Windows installations found.
If you are not sure what to type for Load Identifier, type any text - you can correct that later by editing boot.ini (see My Note: below).
If there was only one Windows installation detected on your computer, or if you have done a, b, c for all Windows installations found if there was more than one, continue with these instructions.
If any Windows installations are definately not XP or 2000, you don't need to enter anything in step c - just press Enter.
9. Type exit, and then press ENTER to quit Recovery Console.
Your computer will restart.
DO NOT press a key to boot from the XP CD
The updated boot list appears when you receive the "Please select the operating system to start" message.
Choose the TOP one.
Windows should boot normally.
Remove the Windows CD if it does.
....
My note:
Bootcfg does not delete the existing boot.ini - it adds one or more new entries that are listed before )above) the older ones.
You can remove the old entries, at least one of which may now be invalid.
Control Panel - System - Advanced - Startup and Recovery - Edit - you MUST maximize the window - delete the entire line(s) below the first line below [operating systems] that were not detected by bootcfg.
(e.g. if there only two lines below [operating systems], delete only the lower one)
Choose File in the top left corner - Save.
If after editing boot.ini there is now only one operating system listed after [operating systems] in boot.ini, after you reboot, your computer will now boot without prompting you to select operating systems.
