i recently bought a laptop with windows 2000 on it . iIthought i could be clever and install XP on instead now i have two operating systems how do i get rid of one

Are they on the same partition?

Which one do you want to loose?

Thanks for replying I think they are on the same partition .I want to lose the XP

The following applies to having two versions of XP on the same partition but I don't see why it would be different with 2K/XP as long as you can boot into 2K to remove XP.

"I have two installations of XP on the same partition........"


1. Boot to the desired version of Windows XP you want to keep (2K). Making note of the position in the boot menu. This will be important when you edit boot.ini.


2. Open a command prompt * and type " echo %windir%" without the quotes. This will give you the current Windows folder you are using.


3. From Explorer, delete the folder containing the installation you want to remove. The original install folder is usually called Windows and subsequent folders will be derivatives of Windows or Winnt.


4. From System Properties [Winkey+Pause/Break] > Advanced Tab > Startup and Recovery > Settings > Edit.


5. Select the Edit button and from notepad, first backup boot.ini, by going to File; Save As and rename boot.ini. to something like boot.inibak.


6. Remove the line referencing the installation not chosen; you made note of in step one.


7. Set timeout=0 so the system boots directly into Win XP (you will not get the boot menu).


8. Save As boot.ini & Exit.


9. Reboot.

* To access the command prompt: Start>All Programs>Accessories>Command Prompt or from Start>RUN>Type "CMD" without the quotes, then press OK.