Hello everyone. When I fir up my computer I am given three separate boot files to choose from. Only one will get me onto my installation.

However, when I view the boot.ini in msconfig only one is given? If I use the 'cmd' slection to get into DOS and I try to use bootcfg /delete, I am told that there is only one file available!

How may I get rid of the other two unnecessary boot files please, and where are they stored?

regards

grimerz

when you get the three options to choose from is it the top one that works

Thank you pc-guy. Yes it is?

regards

grimerz

this will only work if it is the top one that works and as always make a copy of boot.ini on a a data stick or something portable so that if anything goes wrong you can always make it right again.

i have had this problem before and it worked for me what you will be doing is changeing the amount of time that you get to chose one of the options so that it is so low that you dont even notice that it comes up.

as i said before only works if the first option iss the one that works as this is the primary boot option.

Right click on My Computer icon and select Properties. From the properties window go to Advanced > Startup and Recovery > Settings.

uncheck the option that says time to display list of operating systems.

but dont forget that i am not a profesional so if you dont want to try this option wait for the pros to answer your question.

Thank you pc-guy for such a prompt reply. I just do not understand why all three boot options cannot be seen, then at least I could delete the two extra ones.

By the way I recently had three boot options and was able to delete two of them using the 'cmd' option. But not this time. I do not really mind having to select, but I would rather the machinery fired up by itself.

regards

grimerz

open boot.ini in notpad and copy and paste the text here for me to look at to see if there is anything wrong with it

have you got the xp pro cd.

and i mean the cd you use to install xp pro not recovery or restore cd.

if you have got the cd then try this.

but before you do anything i will again remind you to make a backup of your boot.ini

this should solve all your problems i recommend you print this out so you dont have to remember it all.


1. Insert the Microsoft Windows XP CD into the computer.
2. Reboot the computer with the CD and press any key when prompted to press any key to boot from the CD.
3. Once in the Microsoft Setup menu press R to open the recovery console.
4. Select the operating system you wish to use; if you only have Windows XP on the computer you will only have one prompt.
5. Once prompted for the password enter the Admin password and press enter.
6. Once at the command prompt type bootcfg /rebuild to start the rebuild process.
7. the rebuild process will step you through a number of steps depending on how the computer is setup. Below is a listing of the common steps you are likely going to encounter.

* Prompt for the identified versions of Windows installed. When you receive this prompt press Y if the bootcfg command properly identified the Windows operating systems installed on the computer.

* Prompt to enter the load identifier. This is the name of the operating system for the boot.ini. enter "Microsoft Windows XP Professional".

* Prompt to Enter OS load options. When this prompt is received type /fastdetect to automatically detect the available options.

8. Once you have completed all the available options in the rebuild and are back at the prompt type exit to reboot the computer.

Thank you pc-guy. That is the exact reason that I have three boot-up options. I seem to have spent my whole time recently correcting files that are missing e.g., ntldr, etc. and also the System32 \hal.dll. Each time the machine cannot find the hal.dll I go through the CD-Rom fire-up routine and yet another boot-up is added. However, as I say, they do not seem to want to be removed these days.

regards

grimerz

do what i said above and you will only have 1 option afterwards as it makes a new boot ini file that works with the settings you have got on your computer