continuing MoscowMoto question from yesterday ...

M

MoscowMoto

Member
...After installing XP on drive0 I installed Vista on drive1 and both worked fine. Then my wife hosed XP and I reinstalled it on drive0 after reformatting. I installed easybcd under XP and failed, despite many tries to get the bootloader to recognize both. I used easybcd to uninstall the Vista bootloader and XP is now back and fine.

However, the /boot folder on the XP drive remains and is locked. My question is this - is it possible to totally purge the Vista bootloader and remnants such as /boot? If yes, please point me to instructions. Thanks. ....
++++++++
To answer the question in your response, I would like to remove dual boot and go back to XP only for right now, but I am concerned that Vista elements are still in place (e.g. /boot) and are being used in some fashion.
 
By way of explanation for all those who may be wondering, MoscowMoto is referring to the discussion began by him in Computer Guru's profile, in which he stated the following:
After installing XP on drive0 I installed Vista on drive1 and both worked fine. Then my wife hosed XP and I reinstalled it on drive0 after reformatting. I installed easybcd under XP and failed, despite many tries to get the bootloader to recognize both. I used easybcd to uninstall the Vista bootloader and XP is now back and fine.

However, the /boot folder on the XP drive remains and is locked. My question is this - is it possible to totally purge the Vista bootloader and remnants such as /boot? If yes, please point me to instructions. Thanks.
Click to expand...
And then I responded with...
Hi MM.
I'm not sure if I understand completely your question...
Do you no longer want to boot into Vista, and that is why you removed the Vista boot code from the MBR?
If you want to dual-boot Vista and XP, just use the "Reinstall the Vista bootloader" (Write MBR) option in EasyBCD from XP, in the "Manage bootloader section". This will put Vista's boot code back into the MBR of drive 0, and you should be able to boot into Vista, if not XP, at this point (if for some reason you can't, such as if you happened to delete the /boot folder or "bootmgr" file, then run Startup Repair from the Vista DVD 2-3 times to fix the issue with Vista not booting). Then once you can get into Vista, simply download and install 2.0 Beta version of EasyBCD instead of whatever version you have currently, and then go to the Windows tab in the Add/Remove Entries section and select the "/NT/XP..." option in the drop-down menu, and simply click on Add Entry to create the new entry. Then when you get to the prompt asking you if you want it to auto-configure boot.ini for you, click Yes. And then close EasyBCD, and open up Disk Management. Whichever partition shows up there as "system", copy over the "ntldr" and "ntdetect.com" files into the root of that partition (you will need to unhide protected system files, and show hidden files and folders first though in the Folder Options in the Control Panel before you will be able to see them). Now reboot, and test the new XP entry in the Vista boot menu, and you should now have a dual-boot again.
Cheers.
Click to expand...
@MoscowMoto:
Though there is really no need to delete those files, since XP's bootloader is back in charge of the booting process, and those files are not even being used any longer, you can use the Command Prompt (Start>Run>cmd). Just type:
Code: 
cd \
del bootmgr
rmdir boot
Then type:
Code: 
dir
and press Enter to make sure the file and folder is deleted.
 
Last edited:
got it done...

Coolname007 - thanks for the advice. You are right the XP loader is back in control. I just wanted to verify that before removing the last vestiges of bootloader.

The removal process is more involved than just rmdir. The bootloader folder (and contents) have some serious security on them - including subfolders to support multilingual use. I got rid of them unsing Unlocker, which found no processses locking the folder and then proceeded to remove the full load - it took almost 2 minutes, during which the subfolders melted away one by one and finally all was gone. Cool tool.

Rebooted and no problems have arisen of any type. (backed up the partition using EZGig II first just in case before doing any of this) Thanks again.
 
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