How to Remove Dual Boot (Win98 & XP)

[seaflipper]

I have created a Win98 & XP Dual boot. I have 2 seperate hard drives. Win98 on C, Fat32, and XP on D, NTFS.

Now that I have "burned in" my XP on D and am happy that everthing works as advertised, I am ready to get rid of my Win98 drive. However, I would like to convert this drive to NTFS (so I can use it for storing Digital Video files of larger than 4GB).

What is the best way to do this? Other than just blowing out all my drives and doing another clean install!

Can I just move over the D drive and make it primary drive? (What files from C would I need to copy over? & would I have to edit the boot.ini file?)

Thanks for any advice,

Seaflipper

 

[butchrecon]

Dont move any files over. Edit the boot.ini file and remove the reference to Windows 98. Then remove the Windows folder on the C: drive. When you reboot you should not have any choice of OS. James Collins
Field Service Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

Please let us (Tek-tips members) know if the solutions we provide are helpful to you. Not only do they help you but they may help others.

 

[Jroenick]

After doing that, you can right click on 'my computer' choose manage, and in there you will have the option to convert to NTFS or completely format that drive into NTFS.

 

[seaflipper]

Thanks for the response, guys.

So, let me just make sure I get this correct (sorry if I am just repeating what you guys said, I just want to get this right:

Leave my D drive where it is (the XP drive) and edit the boot.ini take out the reference to the Win98. (I think I can do this from within XP, correct?)

Then, delete my c:/windows directory, and when I restart, it will boot right into XP on D drive.

Then, as per the 2nd post, I can then go ahead and convert the drive to NTFS. What happens to the boot.ini file and the 2 other files necessary for booting to XP that reside on the root of c: ? Would a conversion to NTFS erase data or leave it the same? I think a full format of NTFS (rather than a conversion) would delete all files, correct? And then I couldn't boot to XP at all?

Thanks for your help and clarification!

seaflipper

 

[butchrecon]

Dont format the C: drive, do a convert (convert c: /fs:ntfs) to convert the drive to NTFS and you will not loose any info. Also before you can edit the boot.ini you need to remove the attributes. (attrib boot.ini -r -h -s) and when you are done do a (attrib boot.ini +r +s +h) to reenable attributes. James Collins
Field Service Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

Please let us (Tek-tips members) know if the solutions we provide are helpful to you. Not only do they help you but they may help others.

 

[MowermanED]

Would these scenarios work if it was W2K instead of W98? I have the same situation except W2K is on C.

 

[butchrecon]

You want to get rid of Win2K and boot only to Win98? If so the type at a command prompt from a Win98 boot disk.
fdisk /mbr

then
sys c:

This should gallow only to boot to Windows 98. Then you can remove the Win2K folder (\winnt) James Collins
Field Service Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

Please let us (Tek-tips members) know if the solutions we provide are helpful to you. Not only do they help you but they may help others.

 

[MowermanED]

NO, NO, NO, I have W2K and WinXP. Want to get rid of W2K and KEEP WinXP only. I'd have to be insane to want W98 again!!! (aaaaaaaaaahahahah)

 

[butchrecon]

Oh ok. then yes the boot.ini method should work fine. James Collins
Field Service Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

Please let us (Tek-tips members) know if the solutions we provide are helpful to you. Not only do they help you but they may help others.

 

[Jroenick]

Yes, that is correct. You will edit the boot.ini on the root of your XP drive. Formatting to NTFS will lose all your data. Doing the convert as butcheron has shown is the way you want to go if you need that data off that drive. Unfortunately, you system drive will remain drive d: forever (mine is forever drive f. However, you can change the letter of the other drive by right clicking on my computer, choosing manage, and choosing disk management. All you have to do from there right click on the drive and choose drive letter.

JRoenick

 

[seaflipper]

Thanks to JRoenick James Collins for all your help!

I appreciate your time in helping me!

Seaflipper

 

[Guest_imported]

Further to the above situation, if Win98 and WinXP are installed on the same drive in two separate partitions (Win98 C: and WinXP E, can you use the same boot.ini method as above to get rid of Win98 and just boot XP?

Once Win98 is gone I want to merge the two partitions.

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[butchrecon]

Grunion, Yes that is correct. As for merging the Partitions. You will need to purchase a program like Partition Magic to merge the partitions. If not then you will have to fdisk reinstall Win2K. James Collins
Field Service Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

Please let us (Tek-tips members) know if the solutions we provide are helpful to you. Not only do they help you but they may help others.

 

[Guest_imported]

Thanks!

 

[gifton]

Is there no way to change the drive letter of your system drive in XP?

 

[wolluf]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q223188

should work for XP too (but its not recommended - too many knock on effects).
I think Partition Magic will do it too.

 

[Snickle]

A search for something else in Help and Support brought out the statement that the system partition letter for where WinXP is installed cannot be changed.