Re: Reformatting hard drive with corrupted OS

From: Colvalava (Colvalava_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 05/25/05 

Date: Wed, 25 May 2005 14:07:13 -0700

All these files are also on my D: drive, and are later versions (at least the
first two) than are on the C: drive. The D: drive is where the fresh WinXP
installation is. Also, I believe that the only way to access the boot.ini
file is through the "system" icon on the control panel. Since I can't get
into the control panel associated with the corrupted OS on the C: drive, I
don't see how I can edit that file on the C: drive. When I do a cold boot, a
screen appears that gives me a choice between two WinXP OS's. Using the
default one (I've assumed that this is the one on the D: drive) the computer
boots up normally. If I select the other one (I've only done this once) WinXP
will not boot. Am I missing something?

"Doug Knox MS-MVP" wrote:

> Yes, the downside is that you won't be able to boot your computer, as the boot files are on the C: drive.
>
> Leave:
>
> NTLDR
> NTDETECT.COM
> BOOT.INI
>
> on the C: drive. Do not format, just delete anything you don't want. You can edit BOOT.INI to remove the old reference to the installation on the C: drive.
>
> --
> Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart Display\Security
> Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
> http://www.dougknox.com
> --------------------------------
> Per user Group Policy Restrictions for XP Home and XP Pro
> http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_securityconsole.htm
> --------------------------------
> Please reply only to the newsgroup so all may benefit.
> Unsolicited e-mail is not answered.
>
> "Colvalava" <Colvalava@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:99A880A1-034C-4546-B523-B3536F761D48@microsoft.com...
> >A recent hard crash led me to do a fresh installation of WinXP on my second
> > hard drive, which became the D: drive. I have reinstalled all of my programs
> > on that drive and transferred all of my files to it from the C: drive. The C:
> > drive now contains only the corrupted OS and files I no longer need. When I
> > boot up, I am given the choice of which drive to boot up on. Of course I
> > select the D: drive. I would like to reformat the C: drive, wiping all data
> > from it. Is there any downside to doing what I suggest? Is there anything
> > else I need to do (modify files, etc.) before I do the reformat?
>

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