Removing VISTA.

[renegade X]

Hi all. I have VISTA dual booted with XP. I only wanted to use VISTA so I can play Halo2. After hearing about Halo2's issues, I decided to not get the game. That being said, I will wait a few years. SO here is my question. Do I have to go to the recovery console to remove the boot option for VISTA? Or is there a simple modification similar to the boot.ini? I looked around the "boot" folder, but nothing seemed to be editable.

 

[pkjmesra]

When logged into XP ->My computer->Rightclick->Properties->Advanced Tab->Startup and recovery frame ->click settings->under system startup frame->click edit->

It will open in notepad and will look like this:
[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows Vista" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Remove the last line (or the line where Vista appears). also change the default= option at the top and make sure you change the partition number to that of XP.Or simply said, copy the XP line before = (eg. multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS) and then place it after default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.
Save it and you are done.

 

[uhaligani]

I don't think that will work. Vista does not startup with the boot.ini, which you are showing here. Better to download a program such as VistaBootPro and use that to remove the bootmng, which is the program Vista is usuing for its dual boot set up.
If you have a bootable XP cd, then you can do this:

1) Insert the Bootable XP cd & boot into the recovery console.(you have to set the 1st boot device as CD-ROM in BIOS)
press R in that welcome screen to enter the windows recovery console.
2) in the recovery console type in
fixboot c:
Say Y

next type in

fixmbr
Say "Y"

4) Restart the system


You have now removed the Vista Loader...
So
Boot into XP Operating system

1.Right click on my computer -->properties

2.Advanced-->startup & recovery settings-->

3. Choose the primary XP operating system & set the timeout as 0


Delete any vista files manually from the windows explorer from XP. (Or reformat)

 

[renegade X]

I don't think that will work. Vista does not startup with the boot.ini

Correct, it will not work. And yes I know how to use the recovery console, but I want a faster method for future reference. There is a way, but I can not find it. It was a file named fixntfs.exe or something, but I see nothing in the "boot" folder. Anyone know?

 

[uhaligani]

You can install the recovery console on you XP partition. I do not think much could then be quicker, but maybe some reader will pop up with a suggestion.

 

[pkjmesra]

Hi,
you can try this ...http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933168

 

[renegade X]

The solution I was looking for can only be done in a 64 bit environment, so I guess the recovery console is the only option.