Help me customise my Windows XP boot process

[Geege]

Hi everyone, I've recently re-installed a new copy of Windows XP Media Centre edition by formatting my hard drive and re-installing the operating system. This was after upgrading my components.

I'm sure there isn't anything actually wrong with this new installation however what is annoying are two issues, when the computer boots.

1) Firstly there is the options screen when it asks you what OS to load, as though there are two operating systems installed (there isn't). Both options are the same "Windows XP Media Centre Edition" and there is the count down from 30 seconds.

Why is this, and can I make it just select it to start the operating system as normal without having to ask me??? Are there options in control panel perhaps or in my motherboard BIOS to do this?

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r169/father2b/PICT5449.jpg

2) Then the operating system loads fine but just before reaching the desktop it stops at the administrator page and asks me to click on the icon/name to load my personal settings.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r169/father2b/PICT5450.jpg
(I've deleted my name from the photo)

As you can see both these issues are frustrating and I just wish it would load straight into the desktop without this.

Can you help me fix it or customise / change settings (control panel ??) so that this doesn't happen. Many thanks.

[sniperdude]

to me mate i looks like you have installed it to the wrong drive and now you have 2
installs of xp media centre installed


or something along them lines

what your seeing is dual boot options /what install do you want to use

[Geege]

to me mate i looks like you have installed it to the wrong drive and now you have 2
installs of xp media centre installed


or something along them lines

what your seeing is dual boot options /what install do you want to use

I don't understand, as all I did was format (full not the quick format) my hard drive (C:/) and re-install Windows as normal following the instructions. Is there anything I can do now?

[sniperdude]

do you only have 1 hard drive connected to the pc ?

[NeilX90]

Sniper is right in that your system thinks it has a dual-boot option and this is usually down to an error deleting the partition.

However, there are some quick fixes for your multiple OS woes.

Start.. Run... type msconfig. Select the BOOT.INI tab and then click the 'Check All Boot Paths' button. It will report back which one is there in error and give you the option to remove it.

Another easy fix for your log-in option. Still using the command prompt, type 'control passwords2' and then uncheck the option requiring users to login with a username and password.

All should be fixed :D

[Baggpuss]

theres a program called easybcd which allows you to edit the boot order and remove os's from the boot sequence. Thing is as both your os's are the same one you will need to be carefull to only delete the one you dont want.

Failing all that you could just completly format and start again, but thats only a last resort

[Madpeter]

easybcd is for vista and other versions built onto vista, (media center) is a xp build so if u where to use easybcd you would have to use the legacy boot editer option.

but if you know they are both the same (and only have 1 hdd) then you can edit the boot file yourself.
(warning backup before you do this if you mess it up its hard to repair if you dont know how to rebuild it from the windows cd repair console)

1: goto your harddrive ( normaly C: )
2: enable view system files and hidden files (tools>folder options>view tab)
3: open boot.ini


[boot loader]
timeout=1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP media" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP media" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

you will see somthing like that you can set the timeout to 1 or remove an option in the operating systems part (check they are both the same before doing so.

[Geege]

Thank you everyone for all your help. I've now fixed both issues. I fiddled around with the control userpasswords2 command prompt and also simply deleted the boot.ini path that was the rogue/problem one.

Now as soon as I press the on button to boot up, it boots straight into the desktop, just how I wanted it.:-)

[M4cc45]

Deleting the boot.ini is not recommended and could have caused you issues - I'm glad it didn't in this case!

In the future if you need to change the boot.ini it's easier to do it in Windows rather than going through the show hidden files, etc.

Right click My Computer / Properties (in vista click system protection) / Select advanced tab / under startup and recovery click settings. At the top you should notice the operating system you want to boot and a tick under it which says 'Time to display a list of operating systems' simply untick this and job done.



M.