need windows dual boot help!

[KyzrSoze]

I have had my computer set up as a dual boot system win98/winXP for the last 2 years or so. I would like to get rid of win98 entirely and use the whole drive for winXP, but can I do that without completely wiping the hard drive and repartitioning etc. ? &(

win98 is the C drive and winXP is D

[Y2kGoofball]

hmm, you'd probably have to use some partition software to do that, I dont know too much about it as I usually format to partition or repartition, but I'm sure someone else would know how to

Personally, and you dont have to agree, but I think it'd be better to backup the stuff you want and format, this way it'll remove the 2 years worth of un-needed build up and prevent any hassles with invalid links to a partition that no longer exists. Sure, it'll take a while if you properly backup everything but it will also prevent alot of heart ache later on down the track.

sorry I cant help, best of luck with it tho :)

[OBF]

It is a tricky proposition KyzrSoze, as XP, like all NT variations of Windows, knows where it is. =[

[bogs]

Well , like much of the rest of windows world , theres an 'easy' way , and a not really so much harder way , and of course , the right way hehe .
Sounds like your looking , at least for now , the 'easy ' way , here is what I would suggest .

1.) right click ( in XP ) on 'My Computer' , choose properties , choose the advanced tab .

2.) you should see something to the effect of a 'Startup and Recovery' button at the bottom , click it .

3.)you should see something to the effect of 'default operating system' , set that to xp / fast detect , below that clear the ' Display list of operating systems for' box .

4.) click [ok] [apply] <- if applicable -> [ok] .

5.) if required , reboot .

this will give you , in effect , one operating system ( xp ) . Feel free to delete the other . if you want to make 98 completely inoperable , you will have to modify the booting file , however as long as xp is the default os your pretty much on its grounds .

If you further want to disable 98 without modifying your startup file , change your filesystem to ntfs ( through xp ) .

This is only a 'quick and dirty ' method , , but should be sufficient .

[Y2kGoofball]

hmm well I didnt know of that trick!

I dont know if it'd help but in control panel > classic view> administrator tools> computer management> disk management theres a section in there to manage partitions.

You will see your partitions.

theoretically once youve set XP as the default as above you'd be able to use that XP disk mangement to delete the partition in question (98), but problem is then does that allocate that space back to your XP partition, or does it dissapear? Then again XP is on drive D so you need to rename ...

I'd reccomend maybe doing a search on it, maybe at the microsoft website or on the net for how to use the XP Disk Management tool, I'm sure it can do what your after.

Only if you feel adventurous, as ive only ever done this once before and that was to setup partitions you could try ...

get into it. Right click on Drive D and rename it drive E
Right click drive C and rename it drive D
Then right click on drive E and rename it drive C.

Now you should have at least swapped your drives. Then you should be able to at least format drive "D" to use the space that win 98 once took. If you wanted, try to see if you can delete it and allocate the space back to drive C

Like I said only if you feel adventurous, as ive got no idea really, and I aint the blame if you stuff it up

[KyzrSoze]

Thanks for the help guys. I need to do this because my disk space is running low, and since I my wife and I use this machine for separate businesses I really don’t want to get into setting everything for both of us again. If I reformatted and just one email address was missing my wife would be giving me the evil eye.

I just wasn’t sure if the machine would boot again if I screwed up the C drive, but Bogs idea may be just the ticket.


And yes, I know anything that gets screwed up will be my fault. :D

[bogs]

Just keep in mind , Kyzr , that the loading file ( determines operating system ) is going to most likely going to be ON the c:\ drive . Obviously , this means you want to avoid deleting any system configuration file pertaining to the loading of nt ( xp ) in particular , and its safest all around if you leave all the rest of the system files alone as well . Deleting the win98 os directory will do no harm ( provided you back up the parts of that directory you want to keep , i.e. favorites , etc. ) and of course , any other programs you only used in 98 are just taking up space . Good luck -^

[KyzrSoze]

Well, I didnt want to do it, but I just installed XP on the C drive and started moving things over from D. Everything went just fine, it just took more time than I wanted to put into it. The tuff part was moving the mail and address book from d to c - not all like win98. It was easy to move, just hard to figure out which files were needed.

[bogs]

Theres actually an 'easy' and almost foolproof way to do addresses from your address book too ( easy to permanently back them up , I mean ) . This assumes you are using Outlook Express , though , so if you aren't , there isn't going to be much to see here unless the program you are using allows something similar .

1.) Create a folder on your desktop ( name it email addresses or similar )

2.) Open Outlook , Tools menu , Address Book .

3.) Open the adresses folder you just created and place it to the side of the address book .

4.) Highlight the addresses in the right pane ( either using the lasso method with the mouse , or by highlighting the first and shift+left clicking the last )

5.) Right click and hold down the right mouse button ( like you would with the left if you were dragging something ) on the highlighted addresses and drag them over to the folder . When you let go of the right mouse button , you'll see a right click menu appear , choose 'Copy Here'.

Voila , you now have a copy of the address book addresses , ready for storage in a zip file if you like .

To restore your address book ( say , to a fresh installation ) just highlight all the address cards in the folder and hit and hold down the [ Enter ] untill all are done . ( a note of caution , when you get near the end , you might want to start hitting the [Enter] key one at a time , or you will open all the highlighted addy's again ;) )

BTW , the same can be done for any emails you might want archived , simply make the folder , and drag / copy them from Outlook -^

[KyzrSoze]

Yes - and that works very wel if you think of it before you install XP on the C drive, effectively destryoing the dual boot feature! ^_^

[Y2kGoofball]

i think you can do it in outlook as well (not just express)

[bogs]

Sorry , Kyzr , I should have noted that that was a "for the future / or / for the next time " tip , and not something that would help you THIS time heh heh :)

On the other hand , you ''could'' do that now , burn it to a cd or floppy , and be all "ready" for the next time ahead of time ;)

Y2k , yes , it should work in any variation of Outlook , I meant other email programs such as Eudora etc .. , as I know they are popular , but I dont use them myself -^

[KyzrSoze]

Sorry , Kyzr , I should have noted that that was a "for the future / or / for the next time " tip , and not something that would help you THIS time heh heh :)

On the other hand , you ''could'' do that now , burn it to a cd or floppy , and be all "ready" for the next time ahead of time ;)

Y2k , yes , it should work in any variation of Outlook , I meant other email programs such as Eudora etc .. , as I know they are popular , but I dont use them myself -^

Actually, after the initial headache of figuring it out the fix for my situation was very easy. This folder: C:\Documents and Settings\Fred\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\outlook has two data files that contain all of the account settings, email, address book, calendar, to do lists, etc. for outlook. Just back up this folder and you save everything. :)

Note: I switched from XP pro to XP home, and the file structure for the user directories are slightly different. I had to move individual files and folders to make everthing work properly instead of just backing up and moving my user folder.