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#1
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Wiping off the Win2K / WinME boot menu
I had a multi-boot machine - I installed Win2K on a seperate HD (which died)
now I have one drive with Windows ME on it. I don't want the "Please select which version of windows you want to boot into screen" to appear any more because the default option is win2k and I like to start the machine remotely using a magic packet. I've been told inserting a boot disk and typing sys c: will fix this problem, but I would like clarification of what sys c: will do - I don't want to reinstall winme. I just want the option screen to go and the default winme os to load as it does in a normal installation. Thanks for any help. |
#3
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mechanism and no longer use the Win2K ntldr and boot menu. Once you have
used sys c: you should be able to boot directly into Win Me with no boot menu. Thanks Mike, now that I know I won't have to re-install, I'll give it a go. Cheers. |
#5
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On Thu, 25 Aug 2005 15:08:07 +0000 (UTC), wrote:
I had a multi-boot machine - I installed Win2K on a seperate HD (which died) now I have one drive with Windows ME on it. I don't want the "Please select which version of windows you want to boot into screen" to appear any more because the default option is win2k and I like to start the machine remotely using a magic packet. What you could do is edit C:\BOOT.INI to make WinME the default boot, and (if you like) change the timeout pause. C:\Boot.ini will be hidden etc. I've been told inserting a boot disk and typing sys c: will fix this problem, but I would like clarification of what sys c: will do Here's what's currently happening: - BIOS runs MBR code - MBR finds active partition, runs PBR - PBR code from NT will load C:\NTLDR - C:\NTLDR processes C:\Boot.ini - if WinME selected, C:\BOOTSECT.DOS loaded - C:\BOOTSECT.DOS run as if it was the PBR... - ...so it loads C:\IO.SYS, and thus WinME Sys C: will do the following: - replace PBR withWinME PBR - create C:\IO.SYS - create C:\COMMAND.COM - create C:\D??SPACE.BIN Here's what will then happen: - BIOS runs MBR code - MBR finds active partition, runs PBR - PBR code from WinME will load C:\IO.SYS - C:\IO.SYS then loads WinME Note that Sys C: will not preserve the existing PBR, and thus you won't have a way to run the NT/Win2000/XP anymore, unless you repair that. In XP, the Recovery Console's FixBoot will do that; dunno if NT or Win2000 have a similar facility. With that in mind, I'd prolly prefer the C:\Boot.ini option. BTW: Be careful when ;commenting out items there; ; is not seen as a commenbt character in certain parts of Boot.ini (where the OSs are defined). Example: [Boot Loader] Timeout=5 ; Comments here are OK ; This may get DOS mode to boot by default... ; Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\XPPRO Default=C:\ ; ; Do NOT comment in the next section !! [Operating Systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\XPPRO="Microso ft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\XPPRO="Microso ft Windows XP Professional No-NX" /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\XPPRO="Microso ft Windows XP Professional No Parms" C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons C:\ = "Maintenance DOS Mode" ---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - - Proverbs Unscrolled #37 "Build it and they will come and break it" ---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - - |
#6
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All very educational but pretty irrelevant since the user no longer has a
hard disk or partition containing Win2K. I therefore see little or no point in retaining ntldr, boot.ini etc and would strongly recommend that he take the sys c: route rather than continue to encumber his system with the unnecessary and unwanted NT boot loader. -- Mike Maltby cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user) wrote: On Thu, 25 Aug 2005 15:08:07 +0000 (UTC), wrote: I had a multi-boot machine - I installed Win2K on a seperate HD (which died) now I have one drive with Windows ME on it. I don't want the "Please select which version of windows you want to boot into screen" to appear any more because the default option is win2k and I like to start the machine remotely using a magic packet. What you could do is edit C:\BOOT.INI to make WinME the default boot, and (if you like) change the timeout pause. C:\Boot.ini will be hidden etc. I've been told inserting a boot disk and typing sys c: will fix this problem, but I would like clarification of what sys c: will do Here's what's currently happening: - BIOS runs MBR code - MBR finds active partition, runs PBR - PBR code from NT will load C:\NTLDR - C:\NTLDR processes C:\Boot.ini - if WinME selected, C:\BOOTSECT.DOS loaded - C:\BOOTSECT.DOS run as if it was the PBR... - ...so it loads C:\IO.SYS, and thus WinME Sys C: will do the following: - replace PBR withWinME PBR - create C:\IO.SYS - create C:\COMMAND.COM - create C:\D??SPACE.BIN Here's what will then happen: - BIOS runs MBR code - MBR finds active partition, runs PBR - PBR code from WinME will load C:\IO.SYS - C:\IO.SYS then loads WinME Note that Sys C: will not preserve the existing PBR, and thus you won't have a way to run the NT/Win2000/XP anymore, unless you repair that. In XP, the Recovery Console's FixBoot will do that; dunno if NT or Win2000 have a similar facility. With that in mind, I'd prolly prefer the C:\Boot.ini option. BTW: Be careful when ;commenting out items there; ; is not seen as a commenbt character in certain parts of Boot.ini (where the OSs are defined). Example: [Boot Loader] Timeout=5 ; Comments here are OK ; This may get DOS mode to boot by default... ; Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\XPPRO Default=C:\ ; ; Do NOT comment in the next section !! [Operating Systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\XPPRO="Microso ft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\XPPRO="Microso ft Windows XP Professional No-NX" /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\XPPRO="Microso ft Windows XP Professional No Parms" C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons C:\ = "Maintenance DOS Mode" ---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - - Proverbs Unscrolled #37 "Build it and they will come and break it" ---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - - |
#7
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All very educational but pretty irrelevant since the user no longer has a
hard disk or partition containing Win2K. I therefore see little or no point in retaining ntldr, boot.ini etc and would strongly recommend that he take the sys c: route rather than continue to encumber his system with the unnecessary and unwanted NT boot loader. Well I'll tell you what I did in the end - saved feckin around with floppy disks and rebooting and ensuring floppy drive was in the boot order, etc, etc (by the way none of my floppy disks worked after all these years and the boot disk I made was ignored anyway when I did get one to be read properly). So, forget all that. All I did was: C:\attrib -r -a -s -h boot.ini and deleted the irrelevant bits from boot.ini and put the attribs back. Job done. Didn't even need to reboot. Why couldn't someone have pointed that one out to me to begin with?!! Hee he. |
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