[Ripvanwinc]

I have re-booted my computer over the last few years, so I have 4 opperating systems on my computer and I have to tick the one I need when I start up. I can open 2 of the systems but would prefer to remove them as they must be using my memory space. How do I remove them. Dave.

[mphenterprises]

Hi Rip and welcome to the PCWorld Communities. :D




First, some housekeeping. I have changed your Discussion title to give a clearer indication of your question. For future reference, please be as descriptive as possible in both the heading of your Discussion as well as the post itself. Also, please do not post your personal information within the forums for your own security and privacy.

Now, it took me reading your post a couple of times before I was able to decipher exactly what you need. If I am reading this correctly, you have installed several Operating Systems over the years and now would like to uninstall them, is that correct?

If that is correct, the first thing that would help us would be naming the Operating Systems you have. Without knowing the Operating Systems, the most effective way that I can think of to completely remove any Operating System is to use the Windows XP CD (presuming that this is the Operating System you want to keep) and delete the partitions of each Operating System you do not want. However, before any further assumptions are made, please provide some details of what Operating Systems you have and which one you want to keep.

[Ripvanwinc]

Thank you for your reply, Yes I think you understand, At start up I get the ( windows xp home edition) listed four times and I have to tick the one I need befor it loads. I am under the impression that if I tick the others I get the old problem of ether a blue screen or will not open, but it appers I can open two editions with my different setups on them. I only need one working system should I delet the others and if so how, would leaving a back up there be of any help in case of a crash ? Yours Ripvan.

[mphenterprises]

Okay, in your situation, there is the easy way and then there is the not so easy way:


Not So Easy Way But Most Effective

The most straight forward way is to grab your Windows XP CD and do a clean installation of Windows XP Home. However, before you start the installation, you would delete the other Windows XP Home installations:

- Backup all of your essential personal files onto CD, DVD, or into another drive

- Restart your computer and access the BIOS screen. If you are not sure how to access the BIOS, please review the steps within this Document, {document:id=1111}.

- Once you have completed this step, make sure you have the Windows XP CD in the CD drive and restart the computer

- Once you restart your computer, you will see a message, "Press Any Key to Boot from CD/DVD..." When you see this message, press the space bar.

- During the Windows Setup, you will have the option of selecting which partition you want to manage. Before you do anything else, and since you do not know which Windows partition is clean, select each Windows XP partition and click D to delete that partition, you will be prompted to confirm this process for each partition you delete.

- Once you have deleted all four Windows partitions, you should have a bunch of Unallocated Partitions. At this point, you can select one of these partitions and do the installation of Windows XP Home, within that partition. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the initial installation of Windows XP Home and use your COA (Certificate of Authenticity) to complete the final stages.




When you are done, you will have one Windows XP installation.




Easy Way But Requires Some Thought

- Download an application called "Easy BCD" available here: http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

- When you install and run this application, click on Add/Remove Entries

- On the right side, you will see all of the available installations. You can simply select all but one and click Delete. The only problem with this is that you do not know which installation of Windows XP Home is the valid installation. Normally, the list goes from top to bottom, newest to oldest. That being said, if you select all but the top entry, you should remove the three bad installations.

- Once you are done, restart the computer




When you are done, you will see one installation of Windows XP Home.

[Ripvanwinc]

thank you for the information