HELP!! Windows XP Professional / Home Edition installation problems!! Take it out!!!!

[valerie_h]

hey everyone

i'm new at this site and i really need some help!

well, it all starts with my stupid RA (resident advisor).. that dumb broad INSISTED that i needed Win XP's Service Pack 1 for my internet connection to work.. So she gave me this disc and told me to install all this useless crap onto my computer and when i finally got to the end to installing the service pack, it said that the file was corrupted .. so i tried the WHOLE process OVER again and then it said that the Product key was invalid or something.

Okay so, she was of NO help to me.. So my roommate gave me this Windows XP Home Edition to install onto my computer so I could have the service pack and everything.

I tried, and almost everything was installed, but this error message came up saying that Windows XP Professional could not be upgraded to the Home Edition so the installation couldn't go through (or whatever)

So I decided to quit that and everything.

Anyways, after a day or two, I called the "computer people" and asked them about my computer and they said that I didn't need Service pack 1 for my internet and they set it up for me right there on the spot in less than 2 minutes (stupid RA.. errgh)..

So I went through all that trouble because this broad thought she knew her stuff.. anyhoo.. Now whenever I start my computer, there's always a screen that's asking me if I still want to install Windows Home Edition. I tried and tried to find an option to like, stop installation, but the only choices that are available are "Start with Windows Professional" and "Complete Windows Setup".. and these options come in like, DOS format.. like, when my computer starts, it's on like a DOS type lookin screen... (i dont know if that made any sense but yea.. you get the picture.. hopefully)

It gets really annoying and I want to know how to get rid of that screen.. I don't want my computer to run on two operating systems and I want to know if there's any other way to get rid of the Windows XP Home edition installation (without having to format the whole thing).

Thanks!

[crossedup]

Get a bootable XP CD and boot from it, choose the recovery console option.

When you finally get to a prompt type in "fixMBR" then reboot after it does its thing. Shouldnt take it 15 seconds or so.

Hopefully that should get it, sounds like your master boot record is screwed up, thats where that info comes from. Dual o/s's, that sort of thing.

[EvilRick]

It would be easier to use 'Notepad' to edit the "boot.ini" file found in C:\

Just remove the entire line that has the 'Home' installation. ONLY remove that line.

When you reboot, you shouldn't be prompted for anything and it should go into XP Pro.

[johnnyis42]

at this point those other 2 suggestions might fix your problem, but they most likely won't tackle the bigger issue: why service pack 1 won't install.

service pack 1 should be installed simply for the fact that without it you cannot get a number of updates that patch vulnerabilities and performance problems that have come out in the last year. being in a college network environment, it would be very wise to have windows patched up to the very latest if you don't want to end up having to routinely repair viruses contracted from other computers on the LAN.

if you can successfully start in safe mode you can go into computer properties under the startup and recovery tab and edit your boot.ini there to rid yourself of the xp home install option at boot. as for your other problem with not being able to get internet, if you have the standard install of kazaa you will have to run "kazaa be gone" to get rid of the nasty network changes it makes to your windows install.

i'm assuming here bassed on common problems i know of. it sounds like you really need to have someone look at your machine who knows what they are doing (which DOEN NOT necessarily mean you need to take it to some place that charges you money!) hopefully these suggestions lead you to a soulution you can come upon yourself, but there isn't always an easy 1-2-3 step solution when it comes to service packs not installing. microsoft's knowledge base might have a solution as well, if you are inclined to search there.

good luck!

[valerie_h]

okay well.. i'm looking at the boot.ini file right now... so, which one do i delete?

its says:

[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows XP Setup"

so i delete this whole line (the colored one)??

[EvilRick]

Removig the red line will solve your problem of it showing the boot menu during startup and it will boot into Windows XP Pro by default.

[valerie_h]

i tried it..

it won't let me save the changes....



what do i do now..?

oh yea.. where is the boot.ini file located so i can do that unchecking thing on the "Read Only" stuff..

[EvilRick]

It's in the root of C:

It would look like C:\boot.ini

You'll need to right-click and uncheck the "Read only" attribute, make your changes and then save it. You don't need to make it "Read only" when you're done.

[valerie_h]

hey! it worked...

i had to do the Folder Option - Show hidden files thingy but i finally changed the boot.ini to read only

after i erased the line, it still didnt work, so i compared the boot.ini file with my brother's boot.ini on his comp

so, after adjusting, everything works fine now.. like butta.. hehe

thanks a lot!!