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I have a computer with Windows XP on it, and for a few weeks, I added another hard drive with Windows 7 on it. I've since removed the drive that had 7 on it, but whenever I boot the PC, I'm prompted to boot to Windows 7 or to "an earlier version of windows". The really lame part is that 7 is the default option that gets chosen in 30 seconds if there's no input, meaning I have to babysit the boot for the first minute or so.

How can I remove this prompt, since there's only one OS on the system? I just want it to boot to XP, since that's the only OS available.

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3 Answers

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When you installed Windows 7, it installed a newer bootloader which your system is now using to boot. Since you are no longer have Windows 7 around to modify the bootloader you can either try installing EasyBCD which you can use to modify the Windows Vista/7 bootloader entries.

Alternatively, you could use an XP setup or recovery CD to boot into recovery mode and reinstall the XP bootloader using the fixmbr and fixboot commands at the recovery console.

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I'd always have a look with EasyBD instead of going straight into the boot.ini – Ivo Flipse♦ Feb 23 '10 at 6:18
EasyBCD did the trick. Thanks! – Mike Pateras Feb 25 '10 at 13:15
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How to edit the Boot.ini file in Windows XP

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It actually sounds like he installed Windows 7 and the Windows Vista/7 bootloader has been installed, so the boot.ini file probably isn't going to do any good. – heavyd Feb 23 '10 at 4:42
Sounds to me like he installed a HDD that already had Windows 7 on it. Does merely having a second HDD with 7 installed modify the existing boot.ini? – Scott Feb 23 '10 at 4:48
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Start -> Run... -> msconfig

Switch to the Boot tab and you can delete the line that boots to XP.

msconfig boot editor

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