Stop o/s trying to setup

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Hi guys. got a windows 2000 issue thats bugging me.

I formatted a friends hard drive via an external H/D case plugged in by usb to my PC. after formatting and fdisk and all that, i wanted to install windows 2000 onto the drive. i thought i would have the option at some point for the installation to go onto the external drive, but i didn't get the option. windows began to install onto my PC's drive. Now, everytime i boot up, i get an option to either carry on with the install or boot in windows normally. i have deleted the temp folder with all the installation files in which will stop the install if i forget to change the option (install is the default), but now i need to get rid of the option appearing in the first place. short of reformatting myself, i don;t know what else to do.

can anyone help?

cheers

'feef
 
Well, the setup does ask you to confirm the drive you want to install onto... :?

If you want to install onto another drive, or even if you have a multi-drive system, I find the safest way is to disconnect all HDs apart from the one you want the OS on.

There is a screen near the beginning of set-up that gives you the option to install drivers for another HD controller (e.g. a SCSI or RAID controller). At this point, follow that option by pressing F8 or whatever key it specifies. You will need a driver for the USB hard-drive (might be one already in the Windows install, dunno). Then it should let you select that drive.

Bear in mind, you should install the OS with the drive in the PC it is intended to be used in. Reason being, Windows will install drivers specific to YOUR motherboard, graphics etc. Makes it a hassle if it then has to sort out different drivers when put in your mates' computer.

Personally I would just reinstall, nothing like a clean installation to make your PC fly. Just a hassle to reinstall all your software though...
 
Look for a file called boot.ini in the root directory c:\ the file is hidden so you may have to adjust the setting in your explorer.
 
Hi

This is what you need to do.

1) Boot into your normal Windows 2K.
2) Goto the control panel and double click on the System icon.
3) Click on the Advanced tab at the top.
4) Click on the settings button in the Startup and Recovery section.
5) Click the Edit button. This opens the boot.ini file mentioned by Eddie.

6) find the line that reads

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\? (Where ? is the default o/s).

To make this Windows, change the \? in my example to \WINDOWS

ie, change the line to read

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

7) Now find the line containing the Windows Setup and delete it (Just this line!)

Save the file and reboot.
 
Whoa, careful, that assumes a default (99%) installation. Doing this blindly could cause your system to become un-bootable. BTW, I actually posted a much more detailed reply originally, but occasionally when I add emoticons, it blanks out large amounts of my text.
 
Agreed, this was an assumption.

Try this way. Open a command prompt

Type

BOOTCFG /QUERY

This will list the boot entries in boot.ini. Note the Boot Entry ids for each o/s.

To change the default o/s, type:

BOOTCFG /DEFAULT /ID ?

(Where ? is the Boot Entry id of the o/s you want to default)

To delete an boot entry, type:

BOOTCFG /DELETE /ID ?

(Where ? is the Boot Entry id of the o/s you want to delete)
 
Thanks for all the replies guys. i actually found something whilst i was messing about with dxdiag (diagnosing a sound issue)..i can;t remember if it was in dxdiag, but anyway...it was a dop down list of boot options..one was win 200 setup, the other just win 2000..i chose windows 2000..and hey presto. it's a bit like setting the boot order in bios of your floppy/hd etc.
 
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