Member Avatar for mtsado

Please if I have 2 Opering Systems running on a laptop (i.e Windows XP and Windows 2003) and I intend to remove/uninstall Windows 2003 from the system. Could you help me with the procedure. I remember doing it one time but forget how now
Remember that it will not appear on the Control Panel (Add or Remove Software)

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A concise, safe checklist to remove Windows Server 2003 from a dual-boot with Windows XP — expands on points raised by (partition removal) and (fixing the boot order) with concrete verification and recovery steps.

Start with a full backup and boot into the copy of Windows that will remain (XP). Confirm the XP partition contains the boot files and the active boot loader: show hidden/system files and verify C:\ntldr, C:\ntdetect.com and C:\boot.ini exist. If boot.ini must be edited, use the System Configuration tool (msconfig) Boot.ini tab where available, or remove the system/hidden attributes, edit, then restore attributes:

attrib -s -h -r C:\boot.ini
notepad C:\boot.ini
attrib +s +h +r C:\boot.ini

Make the XP partition the active/system partition before removing the other OS. If the PC fails to boot after changes, repair from the Windows XP install CD (Recovery Console); common recovery commands are:

copy D:\i386\ntldr C:\
copy D:\i386\ntdetect.com C:\
fixboot C:
fixmbr
bootcfg /rebuild

(D: above is the CD drive letter as seen inside Recovery Console; adjust if different.)

Once XP is confirmed bootable by itself, remove the Windows 2003 partition. Disk Management can delete volumes; to reclaim or expand the remaining NTFS space, use a reliable partitioning tool (GParted, Partition Manager, etc.), since XP basic Disk Management cannot extend a primary NTFS volume into adjacent free space on a basic disk. Final checks: confirm boot.ini no longer lists the 2003 entry, verify important data from the removed partition is backed up elsewhere, and keep the XP boot files on the system root. Common failure modes (NTLDR/boot.ini errors) are addressed by the Recovery Console steps above.

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Member Avatar for mjdodd

Since they have to be on different partitions one can use a partition manager and delete the partition you do not want. you may have to modify the boot file to remove the entry for the old partition.
M

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