Windows 2000 uninstall on a dual-boot 2000/XP system

Question

While several questions have already been answered about removing an OS from a dual-booting machine, most refer to Windows 7 vs. Linux/Vista/XP.

I have Windows 2000 installed on my older hard drive (Drive C). Later on I bought a new hard drive and installed XP's under Windows 2000 environment. Each time I turned my PC on, I had the choice of Windows 2000 or XP OS, which I still have. I eventually stopped using the Windows 2000 OS and as the older hard drive where this OS is installed is getting old, I plan to remove it completely.

The problem is that the active master boot record is on this very hard drive. So when I remove the hard drive, I get no OS loader, no matter what boot drive I choose in BIOS. Apparently I have to set the boot record on the newer hard drive with XP's.

Some advise to use the bootable XP CD and try to set the active MBR from there.. I don't have the CD anymore. Regardless, I suspect there is much less to solving this problem than running the recovery console, like a simple boot.ini file edit. But I might be wrong.

Answer 1

in fact there is much much more involved than just booting from a windows XP CDROM. i suspect the boot loader was on C and XP was installed on D, now you want to remove the old C drive and expect Windows XP to boot from what is now the C drive. even if you're manage to to repair the boot files, it ain't going to work. this is going to be very very tough nut. you're far better off with retrieving the license key of your XP installation (e.g. with WinKeyFinder), 'organize' an adequate CDROM (e.g. XP Home OEM) and then install XP from scratch.

Answer 2

Many thanks Molly. Should it be that much complicated, I may just keep using the PC as I did before, e.g. keep all important data on drive D: and boot into XP's from the ancient C: W2K HDD until it dies. By that time, it may be beneficial to get a new machine and try the Windows 7 anyway.