A nice little problem... You might laugh

Dr Nic

Running win xp on a pc.
Attempted to use this pc to install an .iso of xp onto a fresh external hard drive.
So i mounted iso using daemon-tools and rebooted.

Now EVERY time i reboot my pc the iso kicks in and it trys to install windows.
How do i stop it?

I've tried it all. Safe mode, boot to dos etc.
No clue how to avoid it.

Maybe rename config.sys autoexec.bat, but i dont know the full implications of it.
Any help appreciated Guys
Thanks
John

corkcomp

Dr Nic wrote: »

Running win xp on a pc.
Attempted to use this pc to install an .iso of xp onto a fresh external hard drive.
So i mounted iso using daemon-tools and rebooted.

Now EVERY time i reboot my pc the iso kicks in and it trys to install windows.
How do i stop it?

I've tried it all. Safe mode, boot to dos etc.
No clue how to avoid it.

Maybe rename config.sys autoexec.bat, but i dont know the full implications of it.
Any help appreciated Guys
Thanks
John

lol

boot to dos / recovery console using xp cd and edit the boot.ini file

Dr Nic

Thanks
I should be able to find it, but where is boot.ini.

Ive searched all my drives on working laptop and nothing
I have hidden files set to be shown, and no sign of it!
Thanks again
John

oisin

Have you unmounted the iso from Daemon Tools?

CrinkElite

I'm not 100% on this but pressing F8 during the boot sequence should allow you to select your regular boot partition.

Other than that you could try altering the boot order in the BIOS to exclude any CD media.

Dr Nic

Thanks Guys.
I cant login to windows to unmount the iso
And ive tried everything with F8 and boot order. The problem is that when i boot from the hard drive there is a flag set in boot.ini or elsewhere to begin installing windows from the iso

Pure balls - Caught out trying to be too smart.
I can just pop the drive out to an external caddy, strip it of useful data and then reinstall, but i really dont want to do this

CrinkElite

That sucks, I'm sure if you wait a while you'll find someone with the know how to help you out.
some of the guys on here will help you sort that out in a jiffy. Might save you a lot of grief.
Best of luck with it anyway.

Adam

create a new boot.ini file:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSXm2Top8JQ

Gadgetman496

Dr Nic wrote: »

Thanks
I should be able to find it, but where is boot.ini.

Ive searched all my drives on working laptop and nothing
I have hidden files set to be shown, and no sign of it!
Thanks again
John

Hidden files set to be shown won't show the Boot.ini file.

You need to untic the option for "Hide Protected Operating System Files" too.

The Boot.ini file is located on C:\ and this is how it should look for XP

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

You could boot from a Linux CD to unmount the ISO

Rockn

Weird problem. If you log into safe mode/DOS just rename/delete the ISO.

Dr Nic

Thanks I'll boot from a crunchbang cd i have...
Thats a great idea!!! Will linux let me unmount? Hopefully!

I couldnt get into any kind of safe mode windows - The windows install cd overwrite the command and went into the install process...

mach1982

Download a Linux live CD, boot from the edit the boot.ini file .

Adam

if it's booting in to xp installation screen then surely you're getting the option to enter recovery mode?

Dr Nic

I can get into recovery mode, but thats it.
Every time i restart back to square one again and reinstalling windows

No time to look at it today

Adam

then from recovery mode create new boot.ini?

Dr Nic

Where would i find the boot.ini from a Linux cd? I have a bash shell now with all the linux type filesystem from a 'damn small linux cd', but i cannot find any of the files off the windows system
Any idea's?
Thanks
John

Dr Nic

All sorted now guys thanks!
Had to rip up an old maxtor one touch external drive to use as a caddy for the problem drive. Then just edited boot.ini as suggested.
Thanks again
John

Nulty

Excuse me while I bump this thread. Its hilarious!!

I went searching for threads on multi booting and found a gem! :pac:

Had quite a giggle....but I wouldn't know much about solving the problem

Should be stickied but theres enough sticky stuff in this forum.