how remove xp after vista installation

Once Vista is installed as the fresh copy, the old XP is normally zipped or something into a special folder. That folder takes some space I would like to use. How can I uninstall that old version of XP? I cant just delete that folder since on the start up Vista knows that that XP folder sits in there, therfore, it (Vista) will look for it once the Folder (XP) will be deleted manually. Is there any start up file I can edit which has the info regarding that old XP folder? To sum up, need to find a file to edit , responsible for the start up so I could manually delete the OLD XP folder and leave the VISTA start up process intact.

That is a very good question. I would also like to know it there is a way to do that also.
"ilushkin" wrote:

Once Vista is installed as the fresh copy, the old XP is normally zipped or something into a special folder. That folder takes some space I would like to use. How can I uninstall that old version of XP? I cant just delete that folder since on the start up Vista knows that that XP folder sits in there, therfore, it (Vista) will look for it once the Folder (XP) will be deleted manually. Is there any start up file I can edit which has the info regarding that old XP folder? To sum up, need to find a file to edit , responsible for the start up so I could manually delete the OLD XP folder and leave the VISTA start up process intact.

Is there a boot.ini file in the root directory on your Vista drive? I don't have a Vista machine nearby to check, but that file contains the menu items you get when you boot up. That's the file that XP and the other recent Windows OS's use. If that file exists, you can edit out the line that points to XP, then delete all the XP folders. Of course, save a copy of the ini file first. If you are not familiar with the layout of that file, you might want to search Microsoft.com to learn about it.
"ilushkin" wrote:

Once Vista is installed as the fresh copy, the old XP is normally zipped or something into a special folder. That folder takes some space I would like to use. How can I uninstall that old version of XP? I cant just delete that folder since on the start up Vista knows that that XP folder sits in there, therfore, it (Vista) will look for it once the Folder (XP) will be deleted manually. Is there any start up file I can edit which has the info regarding that old XP folder? To sum up, need to find a file to edit , responsible for the start up so I could manually delete the OLD XP folder and leave the VISTA start up process intact.

Oops, sorry, I had a brain fart. Just as I hit the "Post" button, I remembered about bcdedit. Go to a command prompt in Vista, then run bcdedit.exe. That's how you edit Vista's equivalent of the boot.ini file.
"John Schneider" wrote:

Is there a boot.ini file in the root directory on your Vista drive? I don't have a Vista machine nearby to check, but that file contains the menu items you get when you boot up. That's the file that XP and the other recent Windows OS's use. If that file exists, you can edit out the line that points to XP, then delete all the XP folders. Of course, save a copy of the ini file first. If you are not familiar with the layout of that file, you might want to search Microsoft.com to learn about it.
"ilushkin" wrote:
Once Vista is installed as the fresh copy, the old XP is normally zipped or something into a special folder. That folder takes some space I would like to use. How can I uninstall that old version of XP? I cant just delete that folder since on the start up Vista knows that that XP folder sits in there, therfore, it (Vista) will look for it once the Folder (XP) will be deleted manually. Is there any start up file I can edit which has the info regarding that old XP folder? To sum up, need to find a file to edit , responsible for the start up so I could manually delete the OLD XP folder and leave the VISTA start up process intact.

You of course realize that Vista is BETA.........and by deleting XP how are you aiming to get to your programs/files when Vista screws up???????????????? and it will!! after all it is a MS product.
I originally had a lovely dual boot which worked nicely...when Vista balked I could enter XP and and still have access to my programs/files.I did the old dual boot trick of installing all of my XP programs under Vista into their original folders...most worked some did not.But at least I could access them from within XP. think about it peter
-- "Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others." "ilushkin" wrote in message

Once Vista is installed as the fresh copy, the old XP is normally zipped or something into a special folder. That folder takes some space I would like to use. How can I uninstall that old version of XP? I cant just delete that folder since on the start up Vista knows that that XP folder sits in there, therfore, it (Vista) will look for it once the Folder (XP) will be deleted manually. Is there any start up file I can edit which has the info regarding that old XP folder? To sum up, need to find a file to edit , responsible for the start up so I could manually delete the OLD XP folder and leave the VISTA start up process intact.

Hello,
If you installed Windows Vista to the same partition that Windows XP was on (ie, XP was on drive C, and you installed Vista to drive C), Windows XP is no longer there, even though it may be listed in the boot options.
Your old Windows XP folders (Windows, Documents and Settings, Program Files, etc) are in a hidden folder called Windows.old.
To see it, you may have to go to an Explorer window, click Organize, Folder Options, View Tab, then enable Show Hidden Files.
If you no longer need any of the files in this folder, you can safely delete it.
- JB

Will the action below, then avoid the startup boot screen where it asks you to choose the OS for startup?
Thks Nitin
"Jimmy Brush" wrote:

Hello,
If you installed Windows Vista to the same partition that Windows XP was on (ie, XP was on drive C, and you installed Vista to drive C), Windows XP is no longer there, even though it may be listed in the boot options.
Your old Windows XP folders (Windows, Documents and Settings, Program Files, etc) are in a hidden folder called Windows.old.
To see it, you may have to go to an Explorer window, click Organize, Folder Options, View Tab, then enable Show Hidden Files.
If you no longer need any of the files in this folder, you can safely delete it.
- JB

"tlyoungb" wrote:

That is a very good question. I would also like to know it there is a way to do that also.
"ilushkin" wrote:
Once Vista is installed as the fresh copy, the old XP is normally zipped or something into a special folder. That folder takes some space I would like to use. How can I uninstall that old version of XP? I cant just delete that folder since on the start up Vista knows that that XP folder sits in there, therfore, it (Vista) will look for it once the Folder (XP) will be deleted manually. Is there any start up file I can edit which has the info regarding that old XP folder? To sum up, need to find a file to edit , responsible for the start up so I could manually delete the OLD XP folder and leave the VISTA start up process intact.

You can delete Windows.old - if you can - it is considered a protected folder and you may have difficult in deleting the folder. There is not much dialogue about this folder except on how to delete - however this folder is used to "recreate" XP if you so desire.
There is a KB article, Microsoft Support, which describes the procedure - unfortunately, although I copied the article to my HD, I did record the KB number. BTW - this folder is created also when Vista is installed to another partition or drive.
"Nitin" wrote in message

Will the action below, then avoid the startup boot screen where it asks you to choose the OS for startup?
Thks Nitin
"Jimmy Brush" wrote:
Hello,
If you installed Windows Vista to the same partition that Windows XP was on (ie, XP was on drive C, and you installed Vista to drive C), Windows XP is no longer there, even though it may be listed in the boot options.
Your old Windows XP folders (Windows, Documents and Settings, Program Files, etc) are in a hidden folder called Windows.old.
To see it, you may have to go to an Explorer window, click Organize, Folder Options, View Tab, then enable Show Hidden Files.
If you no longer need any of the files in this folder, you can safely delete it.
- JB

The fastest and best way to do so is to run disk clean select the option for all users and away it is. But be carefull make sure you have everything out of it you want to save at forehand!.
Ko
"AJR" schreef in bericht

You can delete Windows.old - if you can - it is considered a protected folder and you may have difficult in deleting the folder. There is not much dialogue about this folder except on how to delete - however this folder is used to "recreate" XP if you so desire.
There is a KB article, Microsoft Support, which describes the procedure - unfortunately, although I copied the article to my HD, I did record the KB number. BTW - this folder is created also when Vista is installed to another partition or drive.
"Nitin" wrote in message Will the action below, then avoid the startup boot screen where it asks you to choose the OS for startup?
Thks Nitin
"Jimmy Brush" wrote:
Hello,
If you installed Windows Vista to the same partition that Windows XP was on (ie, XP was on drive C, and you installed Vista to drive C), Windows XP is no longer there, even though it may be listed in the boot options.
Your old Windows XP folders (Windows, Documents and Settings, Program Files, etc) are in a hidden folder called Windows.old.
To see it, you may have to go to an Explorer window, click Organize, Folder Options, View Tab, then enable Show Hidden Files.
If you no longer need any of the files in this folder, you can safely delete it.
- JB