Need help deleting "OS"

[billypnats]

Hi, I did a swipe on my computer and somehow accidentally installed three OS >.<

 

I already disabled the two others in boot.ini but their WINDOWS folder still remains, there are three WINDOWS,WINDOWS.0, and WINDOWS.1. According to CMD-> echo %windir% , Im using WINDOWS.1 right now.

 

I need to delete the other two, but it won't let me because its being used by another process?!

 

I don't know which one its using, but its a system process for sure cus I have just about nothing on this computer right now.

[IamBatosai]

Easiest thing to do is just wipe completely and reinstall again.

[billypnats]

well theres like 90 gigs of data that needs to be reinstalled....

[IamBatosai]

Didn't you wipe before you installed the OS?

[billypnats]

no of course not.... installed a new OS with the other one

[bben46]

A little confused here, in your first post you say you wiped the disk and have almost nothing on it (except the 3 copies of windows) on the hard drive.

 

Then you say you have 90 gig of data That 'needs to be reinstalled'. So is that data already on the disk? if not why can't you wipe the disk and start over?

 

Then in your third post, You installed the OS over the other one instead of wiping the disk.

 

My questions:

 

Is there anything except the 3 operating systems on your disk?

Does your computer use a built in recovery? Or do you have a real Operating System CD?

Which version of Windows are you trying to install?

Is the one you are trying to install the same version as the previously existing version?

Do you have the system disk (CD) for the one you want to have when you are finished?

Do you have more than 1 hard drive?

Is the hard drive partitioned into more than one partition?

[billypnats]

sorry, i forgot to mention the fact that i swiped one of the hard drive with all teh Pr0n and virus on them, but didn't wipe the one with the ACTUALLY important stuff so this is what I did

 

Swiped disk D (Pr0n) along with the OS

installed three OS (by accident, the stories REALLY LONG so Im not gonna get into it >.<) on C

problem

 

Answers answered in respective order

 

1. Yes, on my other drive C, which I kept, there is all the games and stuff that I have, it now also have the three OS (all the same XP pro)

2. Yes I have the real boot disk and installation disk with me

3. XP pro

4. No, the boot disk came from another computer which I bought a long time ago, I lost the one that came with this computer

5. I don't understand this question... please rephrase

6. yes two

7. No none of the HDDs are partitioned

 

Right now, this computer really has no problem functioning, but space on C is a lil scarce, (im selling the D drive to a friend which is really why I swiped it, I was jk about the Pr0n part =P)

 

the WINDOWS foldered really took a lot of space, which is why I need to remove the other two

[myrmaad]

http://th267.photobucket.com/albums/ii284/Black_Zorro/Smilies%20and%20Medies/th_runaway_joe.gif

[bben46]

Unfortunately, the so called Windows disk that is usually shipped with a new computer is not really the full version. It is usually a crippled version that will only work on that particular computer, or a 'so called Recovery CD that will wipe out everything and restore the drive to the exact condition it was in when it left the factory, including all of the junk programs that came with it such as AOL and Norton TRY ME versions. - MS should have been sued over this, you PAID for windows. You didn't get all of it. If you have a REAL version of windows, it will work on any windows compatible computer.

 

Windows is not supposed to allow installing multiple copies in the same partition. It is supposed to warn you that it will overwrite previous installs. - Overwrite, not install again.

 

If you managed to install to separate folders, Then it may be as simple as deleting the extra folders.

 

Windows likes to be installed on a clean freshly formatted drive. This allows it to put its files where it wants to. If there is something else already in some of the space it wants it will install, but it will install fragmented. with a piece here and a piece there which will cause problems later. As Windows marks all of its important parts as non moveable, running a defrag later will not fix this. It will just defrag around the scattered windows parts.

 

Your best option is a complete reformat, fdisk and install on a completely clean drive.

 

You should be able to back up all of your files (not copy) to the other drive - if you have space. Be sure not to back up the windows files. Install the windows, then install your Antivirus, then go online to register your windows and download all windows upgrades and fixes. Next, if you don't use IE, load your preferred web browser (Firefox, Chrome, or other)

 

Now run a registry cleaner such as FREE ccleaner. This will clean out the extra stuff that the Windows install left behind. Then, do a full defrag - It won't take long as most of the stuff is unmovable anyway. But it will clean things up for the files you are going to put on.

 

Now, restore (do not copy) the stuff you backed up to the drive. When you restore, it will automatically put it back in a defragged condition, even if it was fragmented before - that was an old trick before defrag programs became readily available.

 

As reinstalling destroys the original registry, you still may have to reinstall some programs, so be sure you have the disks or can download them from the internet.

 

And from now on, stay away from those warez sites. They have as many viruses as the Pr0n sites. :whistling:

[billypnats]

Arg, thats the problem tho, I can't delete the extra OS folders even tho the system isn't supposed to use resources from them

 

I try to delete window.0 but it gets stuck when deleting a file called flash9D.ocx, unlocker shows literally pages and pages of processes and threads using that file =/

 

EDIT: NVM problem solved, I deleted the other two folders VIA cmd