Two system folders after XP reinstall

[Cyber12]

I am running XP Pro, SP3 on a five user computer. I have admin rights and

need advice about this scenario:

I upgraded from OEM XP Home Edition to XP Pro three years ago without any

problems and the system folder remained C:WINNT.

Three months ago I did a "Repair install of Windows XP by starting your

computer from the Windows XP CD".

Without deleting the current installation of "Microsoft Windows XP

Professional" I pressed ENTER to set up Windows XP.

The reinstall was done without any problems and I presently have all the

recent Microsoft updates and use IE8 as default browser.

The problem (which I have resolved is that the computer showed two current

installations of "Microsoft Windows XP Professional"at boot up; and I had to

choose the most recent every time I booted up.

I edited the C:\Boot.ini to remove the line referencing the old

installation. Which in fact was not operational; and now I can boot directly

to the Welcome screen.

The problem which I need help with is that I have two system folders:

The operational one i.e. C:\WINDOWS with a size on disk of 1.93GB and 120026

files.

And the old one C:\WINNT which has a size on disk of 4.18GB and 24434 files.



I need to find out if it is safe to delete the C:\WINNT folder without

affecting the system operation or if there is a better solution to get rid of

this folder and recover valuable Disk Space?



Always thanks a lot.



Joe

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

"Cyber12" wrote in message

news:C7CBF925-FCB6-46E4-921C-A81EF3A05467@microsoft.com...

> I am running XP Pro, SP3 on a five user computer. I have admin rights and

> need advice about this scenario:

> I upgraded from OEM XP Home Edition to XP Pro three years ago without any

> problems and the system folder remained C:WINNT.

> Three months ago I did a "Repair install of Windows XP by starting your

> computer from the Windows XP CD".

> Without deleting the current installation of "Microsoft Windows XP

> Professional" I pressed ENTER to set up Windows XP.

> The reinstall was done without any problems and I presently have all the

> recent Microsoft updates and use IE8 as default browser.

> The problem (which I have resolved is that the computer showed two current

> installations of "Microsoft Windows XP Professional"at boot up; and I had

> to

> choose the most recent every time I booted up.

> I edited the C:\Boot.ini to remove the line referencing the old

> installation. Which in fact was not operational; and now I can boot

> directly

> to the Welcome screen.

> The problem which I need help with is that I have two system folders:

> The operational one i.e. C:\WINDOWS with a size on disk of 1.93GB and

> 120026

> files.

> And the old one C:\WINNT which has a size on disk of 4.18GB and 24434

> files.

>

> I need to find out if it is safe to delete the C:\WINNT folder without

> affecting the system operation or if there is a better solution to get rid

> of

> this folder and recover valuable Disk Space?

>

> Always thanks a lot.

>

> Joe



The standard method goes like this:

1. Boot into Windows.

2. Rename c:\WinNT to WinNT.old

3. Wait a week.

4. If all is well, delete WinNT.old.

 

[cyber12]

"Pegasus [MVP]" wrote:



>

>

> "Cyber12" wrote in message

> news:C7CBF925-FCB6-46E4-921C-A81EF3A05467@microsoft.com...

> > I am running XP Pro, SP3 on a five user computer. I have admin rights and

> > need advice about this scenario:

> > I upgraded from OEM XP Home Edition to XP Pro three years ago without any

> > problems and the system folder remained C:WINNT.

> > Three months ago I did a "Repair install of Windows XP by starting your

> > computer from the Windows XP CD".

> > Without deleting the current installation of "Microsoft Windows XP

> > Professional" I pressed ENTER to set up Windows XP.

> > The reinstall was done without any problems and I presently have all the

> > recent Microsoft updates and use IE8 as default browser.

> > The problem (which I have resolved is that the computer showed two current

> > installations of "Microsoft Windows XP Professional"at boot up; and I had

> > to

> > choose the most recent every time I booted up.

> > I edited the C:\Boot.ini to remove the line referencing the old

> > installation. Which in fact was not operational; and now I can boot

> > directly

> > to the Welcome screen.

> > The problem which I need help with is that I have two system folders:

> > The operational one i.e. C:\WINDOWS with a size on disk of 1.93GB and

> > 120026

> > files.

> > And the old one C:\WINNT which has a size on disk of 4.18GB and 24434

> > files.

> >

> > I need to find out if it is safe to delete the C:\WINNT folder without

> > affecting the system operation or if there is a better solution to get rid

> > of

> > this folder and recover valuable Disk Space?

> >

> > Always thanks a lot.

> >

> > Joe

>

> The standard method goes like this:

> 1. Boot into Windows.

> 2. Rename c:\WinNT to WinNT.old

> 3. Wait a week.

> 4. If all is well, delete WinNT.old.

>

> .



OK I have changed the folder's name to C:\WinNT.old since yesterday.

Now I will wait a week before deleying it.

What should I look for to know that there's nothing wrong with the system

and that everything is going well?

If anything.

?

>

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

"cyber12" wrote in message

news:8F286235-F290-47F1-8869-F15B85397307@microsoft.com...

>

>

> "Pegasus [MVP]" wrote:

>

>>

>>

>> "Cyber12" wrote in message

>> news:C7CBF925-FCB6-46E4-921C-A81EF3A05467@microsoft.com...

>> > I am running XP Pro, SP3 on a five user computer. I have admin rights

>> > and

>> > need advice about this scenario:

>> > I upgraded from OEM XP Home Edition to XP Pro three years ago without

>> > any

>> > problems and the system folder remained C:WINNT.

>> > Three months ago I did a "Repair install of Windows XP by starting your

>> > computer from the Windows XP CD".

>> > Without deleting the current installation of "Microsoft Windows XP

>> > Professional" I pressed ENTER to set up Windows XP.

>> > The reinstall was done without any problems and I presently have all

>> > the

>> > recent Microsoft updates and use IE8 as default browser.

>> > The problem (which I have resolved is that the computer showed two

>> > current

>> > installations of "Microsoft Windows XP Professional"at boot up; and I

>> > had

>> > to

>> > choose the most recent every time I booted up.

>> > I edited the C:\Boot.ini to remove the line referencing the old

>> > installation. Which in fact was not operational; and now I can boot

>> > directly

>> > to the Welcome screen.

>> > The problem which I need help with is that I have two system folders:

>> > The operational one i.e. C:\WINDOWS with a size on disk of 1.93GB and

>> > 120026

>> > files.

>> > And the old one C:\WINNT which has a size on disk of 4.18GB and 24434

>> > files.

>> >

>> > I need to find out if it is safe to delete the C:\WINNT folder without

>> > affecting the system operation or if there is a better solution to get

>> > rid

>> > of

>> > this folder and recover valuable Disk Space?

>> >

>> > Always thanks a lot.

>> >

>> > Joe

>>

>> The standard method goes like this:

>> 1. Boot into Windows.

>> 2. Rename c:\WinNT to WinNT.old

>> 3. Wait a week.

>> 4. If all is well, delete WinNT.old.

>>

>> .

>

> OK I have changed the folder's name to C:\WinNT.old since yesterday.

> Now I will wait a week before deleying it.

> What should I look for to know that there's nothing wrong with the system

> and that everything is going well?

> If anything.

> ?



Just use the usual facilities: EMail, browsing, word processing, backing up

your files. If there were any important files in c:\WinNT then they would

throw up a problem very quickly. My guess is that you're safe but I prefer

to look before I leap.