Two system folders after XP reinstall

Cyber12 · External Since: Apr 05, 2010 Posts: 1

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] · External Since: Mar 16, 2009 Posts: 172

"Cyber12" wrote in message

> 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 · External Since: May 01, 2006 Posts: 4

"Pegasus [MVP]" wrote:

>
>
> "Cyber12" wrote in message
>
> > 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] · External Since: Mar 16, 2009 Posts: 172

"cyber12" wrote in message

>
>
> "Pegasus [MVP]" wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> "Cyber12" wrote in message
>>
>> > 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.