[Mini922]

How do I get rid of the startup sreen that asked me what operating systme I want to run? There is only one and thats xp. Also if the laptop sits for a while without use it goes to a screen that says the addministater,,,that would be me...needs to enter a password, what do i do to get rid of these?

[davico_rosello]

Originally Posted by Mini922

How do I get rid of the startup sreen that asked me what operating systme I want to run? There is only one and thats xp. Also if the laptop sits for a while without use it goes to a screen that says the addministater,,,that would be me...needs to enter a password, what do i do to get rid of these?

you need to edit the boot.ini file, in c:\ folder.

is a system and hidden file, so you will need to go to any explorer window, an then tools-folder option-view then check the "view hidden files and folders" and uncheck the "hide system files"

go to find the file, open it to edit, and you will see something like this:

[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 Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="USB Repair NOT to Start Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

you can delete the second and third lines to get something like this:

[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 Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

but be careful, if you screw it up, your system will not boot anymore

[Commander]

Right Click My Computer, Select "Properties". Choose the Advanced Tab and Choose the Start Up and Recovery Button. The Top section allows to you to make these choices without exiting any files directly. You can set the time it waits to let you select an OS or turn the option off and specify the OS in the drop down field.

[Mini922]

cool thanks so much.....

[kingbear]

To me it sounds like you got a used system. When you turned it on for the first time did it show you the initial Dell boot screens with the service tag and express service code, and ask you to accept the agreement? If not you got shafted. That's what it sounds like. Otherwise it shouldn't ask you which OS you want to boot into.