The problem is quite peculiar: I have this old machine running on XP (32bit) and recently I have been trying to install Win 7 on one of my disks while keeping the Xp- that dual OS story really got me going because I have loads of old stuff with Xp I really don't want to lose.
So I prepared this other physical disk I have, had it partitioned and prepared and made the bootable USB with Win 7 installation.
Win 7 install got to the part where it started expanding files or preparing the installation and at that time the installation just simply crashed and returned to the black screen forcing me to manually switch off the computer to boot the old XP.
I'm not really sure why this happened (I even tried different versions of Win 7), perhaps because Win xp I'm keeping is 32 bit and the new 7 installation I tried to set is 64, or the processor can't support Win7 64 bit (even though my Intel Core 2 duo E8200 @2.66 GHz is said to support 64 bit versions of OS), but this Win 7 install is no go for me.
But the real trouble is this: now this partition I tried to install Win 7 on (on a completely different HDD!!!) is loaded with Windows.old files (some 2+ GB) I can't seem to get rid of: they won't be deleted- I took ownership, I tried Unlocker, I ran in Safe mode, all I could possibly think of.
Nothing.
Then I came upon this MoveOnBoot program, marked all those Windows.old files and folders for deletion, and lo and behold- upon reboot- MY XP WOULDN'T START AT ALL!
To cut the story short, I managed to run "last good configuration" and my Xp is fine now but the conclusion I drew is that somehow those Windows.old files have tied with my real system files on XP system disk (which has, as I mentioned, nothing to do with the HDD I tried Win 7 installation on)
and deleting them jeopardized the Xp.
How could that be? How could the Windows.old files on a separate drive (and after not successful Win 7 installation, of all things) have anything to do with working system files of Xp on a different HDD?
And how could I get rid of them?
Please help...
So I prepared this other physical disk I have, had it partitioned and prepared and made the bootable USB with Win 7 installation.
Win 7 install got to the part where it started expanding files or preparing the installation and at that time the installation just simply crashed and returned to the black screen forcing me to manually switch off the computer to boot the old XP.
I'm not really sure why this happened (I even tried different versions of Win 7), perhaps because Win xp I'm keeping is 32 bit and the new 7 installation I tried to set is 64, or the processor can't support Win7 64 bit (even though my Intel Core 2 duo E8200 @2.66 GHz is said to support 64 bit versions of OS), but this Win 7 install is no go for me.
But the real trouble is this: now this partition I tried to install Win 7 on (on a completely different HDD!!!) is loaded with Windows.old files (some 2+ GB) I can't seem to get rid of: they won't be deleted- I took ownership, I tried Unlocker, I ran in Safe mode, all I could possibly think of.
Nothing.
Then I came upon this MoveOnBoot program, marked all those Windows.old files and folders for deletion, and lo and behold- upon reboot- MY XP WOULDN'T START AT ALL!
To cut the story short, I managed to run "last good configuration" and my Xp is fine now but the conclusion I drew is that somehow those Windows.old files have tied with my real system files on XP system disk (which has, as I mentioned, nothing to do with the HDD I tried Win 7 installation on)
and deleting them jeopardized the Xp.
How could that be? How could the Windows.old files on a separate drive (and after not successful Win 7 installation, of all things) have anything to do with working system files of Xp on a different HDD?
And how could I get rid of them?
Please help...