Get Rid of an Old Desktop

You can get rid of an old Desktop, here is how.

1. Before you mess with something like this, you need to be sure you have a Backup of your Desktop and know how to do a Restore in case of problems. If you do not have both of these, then please stop here until you have them. You can download DSKTOP.TXT from Lib 5 of the OS2BVEN Forum for a discussion of this issue...my opinion only.

2. BE SURE you know which of the Desktops is the current one, so that you do not delete the active Desktop.

3. In theory, you can remove the old Desktop Directory structure while PM and WPS are running. In practice, this can cause serious problems. WPS was not written under the assumption that there would be more than one Desktop and will sometimes come to the conclusion that things are being removed from the Desktop when you delete the old Desktop Directory structure. Sometimes, maybe most times, it will work. However, if you have a problem you will probably be very sorry you tried it and very happy you have a Backup. Unfortunately, it is possible for the symptoms of a problem to not always show up immediately, so I do not recommend you try it.

4. The first thing you need to do is get to an OS/2 Command Prompt without PM and WPS running. Three options come to mind: 1. Boot an OS/2 Maintnance Partition. 2. Boot from the floppies. 3. Interrupt the Boot using something like ShiftRun. If you are using 2. above, you really should download SHFTRN.ZIP from the OS2USER Forum and switch to 3. (NOTE FROM R. KUT: If you are using Warp, then there is no need for a program like SHFTRN.ZIP, or booting from floppies, since you can do an Alt-F1 at boot-up time, and then choose option C to get to a command prompt. After you are done messing around at the command prompt, type EXIT and your machine will reboot.)

5. Once at the OS/2 Command Prompt, you can now delete the unused Desktop. Unfortunately, without PM running this can be a difficult process, since you must start at the bottom of the Directory Tree and work your way up. There is a program that will make this a very easy process, IniClean. Download INICLN.ZIP from Lib 5 of the OS2BVEN Forum, if you are not already a user of SysMaint or MultiMaint, and unzip the file. This will give you IniClean.EXE, which will delete an entire Directory structure and all included files. You can run IniClean with no parameters and it will tell you what it expects, but to delete the DESKTOP Directory structure on Drive C:, you would code:

IniClean -ic:\desktop

BE CAREFUL!!! A finger fault can and will delete the active Desktop Directory structure, which is another reason why you MUST HAVE A BACKUP.

6. You can now boot from the HD, if you used 1. or 2. above, or finish the boot process if you are using ShiftRun and the old Desktop will be gone.

If you want to rename a Desktop, for example Desktop1 to Desktop, you can do it by bringing up the Window List, LMB on the Desktop entry while holding down the Alt Key, edit the name, and LMB anywhere in the Window List Window. The HD will churn away for a while and then you will be fine.

You should certainly make a new backup of the Desktop immediately after you have done the Rename. In fact, I would make a Backup, Shutdown...to make sure all of the EAs are up to date, Reboot...just to be sure it will work, and then make a final Backup of the newly booted Desktop.

The above is EXTREMELY conservative. However, I am a conservative person and a shortcut that does not work could easily put you into a condition that you will not care for at all. As I said in DSKTOP.TXT, I have clobbered the Desktop just about every way there is to damage it and have never rebuilt from scratch or had to reinstall OS/2. There is absolutely no reason any user should ever have to do either, since protecting yourself is so easy.