REMOVING LILO BOOT LOADER

[xpers009]

Hi all,
I discovered a method of removing LILO boot loader in the event that you might have removed the LINUX partition using some kind of disk partitioning tool, like Partition Magic, BEFORE uninstalling the boot loader.

So, you have tried LINUX. The experience leaves you feeling that WindowsXP is enough to satisfy most of your computing needs. There isn't a need for a second OS to reside on the same hard disk which is under utilised. What do you do?

I have a 40 GB hard disk which was partitioned into two. One partition contains WindowsXP, the other Mandrake LINUX. For me, the most "natural" thing to do was to remove the partition that LINUX resides in. So after trying out LINUX and knowing that I don't need it, I booted into WinXP and used Partition Magic to remove the LINUX partition and its swap partition, without uninstalling LILO first.

Big mistake.

Here's the method to boot right into WinXP without having to see LILO ever again:

1) Install Recovery Console.

To do so, open a command box in Win XP (select Start | Run, then type cmd); then, at the command prompt, type D:\i386\winnt32.exe/cmdcons (replace D: with the letter for your CD drive). The installation will proceed, after which you can choose the Recovery Console from the Windows boot screen.

But wait, there is a bug in WinXP there prevents you from using Recovery Console even though the right password is typed when prompted....
So, here's the trick.

2) Enable Administrator to Log On Automatically in Recovery Console

Reboot into WinXP.

Select Start | Run, then type regedit

Go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Setup\RecoveryConsole

Change the SecurityLevel DWORD value data to 1.

Reboot the PC.

3) Type fixmbr

4) You are done...

 

[Michael Stevens]

Hi all,
I discovered a method of removing LILO boot loader in the event that
you might have removed the LINUX partition using some kind of disk
partitioning tool, like Partition Magic, BEFORE uninstalling the boot
loader.

So, you have tried LINUX. The experience leaves you feeling that
WindowsXP is enough to satisfy most of your computing needs. There
isn't a need for a second OS to reside on the same hard disk which is
under utilised. What do you do?

I have a 40 GB hard disk which was partitioned into two. One
partition contains WindowsXP, the other Mandrake LINUX. For me, the
most "natural" thing to do was to remove the partition that LINUX
resides in. So after trying out LINUX and knowing that I don't need
it, I booted into WinXP and used Partition Magic to remove the LINUX
partition and its swap partition, without uninstalling LILO first.

Big mistake.

Here's the method to boot right into WinXP without having to see LILO
ever again:

1) Install Recovery Console.

To do so, open a command box in Win XP (select Start | Run, then type
cmd); then, at the command prompt, type D:\i386\winnt32.exe/cmdcons
(replace D: with the letter for your CD drive). The installation will
proceed, after which you can choose the Recovery Console from the
Windows boot screen.

But wait, there is a bug in WinXP there prevents you from using
Recovery Console even though the right password is typed when
prompted....
So, here's the trick.

2) Enable Administrator to Log On Automatically in Recovery Console

Reboot into WinXP.

Select Start | Run, then type regedit

Go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Setup\RecoveryConsole

Change the SecurityLevel DWORD value data to 1.

Reboot the PC.

3) Type fixmbr

4) You are done...

Thanks for the info. Especially the fix for Recovery Console not accepting a
password.
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
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