Reset MBR

[JeffK]

How do I reset the MBR from Windows XP Pro?

I'd like to reset it, as I have a dual partition hard
drive, and I'm going to be removing the OS from one, and
I want to reset the MBR so that XP Pro on my first
partition just starts like there is no partition.

 

[Tom Porterfield]

How do I reset the MBR from Windows XP Pro?

I'd like to reset it, as I have a dual partition hard
drive, and I'm going to be removing the OS from one, and
I want to reset the MBR so that XP Pro on my first
partition just starts like there is no partition.

Resetting the MBR isn't necessary in this case, all you need to do is
remove the entry for the OS on the second partition from your boot.ini
file. To do this right click on the My Computer icon in XP Pro and
select Properties. Go to the Advanced tab and click the Settings
button under Startup and Recovery. In the System Startup section make
sure that the default operating system is set to the XP Pro
installation that will remain on your machine. Then click the Edit
button to edit the startup (boot.ini) file manually. In the boot.ini
file, remove the entry for the OS on the second drive under the
[operating systems] section. Save the file and close it. When you
reboot the PC should then boot straight into XP if that was the only
entry remaining in the [operating systems] of boot.ini.

--
Tom Porterfield
MS-MVP Windows XP & Smart Display
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/tp.porterfield/support

Please post all follows to the newsgroup only

 

[Tom Porterfield]

I'm using LILO as bootloader.

If Linux is installed on your computer, Linux allows a dual boot by
loading a boot manager called LILO directly into the MBR. To remove
LILO, follow the appropriate procedure.
If Linux Is Still Installed
At a command prompt, run the lilo command and use either the -u or the
-U option. The device name must be the second parameter. The only
difference between the two options is that -u checks the time stamp on
the current MBR and on the backed-up MBR, and -U does not check the
time stamp at all.
If LILO is installed to the MBR of the master drive on the primary IDE
controller, type
lilo -u /dev/hda
where dev is the device directory, hd indicates an IDE hard disk, and
the a option indicates the master on the primary IDE channel.

If you want to use the command on a SCSI drive, type
lilo -u /dev/sda
where sd indicates a SCSI drive and a indicates the first drive in the
SCSI chain.

If the drive has multiple partitions, indicate the partition from which
you want to uninstall LILO by adding the number that corresponds to the
partition number on the drive, starting the count at 1 (not 0). For
example, to remove LILO from the first partition of the first SCSI
drive, type:
lilo -u /dev/sda1
Note that sda is not related to the SCSI ID number.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315224

--
Tom Porterfield
MS-MVP Windows XP & Smart Display
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/tp.porterfield/support

Please post all follows to the newsgroup only