Restoring MBR after uninstalling *nix dual boot setup

[Guest]

After upgrading from 98se to XP-home (both on FAT32), I installed a trial
version of LINUX with a graphical LILO boot manager. I'd done this a number
of times on my PC when it was a 98se system and restored things by deleting
the ext2 partitions and then booting into DOS and using the "fdisk /mbr"
command to finalize the process. Howsomever, I have since discovered that
fdisk is not part of XP's vocabulary.

I can delete the ext2 partitions easily enough with some software on hand,
but what's the recommended XP-home equivalent for the venerable fdisk command?

Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[Jim]

-----Original Message-----
After upgrading from 98se to XP-home (both on FAT32), I installed a trial
version of LINUX with a graphical LILO boot manager. I'd done this a number
of times on my PC when it was a 98se system and restored things by deleting
the ext2 partitions and then booting into DOS and using the "fdisk /mbr"
command to finalize the process. Howsomever, I have since discovered that
fdisk is not part of XP's vocabulary.

I can delete the ext2 partitions easily enough with some software on hand,
but what's the recommended XP-home equivalent for the venerable fdisk command?

Any suggestions appreciated.

the file system is by booting to the XP CD and follow the
correct directions.

 

[Donald McDaniel]

Each time I have removed a dual-boot with a Linux distro, I used
PartitionMagic 8.x to delete the Linux-specific partitions, and merge
the resulting free space back into my XP partition.

However, this still leaves LiLO embedded in the MBR.
To restore the MBR and remove the LiLo boot manager,
1) Boot using your XP installation CD
2) When you are first offered the option to repair the current
installation or do a new install, choose Repair.
3) Once in the Repair Console, enter your Administrator password (not
the password of an account with administrator priveleges, but the
Administrator password you created when you first installed XP), and
select the installation of XP you want repaired.
4) Once at the Repair Console command prompt, enter the command
"fixmbr"<ENTER>

After you enter this command, you will be warned that your MBR is not
standard, and that any operation could destroy data. Ignore this
warning and choose Yes when it asks you whether to proceed.

When the command prompt returns, you will be informed that the
operation was successful. To test it, remove the XP CD and reboot the
machine. You will find that XP should boot up normally.

I have performed this operation several times in removing dual-boots
with Linux, each time successfully.

If you can't afford PartitionMagic, just use a normal Windows 9x/ME
startup floppy, run fdisk from it, and delete all "NON-DOS" partitions
(except for your NTFS partition on which XP resides, of course).

If I'm not mistaken, you can use Win9x's fdisk to do "fdisk /mbr" to
restore the MBR after removing a dual-boot with Linux. However, do
not depend on on a passing remark I read in a newsgroup somewhere.
Follow the directions I have outlined above, and you should have a
pleasant experience.

If you don't have a Windows 9x/ME startup floppy, get one here:
http://www.bootdisk.com
Make sure you download one which contains all the setup tools, such as
fdisk.

Donald L McDaniel
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