Hi... My first post, and Im sorry to be asking for quite a bit of assitance in it. Also, apologies if this would be more suitable in another forum....

Right, I have a HP 3 ghz system running windows XP. I decided I would like to try Linux, but didnt fancy partitioning the hard disk that I had already been using for quite a bit, so I bought another hard disk to install Linux on. I installed the second hard disk, and set it up as a slave. I got hold of Mandrake 10 and installed it onto the second hard disk.... the installation was all going well, until I got to the section asking about the boot loader, it asked me where I wanted to install it, and I clicked MBR cos that was the recomended option.

So, what I want to do now, is un-install Linux (dont all hate me, Im just cleaning my system, and want to un-install it to start again, possibly with a different version of Linux, anyway....). However, with the bootloader in the MBR, the computer seems to boot up off of the main hard disk, then go to the 2nd hard disk to go to the boot loader (wich is called Lilo 2.7 or something like that?). If i un-install Linux, will my system beable to boot, or will it still be looking for the bootloader on the second hard disk? Ive tried unplugging the second hard disk, and it looks as though its trying to go to the boot loader.... If i un-install Linux, will it also un-install any Linux realted information in the MBR? Im not sure how it would beable to do this... I really cant risk losing my information on my first hard disk...

Any help would be very useful, I really need to sort this out asap!

Cheers...

Well the only way to "uninstall" linux is to delete all the paritions associated with it. If that includes the boot parition on the disk, then yes it will take the MBR off of the second disk. If by chance Lilo has overwritten the boot record on your first harddrive, which is possiable, your winxp disk should be able to restore it to its former self without any real risk of losing all of your data.

If you worte Lilo to the MBR, you do not have to remove it, if it has entries for windoze and linux. There is no boot loader on the second disk, there will be a /boot directory where the kernel and other system files are loaded from. Normally there is only need for one boot loader.

As far as un-installing linux, not necessary. Put the install CD in your CDRom drive, and boot the system. Most distros allow you to partition the disk and format as necessary. So, stick the install CD in, partition your second disk, and install. All traces of the first install will be gone. Just be carfule which disk you are working with, don't want to blow your windbloze disk away.... yet.

I have a two disk system also, still got W98 and Mandrake 9.2 on hda and Mandriva 2006 on hdb. (hda= C in windows speek, hdb=D windows speek).

There's a couple of options for you here:

1) Insert a boot floppy/CD (google for Ultimate Boot Disk or use your Windows CD) and then enter recovery mode. What you want to do is "Restore the MBR" which should restore your original Windows bootloader. Then you can just delete the linux partitions on the second drive and reinstall linux.

2) Insert your new linux distro and just install over the top of whatever you installed before. When it asks you where to put the bootloader, put in MBR again and it should overwrite the old bootloader with a new one.

If you want your new linux install to be completely independent of your Windows installation, I would do the following:

1) Restore the MBR of the windows disk so that it has the original Windows NTLDR.
2) Swap the drives so that windows is on the second disk
3) Install linux to the first drive, and install bootloader to the MBR
4) Using grub or lilo, you'll have to configure the bootloader to fool windows into thinking it is the first drive (but that's pretty easy and we can cross that bridge when you come to it).

By doing that, you can have it so that Windows is never touched by linux. One other thing you can do is make a separate /boot partition on the linux drive. That way, when you delete a linux install, just leave the /boot partition intact and you'll still be able to boot Windows.

"If you worte Lilo to the MBR, you do not have to remove it, if it has entries for windoze and linux. There is no boot loader on the second disk, there will be a /boot directory where the kernel and other system files are loaded from. Normally there is only need for one boot loader. "

How come if i disconnect the second hard disk, my system wont boot then? Sorry, i dont mean to question you but i am unexperianced in the way of Linux....

Can i just confirm, that If i take the boot partition of Linux off of my second hard disk (cos that where it is...) it will take any trace of Linux out of the MBR on my first hard disk? This is what I seem to need to do, but im not sure how the two are connected really?

I dont think I wrote Lilo to the MBR... it seems to me, something in the MBR (on the 1st hard disk) is telling the computer to go to Lilo on the 2nd hard disk. This would explain (to me anyway(!)) why the sytem wont boot without the 2nd hard disk in place. I just need to be absolutley certain about what i do before I don anything - i dont want the system not to boot! I really want to beable to use the system with just my 1st hard disk for now....

Cheers again....

Lilo should be able to boot even if you delete the partitions because it resides fully in the MBR (this is why when you change /etc/lilo.conf, you have to run /sbin/lilo for changes to take effect).

Grub on the other hand, reads a config file from the /boot directory, so if you were to delete the partition with /boot on it, Grub would fail to boot.

Now if you're really worried about it, up above I told you that you should use your Windows boot disk to fdisk /mbr (or if that doesn't work, try fixmbr) on the first disk drive (thus restoring your Windows NTLDR) prior to removing the linux partition.

Then swap the drives so that your next linux install won't touch windows at all.

If you have a floppy drive, you can download a windows 98 boot disk with fdisk on it if you don't feel comfortable playing with the Windows install CD. Otherwise, I would download the ultimate boot CD and use the Dos boot disk on there.

Ok, so just one more thing I want to check, you say i have to fdisk the mbr, is that why my system wont boot without the second hard disk? Is there something that Linux has put in the MBR on the first hard-disk telling it to look for the Lilo bottloadery thing on the second hard disk?

Cheers....

YES !!! - gotta love those bottloadery (sp ???) thingamejigs ...

O.K. you have gotten some good info, and some plain wrong. The MBR on the boot disk (the Windows disk in your case) gets updated to find the loader. For lilo, some extra sectors are copied into the sectors following the MBR. But as you found, you still need the install disk.

Best solution for you is to boot your XP CD and select "Recovery Console" - from there run fixmbr. This restores M$ofts loader (generally referred to as ntldr), and you will boot straight to XP, as you used to. It won't even recognise Linux partitions - and you can pull the (Linux) disk out to prove it.
When you are happy, do as you wish with Linux - a re-install will allow you to re-organise those partitions if you wish.

Excellent - cheers for the help! I will update when Ive had a fiddle (if my machine still works;-)!!!

Thats some really good advice. I'm goina have to bookmark this thread or something.