How Do I Back Up The Bootloader?
 

I need to reinstall my windows partition but I don't wanna lose Mandrake!

Is there something I can do to easilly reinstall the boot loader for mandrake after I reinstall Windows?

hi
when u install windows ,then it will write the windows MBR
and ur bootloader lilo/grub will be gone
what u can u do make a lilo boot diskette

#man mkbootdisk

also if u have the 1st CD of ur distro then u need to go to rescue mode i that to restore ur MBR

regards

Masand,

I also have the same prob. I reinstalled my Windows partition with the 'Restore Bootloader' option in mind thinking I can still boot up my Mandrake after. But when I tried to use that rescue mode, it says it can't fine /boot. I can't make a lilo boot diskette using mkbootdsk because now I can't boot up my Mandrake. Does that mean I have to reinstall Mandrake? I'm willing to, but I want to learn how to work around things in Linux.

Thanks in advance!

did you mount the boot partition?

Can you make a boot floppy with mandrake now? I had problems before as there didn`t seem to be enough room on the floppy disk. That is the bootloader was bigger than 1.44meg.

How do I re-mount /boot? Using the installation cd? I can no longer boot up my Mandrake because my computer automatically boots up Windows. My Linux partitions remain untouched. I'm just a newbie in Linux so I still need to know my ABC's in the platform. Thanks for the help!

Oops! My mistake... Wrong info... When I tried to Restore the Boot Loader after reinstalling my WinXP, this is what appeared:

Fatal: open /boot/message : No such file or directory

I went to console to check on the directory, I went to /boot and did 'ls-al' and all I saw was grub

I went to /mnt/boot so I guess my boot partition is still mounted.

So how do I restore my bootloader so I can boot to my Mandrake?

duh.... help?! Thanks!

this is like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted, but you should always do a Windows install (especially XPee & Win2K) BEFORE a MDK (Linux) install, because Windows wreaks havoc on the MBR where Linux is concerned.

if you're absolutely sure sure booting from the MDK install CD, typing rescue at the prompt, & choosing reinstall bootloader option won't work, then you might want to consider reinstalling MDK. you might be able to get away with the "upgrade" option in lieu of a fresh install. depends on how much Windows screwed with the MDK partitions & such. if that's the route you decide to take, you also might want to consider upgrading to a newer verison of MDK, while you're at it. (10.0 official) i see some of you still using 9.1, which is fine, but support for that version has been discontinued, so you're gonna be screwed with getting updates & such. and, 9.2 will be in the same boat come January (or there abouts).

finally, a good thing to do after you have a working install is back up your whole /boot partition to a CD-R &/or a free partition. that way you will always have it intact & can just copy all the files back into /boot should it get screwed.

otis

Of course, I'd happily do a reinstallation of MDK. I was just trying to learn what I can from situations such as this, making the most of this instance. And so far, I believe I'm learning pretty much.

I'll try to download MDK 10, if I have the patience. But if not, I'll just reinstall MDK 9 again and fiddle around with it more... Until I get used to the Linux environment

If there's nothing more than I can do... at least I learned a big lesson from this

Thanks to all!