Using the installation CD to boot and repair the MBR in Mandrake 10
 

Hi all,

I have a dual boot PC with WinME and Mandrake 10.
My problem is that I have to reinstall WinME. I understand that this will erase the MBR, so I need a way to boot into linux
and repair the MBR (actually reinstall the LILO boot loader).

I tried creating a floppy boot disk, but (as you may know) the floppy sixe is not enough to host the necessary files.

So, I wonder if I could boot from the installation CD (maybe in rescue mode?) and then fix lilo, so I can have the dual boot choice again.

Has anyone tried this?
Please HELP!

You can either chroot into your current Mandrake setup (after installing winme of course) and run "lilo" if it is lilo or "grub-install /dev/hda" if it's grub. Another method I sometimes use is to run the GUI installer, select upgrade but not select any packages. It runs as if it's updating the current Mandrake system but doesn't change anything and you get the option of installing a bootloader, so you can just choose the one you want.

boot from the MDK install CD (CD 1 or 2, whichever works for you), let it load, hit F1 for more options at the first screen. that will put you at a login prompt. type rescue, then choose the repair bootloader option. that will reinstall lilo & make MDK bootable again.

otis

Thanks,
Can you please explain what you mean here
"You can either chroot into your current Mandrake setup ......."

Thanks otish1000c.
I' ll try this

chroot
 

The chroot method is similar to what otish1000c described, but I'll give you a rough guide if it didn't work. You run your installation disk, press F1 for advanced options, type rescue. You will be asked a few questions e.g. "your mandrake root partition". When you are dropped in to a terminal type "chroot /mnt/sysimage" and then "cd /mnt/sysimage/sbin" then run "lilo" or "./lilo". Reboot your PC by using Ctrl-Alt-Del and lilo should be reinstalled.