How to remove Linux boot entry?
 

Help me... I installed mandrake Linux 9.1 a week ago. I installed it without using Partition magic, so in the end, everytime I boot my computer, mandrake linux OS choice will be shown up, even though I have formatted the linux partition. help me please... :1zhelp:

This is the bootloader, which is entirely seperate from the OS.

Assuming you use Windows NT, 2000, 2003, or XP:

Do you have a Windows 2000 or XP install CD available? If so, boot off of it, enter the Recovery Console when available, and enter the below command:

And NTLDR (Windows NT bootloader) should replace grub, which is what currently inhabits your MBR (or did Mandrake use lilo... either way, it'll be replaced).

Assuming you use a Windows 9x variant (98, 98SE, ME):

Boot into DOS by your best means, and run:

This will replace the bootloader Linux uses with the standard Windows one.

Mandrake/Mandriva does use GRUB, albeit a fancy one at that. (At least, it did when I used it.)

Hmm, currently I'm running winxp. But here I face another problem: my xp is a set of pre-installed from the Acer hardware. I couldn use it to enter recovery console. Could i use the method for win98 instead? how do I make a bootable diskette from XP?

I think they switched to GRUB at 10.0. 9.0 and 9.1 were LILO. Either way, the FIXMBR and fdisk /mbr reccomendations were spot on.

That would only work if your disk is FAT32, I believe. As DOS (the variants you get with Windows) is incapable of reading an NTFS partition, you cannot run fdisk within it, to my knowledge. First, see if Acer gave you any disks that mention Recovery capability, though do be careful about using them.

If someone knows more about this than I do, feel free to correct me.

As to how to get the Recovery Console, go here, and grab the floppies it talks about (you need six in total). They should contain Recovery Console capability.

fdisk /mbr and fixmbr do the same thing. Either one will work on an XP system.

Ah. I was under the impression that, since DOS can't read NTFS, it won't know about the drive's existence if all partitions under it were of that type.

This assumption would then be incorrect?

fdisk /mbr doesn't touch your partitions. It just wipes the Master Boot Record.

And for the record, it's DOS, not FDISK, that can't handle NTFS. NTFS is just one way of formatting a Windows Partition. Sort of like how you can format a partition of type 83 (Linux) in ext2, ext3, reiser3, reiser4, xfs, jfs, or a variety of file systems. fdisk doesn't care how it's formatted.

not to forget that I dont even know the administrator password -_-;. recently I borrowed my friend xp cd, entering the recovery console... and damn, I'm stucked with the password prompt.

Currently I'm running fat32 for my windows system disk. it's possible to use the win98 method isn it? (the DOS way)

Double Post:
case closed. all problem fixed. thx a lot guys! :D