Reformat Windows without touching linux

[Guest kingzasz]

Right now I dual book Windows ME and linux. Windows got messed up, so I would like to reformat the windows partition, but I DO NOT want to mess up linux. How do I do this? I think if I used windows setup and it formats the harddrive, it will remove linux as well. Is there a program that can help me do this? I have always installed Linux after Windows, so I have no idea what to do. Thanks.

 

[moved from Installing Mandrake by spinynorman]

[Drake]

partition magic would do it (from windows) - just use it to delete the windows partition.

[Guest kingzasz]

Is there any way to do this for free? Partition Magic is $70.

[Drake]

sorry, ive only ever used partition magic (its well worth it) but no doubt there are free ones out there, google is your best bet, or bit torrent.

[nplatis]

Messing up with partitions is a task for fdisk, not format.

 

I am not sure if I remember this well, but the Windows Setup program will only mess with FAT partitions, it won't even recognize the Linux partition. When it starts, I think it reports the size of the partition, so you can be sure!

 

If you want to delete the DOS partition, you could also do it from inside Linux. There is always the command-line fdisk, or your distribution probably has a graphical tool for the job.

[arthur]

go to Mandrake Control Center -> DiskDrake

 

then pick the windows partition and click "format"

 

even if you format windows from a boot floppy, you can't touch the linux install. It's near impossible to delete linux accidentally.

[polemicz]

Having done many a reinstall of Windows I second what nplatis said. Windows will install itself on whatever fat partition you specify. What it will also is install the windows bootloader on your mbr. Just remember to use mandrake rescue to correct that.

[bvc]

Not one win install has ever erased a linux of mine.Linux utilities do not use the same fdisk as win98 and ME do. They will not use and sometimes they will not even delete partitions that are not marked accordingly with the proper fdisk. Namely the one on the 98/ME disk and bootfloppy. Win utils like partition magic use this method so you can use them.

 

So just pop in the winMe cd and let_er rip. If it doesn't like what it sees because of something that a linux util did the the partition table (the reason I never use linux partition utils) then use a win98/ME floppy (not sure if me has fdisk and format). BUT! as always...standard procedure is to bkup critical data always!

Edited December 21, 2004 by bvc

[inflexion]

everything that windows uses it totally ignorant to linux partitions so unless you use linux or some 3rd party app you wont have anything to worry about :)

[Guest kingzasz]

I had a lot of trouble because I tried to change the partition table using Disk Drake from Linux. This changed the device name of the linux mount (/dev/hda6 instead of /dev/hda5) because I tried to split my windows into 2 drives. I was unable to boot either.

 

After a ton of tweaking, here is my solution.

 

***Make sure you have a copy of your linux partiton table before you start*******

To do this, su to root, and type "fdisk /dev/hda -l". This will print where the cylinders start.

 

I booted to the linux CD, then pressed Shift-F5 to enter the command prompt. I used a windows boot floppy and ran fdisk. There were no windows partitons, so I created an active Primary DOS partiton that took 10 gb, and an extended DOS partition for the rest of my files. THE EXTENDED PARTITION ENDED BEFORE MY OLD LINUX PARTITIONS BEGAN.

 

Then I installed windows, and I couldn't access linux.

 

I booted the linux installation, and went through the prompts until I came to DiskDrake. I added my linux partiton information to diskdrake using expert mode and by cylinder head numbers. I clicked done, and selected NOT to format any partitons.

 

Record down the device names of each partiton so you can boot to them. Ex: linux is /dev/hda6 for me.

 

My /etc/fstab was messed up so I booted to the linux rescue cd, pressed f1, typed rescue, then chose "Mount linux partiton" or something like that. Then I browsed typed "vi /mnt/etc/fstab" to edit my linux partitions fstab. I then changed the mount points for all my partitons (linux was /dev/hda6 instead of /dev/hda5)

 

Reboot with rescue CD, press F1, type rescue and choose restore "Windows Bootloader".

 

Reboot with rescue CD the same way, and choose "reload boot loader"

 

This should do it.

 

If it doesn't, press "esc" during LILO, and type "linux root=/dev/hda6" where the device name is correct. You can also edit /etc/lilo.conf when you are editing /etc/fstab.

 

I managed to fix my problem, but just make sure you have a backup of your partition table (in diskdrake, click on more, then backup partition table) AND a printout of your partition information before you start so you can always get back to linux.

 

Hope this helps someone.

 

Have a great day,

Brian