Drahcir Posted November 28, 2003 Report Share Posted November 28, 2003 Hi Is there anyway I can remove LILO but keep both Linux and Windows installed? For some odd reason it skipped the bootloader option when installing. I think it was because I picked 'Use free space' for the installation type. I saw a screenshot of the bootloader install screen and it had an option that'll allow you to boot from a floppy disk. Can I do this with Linux (boot floppy) and keep Windows booting up like normal without running into LILO? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkelve Posted November 28, 2003 Report Share Posted November 28, 2003 (edited) I'm not exactly the expert here, but from what I've learned you can indeed put the boot information on a floppy disk. In the following screen, choose for 'on floppy' (see to it you have an empty floppy ready!) http://www.mandrake.tips.4.free.fr/instimg92/069.jpg Darkelve P.S. I think it is not supposed to 'skip' the bootloader, whatever installation type you choose... maybe you skipped screens a bit too fast? Edited November 28, 2003 by Darkelve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drahcir Posted November 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2003 Thanks for you quick reply Darkelve. I've installed 9.1 twice now and made sure that it wasn't me that skipped the bootloader screen. Once I finish with the 'Add a user' screen it installs a few packages. After that it highlights the 'Install bootloader' selection and installs a few more packages. Once they are all done it goes staight to the Summary selection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkelve Posted November 28, 2003 Report Share Posted November 28, 2003 (edited) Well, I suppose for some reason it puts it on the MBR automatically (which I find very strange) and that you are getting a bootloader menu at startup time now. I'm sure you can install the boot information on a disk and afterwards just remove lilo (by replacing it with the Windows master boot record). You can use the Mandrake CD's 'rescue' mode to erase Lilo and bring back the windows boot information, but I do not know how to make a boot disk for your Linux system. Perpaps the only thing you need is a boot disk like the one you can make in the Mandrake Configuration Centre (MCC), or possibly you also have to copy a few configuration files. Maybe you can start with making a boot disk from the MCC, then see how that works. It's a start and it's always a good idea to have a boot disk handy anyway. Darkelve Edited November 28, 2003 by Darkelve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drahcir Posted November 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2003 On my second installation I installed from scratch. I restored the MBR with a Windows 98 Startup Disk using 'fdisk /mbr' and used Damn Small Linux's fdisk to remove the Linux partitions. That worked fine but is there way to uninstall it correctly so I won't have this trouble again. Anyway I tried creating a startup disk with the MCC but the disk didn't seem to work. I can't remember correctly what it said (I'm in Windows right now) but I think the command prompt was 'boot:' and the line about that said something similar to 'Cannot open boot 'linux'.' It was like the screen when you press F1 for more options on CD1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkelve Posted November 28, 2003 Report Share Posted November 28, 2003 Thing is, you do not want to erase the Linux partitions, because that's where your system and user data are. The boot loader points to booting information on a particular location, be it the primary hard disk (MBR), floppy or somewhere else. You probably want to use a boot disk to be able to tell the computer where to look for your Linux system, but as for the partitions themselves, you keep them, cause that's where all your Linux stuff lives. So, once you installed Mandrake and made a working boot disk, you can remove Lilo. Afterwards, just use the boot disk whenever you want to boot into Linux. But I would make sure to keep several identical boot disks, as diskettes aren't exactly the most reliable devices for data storage. (You mentioned the 'More options' dialog for CD1, right? From there, you can also get into 'rescue' mode, in which there is also an option to uninstall the bootloader (reinstall windows bootloader). Darkelve P.S. I'm trying my best to help you, but I'm still kind of a beginner. I'm beginning to think perhaps other people can help you better. There will probably be a lot more activity at the board this evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted November 28, 2003 Report Share Posted November 28, 2003 The boot floppy issue is in the 9.2 errata. There is a work around here. I have always used the Mandrake tools to restore the windex mbr. Windex utilities do not work well with linux partitions; they generally indentify those partitions as errors on the drive, making the drive inaccessable. Mandrake will install lilo by default if you do not give it any other instructions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drahcir Posted November 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2003 I was talking about last time I installed. I know that before I installed Mandrake 9.1 it wouldn't have known that it had even been installed before. I did this so I could start off fresh and with some free space it could use. Anyway I'll try to create the disk before I remove the bootloader. At the moment all the disk does is stay there with a prompt of 'boot:'. What am I mean to write here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted November 28, 2003 Report Share Posted November 28, 2003 The data is too big for a floppy. You need to make a "super floppy" in order to have it work. It is hanging there because the data is incomplete with the default boot floppy production method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drahcir Posted November 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2003 How can I make a Super Floppy? My main goal is too remove LILO but allow me to access Linux. A boot floppy seemed quick & easy but now it doesn't look like I can create one. I've heard of a program called LoadIn.exe for Windows. Will this program allow me too boot up Linux without LILO? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkelve Posted November 28, 2003 Report Share Posted November 28, 2003 Dhracir, Ixthusdan already gave a link to that in his (second)-previous post: http://www.mandrakeusers.org/index.php?showtopic=9014# Darkelve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drahcir Posted November 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2003 Oops. I didn't notice that. Well this is what I was looking for. Thanks Darkelve and Ixthusdan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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