How to remove boot loader

[cereal83]

Hey all, I am switching from Mandrake 9.2 to Redhat 9.0. I already formated the partition but I need to remove the boot drive or loader. I read around on here that you go to fdisk then you remove it but I have no idea on how to do that. Like my computer didn't come with a recovery cd, just a recoverty partition. How would I get it back it was before I installed mandrake? Do I do this through windows somehow?

Thanks all

[Hayl]

red hat will overwrite the mandrake bootloader...

[cereal83]

are you sure? Because I don't want to be booting and still have the option to boot onto mandrake if it's not there.

[mjsmithz]

you could always remove that option

[cereal83]

well how would I remove it?

Like I read some more and it says in dos type fdisk /mbr but I am on xp and fdisk doesn't exist. I just want to know how to remove it. I am sure somebody knows.


Thanks

[Trogdor]

If RH doesn't remove Mandrake as an option, do this:

$su
[root password]
#mount /boot
#nano /boot/grub/grub.conf
[remove the mandrake section]
#umount /boot
#exit
$

[cereal83]

I tried that but I get this message when I type
mount /boot

"[pinter@localhost pinter]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost pinter]# mount /boot
mount: can't find /boot in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
[root@localhost pinter]#"


What do I do?


Thanks

[cereal83]

Can someone please help? I am sure somebody knows how to remove the boot loader in detail. All the things I have read are not possible or do not work on my xp.

edit: 53 veiws and nobody wants to help?

[cereal83]

Well I would just like to thank everybody who replied to this post and to everybody else who read it, knew how to fix it but moved on because they thought it said in google how to do this. Great Job Just Linux memebrs!

[terribleRobbo]

Skip straight to the the second stage.

If 'pico' doesn't work, try 'nano'.

Failing that, 'gedit', or 'kwrite'.

The Mandrake section should be arranged in a big block in the file. If you're unsure, post it here and we'll tell you what to remove.

[X_console]

It says you don't have /boot in your fstab. Perhaps it's not being mounted and is part of your / partition. If that's the case, just head over to /boot and look for the file there.

[cereal83]

Thanks for the replies. But I still can't find it. I am very new to linux. I did a "whereis boot" and it only found "/usr/share/man/man7/boot.7.bz2" I don't know where else to look. man this is so complicated

[mdwatts]

Originally posted by cereal83
Well I would just like to thank everybody who replied to this post and to everybody else who read it, knew how to fix it but moved on because they thought it said in google how to do this. Great Job Just Linux memebrs!

No everyone that knows the answer can be here at all times. Some have school and some have work (like me). You don't know the answer, but you figure EVERYONE else should? I guess you get what you pay for, don't you? :rolleyes:

As long as you install the new bootloader to the same location (mbr for example) it will overwrite the old.

[JayMan8081]

You could also boot the Windows XP CD and tell it to go to recovery mode instead of installation. Once in it should look like a dos prompt. Simply type fixmbr and it will overwrite your mbr back to Windows only. Then just use a boot disk to get into Linux.

[cereal83]

Originally posted by mdwatts
No everyone that knows the answer can be here at all times. Some have school and some have work (like me). You don't know the answer, but you figure EVERYONE else should? I guess you get what you pay for, don't you? :rolleyes:

As long as you install the new bootloader to the same location (mbr for example) it will overwrite the old.

I know not everyone knows the answer and and people accually have lives but I was stating that some people know exactly how to do it and they just don't waste their time replying. I have yet to reply to a problem because I don't know Linux good enough to give people a confident and correct answer but when I do, you will see me in here trying to help people instead of saying "google it". All i need is some help. I called HP to get help but they won't help since I installed a 3rd party OS.



I would put in a recovery cd if I could but I have a partition that is recovery. I went into there and tried what you said but it never worked. I am getting help from my college instructor but even he is stumped on how I would do that.

Is it really that hard to remove a boot loader from Xp?

Thank all yet again and if somebody does read this and know, please spend some time telling me how to.

Thanks

[mdwatts]

If you are simply switching from Mandrake to Redhat and would like the Linux bootloader installed in the same location, why not just do as I previously suggested and let Redhat install it's bootloader over Mandrake's? It will work.

If you do not want to do that, then the only way to uninstall the bootloader that is in the mbr, is to use a Win9X bootdisk and run

fdisk /mbr

or if you are using Lilo, boot to Linux and run (as root)

/sbin/lilo -u

I do not believe that Grub has a uninstall option.

[JohnT]

There were several solutions outlined above, anyone of them will work. First, what do you have installed to the MBR that allows you to boot XP and Linux (Lilo/Grub)? Second, is XP the first OS on the HD? Third, Do you have the XP installation CD? Fourth, if not do you have access to a Win 98 boot disk, you can download a bootdisk from ...http://bootdisk.com

The object of these excercises is to overwrite your present MBR with a new one. BTW, if you want a fool-proof dual-boot setup that doesn't mess with your XP MBR (read carefully).........
http://linuxnewbie.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=75693&highlight=dual+boot


<edit>D***n Mike, beat me to it:p

[mdwatts]

Originally posted by JohnT

<edit>D***n Mike, beat me to it:p

Getting slow in your old age... eh JT? ;)

[cereal83]

I want to remove the boot loader and switch it to a disk boot loader so when i start, if the disk is in, it goes to linux and if it's not, it goes to windows. I am gonna try that win98 boot thingy and I will let you all know.

Thanks

[cereal83]

well I went to that boot website and put the win 98 boot disk onto a floppy and rebooted and it started up a screen but it didn't give me an option to type anywhere. What am I doing wrong?


Thanks

[cereal83]

Ok thanks guy. I managed to get it to work

I had to wait for like 5 minutes for the screen show up but it showed up

Thanks all

[JohnT]

A good floppy bootloader is Grub. Here's one of the best tutorials on this subject.

http://www2.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/issue85/4622.html

[cereal83]

Originally posted by JohnT
A good floppy bootloader is Grub. Here's one of the best tutorials on this subject.

http://www2.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/issue85/4622.html


Thanks. I will use that page as a referance when Red Hat is installed