how to remove LILO bootloader and uninstall the Mandriva OS

[novabus726]

Hey there,

a couple months ago, I pilot projected the Mandriva Linux 10.1 operating system for my Pentium 4 computer at 1.4Ghz. I currently dual-boot with Windoze XP Professional SP2. I want to know how can I uninstall the operating system and removing the LILO bootloader.

I hardly use the Mandriva Linux operating system nowadays. btw, the operating system resides on my 2nd hard drive (which is the Maxtor Quantum 30GB hard drive). When I started to remove the bootloader off the system, do I need to backup my data on my XP hard drive first? That's my primary concern. One false move, then I will render my computer useless without a bootloader. I want to go back to the regular, ordinary booting process for Windows XP. Is there a safer way to do this? btw, the LILO bootloader is on my 1st hard drive (usually my 120GB western digital hard drive).

Any suggestions will be appreciated, thank you.

- P.S. I also want to know how can I completely remove the operating system off my computer (deleting all linux partitions off the system). Is there a way?

[ultrabuzz]

If you have an older Win98 bootdisk kicking around, you can boot from it that type:
fdisk /mbr at the command prompt. It will get rid of lilo for you.
Optionally, if you boot from WinXP cd, somewhere in recovery console there should be an option to restore MBR on your main drive.
As for deleting partitions, some kind of partition manager software would be best. A demo of Partition Magic should do what you need deleteing linux partitions and resizing remaining ones to claim back you disk space.

[novabus726]

If you have an older Win98 bootdisk kicking around, you can boot from it that type:
fdisk /mbr at the command prompt. It will get rid of lilo for you.
Optionally, if you boot from WinXP cd, somewhere in recovery console there should be an option to restore MBR on your main drive.
As for deleting partitions, some kind of partition manager software would be best. A demo of Partition Magic should do what you need deleteing linux partitions and resizing remaining ones to claim back you disk space.

Thanks for the advice, but as for the WinXP option, how do I go into the recovery console? Is backing up my data necessary for the process?

[Ken_ver_1_5]

I would suggest have a backup at any time.
with that said you should have no problem with the advice given.

[tsehou]

Thanks for the advice, but as for the WinXP option, how do I go into the recovery console? Is backing up my data necessary for the process?

Read this for the recovery console.

http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxprcons.htm
The example will be for win 2000, but XP is essentially the same. Boot into windows, the installation will start. Read the stuff on the screen carefully and there will be options that allow you to go into the recovery console.

Well if you damage your boot record you won't be able to boot the computer, but that can be remedied by reinstalling either linux or rerunning the recovery console on xp.

Otherwise, its just a caution to backup in case something goes wrong.

[novabus726]

OK, i've finally removed the LILO bootloader by using the fdisk /mbr. I used an old Win 98 floppy to do the trick. But when I go back to the "normal" XP booting process and then log in to my desktop, it detects some kind of new hardware, then it prompted me to reboot my computer. I do not have any new hardware installed on my computer ever since my reformat almost a year ago. Is this normal or is there something wrong that needs to be checked somewhat?

[ultrabuzz]

Does it ask you everytime you boot into Windows or did it just happen the first time after removing lilo ?
If only once, then that should be ok as it just found hardware change but if it happens everytime, you may wanna look in your device manager to make sure everything is ok (no devices "X'ed out" or with yellow question mark beside them).

[novabus726]

Does it ask you everytime you boot into Windows or did it just happen the first time after removing lilo ?
If only once, then that should be ok as it just found hardware change but if it happens everytime, you may wanna look in your device manager to make sure everything is ok (no devices "X'ed out" or with yellow question mark beside them).

This happens the first time that I removed lilo. Anyway, about removing the linux partitions - I used hiren's boot CD that includes a stripped down version of Partition Magic which allows me to remove partitions. When I run that utility, it asks me that I want to convert Drive 2's partition into ExtendedX (or something like that) partitions. Is it necessary to convert those partitions then remove the linux partitions or just simply remove the linux partitions?

[ultrabuzz]

Well, I wish I could answer this straight up however without a detailed description of your partition table I would not dare to suggest which one to delete and which one to keep/convert.