Restoring Win2K MBR...

[kerykeion]

I think I might have a slight problem...

I have deleted my Linux and Linux swap partitions through Windows 2000's Disk Manager. However, I completely forgot to uninstall LILO before deleting the partitions. So, how do I restore the Win2K MBR like before? ..and what are the various ways of doing so?

BTW, I have searched the internet and MS KB files several times in search for an answer, and have only seen the fdisk /mbr option. I'm not sure if this would work though because 1) it sounds like a solution only for DOS/Win9x. 2) I'm afraid it will not work with my NTFS partition. 3) It may damage my partition scheme (I cannot afford to lose my Windows partitions).

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

boot from win2k cd and do a repair installation. it will not hose anything, just reinstall the boot loader and fix any missing system files, etc. in essence, it 'repairs' what might be broken.

 

[kerykeion]

Well, now there is another problem ... I did my Win2K installation from a hard drive partition rather than the CD (i.e. there's no CD drive in my notebook). Could I boot into DOS (using a boot disk) then run \i386\winnt.exe OR could I make the 4 setup floppies to get into a repair installation? I'm rather unfamiliar with Win2k's repair installation (never used it before).

 

[kerykeion]

..or can I just make a Win2K ERD disk?

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

just run winnt.exe, thats the same as booting from cd.

 

[Rob G.]

I'm not sure I understand this properly.

I've just tried to do this as an experiment and there is no option for a 'repair installation' when booting from the W2K CD. I can either choose the repair option (recovery console or ERD, neither of which seem capable of recovering the boot sector/loader) or installing. If I try to install the current W2K installation gets erased.

Or have I missed something entirely?

 

[AndyHui]

Boot up from the Win2K CDROM, and then go to the Recovery Console. There, run the command fixboot. That should restore the Win2K bootsector.