Restoring lilo after reinstallation of windows

[GamerKhai]

Hi guys,

Hope some of you gurus can help me out. After reinstalling my evil
windoz, it has overwritten the previous mbr that has lilo installed.
Is there anyway i can recover it or is there any software i can
download that lets me have the option of loading into my linux OS
again? The obvious option is of course to reinstall my linux again but
i got some important files in my linux partition... Any help would be
appreciated.

Also, if the only solution is to reinstall linux, is there anything i
can do to prevent this from ever happening again? Like is there a way
i can back up my MBR before i had done the Windows installation?
Thanks guys.

Best Regards,
Khai

[mjt]

GamerKhai wrote:

> Hope some of you gurus can h

.... do NOT multi-post ... you have answers in another group.
..
--
/// Michael J. Tobler: motorcyclist, surfer, skydiver, \\\
\\\ and author: "Inside Linux", "C++ HowTo", "C++ Unleashed" ///
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Magnocartic, adj.: Any automobile that, when left unattended,
attracts shopping carts. - Sniglets, "Rich Hall & Friends"

[Bill Unruh]

[email]gamerkhai@yahoo.com[/email] (GamerKhai) writes:

]Hi guys,

]Hope some of you gurus can help me out. After reinstalling my evil
]windoz, it has overwritten the previous mbr that has lilo installed.
]Is there anyway i can recover it or is there any software i can
]download that lets me have the option of loading into my linux OS
]again? The obvious option is of course to reinstall my linux again but
]i got some important files in my linux partition... Any help would be
]appreciated.

]Also, if the only solution is to reinstall linux, is there anything i
]can do to prevent this from ever happening again? Like is there a way
]i can back up my MBR before i had done the Windows installation?
]Thanks guys.

Sure. Easy.
Take your first installation CD and put it into the drive. Just after the spash screen it asks
if you want to upgrade /install-- press enter or other, press F1. Press F1 and then type
rescue
Then do mkdir /linux
mount /dev/hda1 /linux
(assuming your Mandrake boot partition was on /dev/hda1)
Check to make sure (ie see if the file /linux/etc/lilo.conf exists and has in it
what you want)
Then do
lilo -r /linux
and it should be reinstalled.
remove the cdrom, reboot and away you go.

[Nico Kadel-Garcia]

GamerKhai wrote:

> Hi guys,
>
> Hope some of you gurus can help me out. After reinstalling my evil
> windoz, it has overwritten the previous mbr that has lilo installed.
> Is there anyway i can recover it or is there any software i can
> download that lets me have the option of loading into my linux OS
> again? The obvious option is of course to reinstall my linux again but
> i got some important files in my linux partition... Any help would be
> appreciated.
>
> Also, if the only solution is to reinstall linux, is there anything i
> can do to prevent this from ever happening again? Like is there a way
> i can back up my MBR before i had done the Windows installation?
> Thanks guys.

Most modern Linux installation CD's can be used to boot into a "rescue"
mode, which mounts the Linux directories and allows you to "chroot" to
the mount point and re-run lilo or grub-install to replace your MBR.

Next time, make a Linux boot floppy *right* before re-installing
Windows. It'll be faster.

[GamerKhai]

Nico Kadel-Garcia <nkadel@verizon.net> wrote in message news:<Vfrab.12593$hl4.1389@nwrdny01.gnilink.net>.. .

> GamerKhai wrote:
>

> > Hi guys,
> >
> > Hope some of you gurus can help me out. After reinstalling my evil
> > windoz, it has overwritten the previous mbr that has lilo installed.
> > Is there anyway i can recover it or is there any software i can
> > download that lets me have the option of loading into my linux OS
> > again? The obvious option is of course to reinstall my linux again but
> > i got some important files in my linux partition... Any help would be
> > appreciated.
> >
> > Also, if the only solution is to reinstall linux, is there anything i
> > can do to prevent this from ever happening again? Like is there a way
> > i can back up my MBR before i had done the Windows installation?
> > Thanks guys.

>
> Most modern Linux installation CD's can be used to boot into a "rescue"
> mode, which mounts the Linux directories and allows you to "chroot" to
> the mount point and re-run lilo or grub-install to replace your MBR.
>
> Next time, make a Linux boot floppy *right* before re-installing
> Windows. It'll be faster.

---------------------------------------------------

What if after using the rescue mode in the installation disk, after
running /sbin/lilo it says it can't find the lilo.conf file? Does that
mean I am not running lilo but grub? How do u reinstall grub?

And this might be an easy question to some people, but how do u make a
linux boot floppy? Is there a command?

[Bill Unruh]

[email]gamerkhai@yahoo.com[/email] (GamerKhai) writes:

]Nico Kadel-Garcia <nkadel@verizon.net> wrote in message news:<Vfrab.12593$hl4.1389@nwrdny01.gnilink.net>.. .
]> GamerKhai wrote:
]>
]> > Hi guys,
]> >
]> > Hope some of you gurus can help me out. After reinstalling my evil
]> > windoz, it has overwritten the previous mbr that has lilo installed.
]> > Is there anyway i can recover it or is there any software i can
]> > download that lets me have the option of loading into my linux OS
]> > again? The obvious option is of course to reinstall my linux again but
]> > i got some important files in my linux partition... Any help would be
]> > appreciated.
]> >
]> > Also, if the only solution is to reinstall linux, is there anything i
]> > can do to prevent this from ever happening again? Like is there a way
]> > i can back up my MBR before i had done the Windows installation?
]> > Thanks guys.
]>
]> Most modern Linux installation CD's can be used to boot into a "rescue"
]> mode, which mounts the Linux directories and allows you to "chroot" to
]> the mount point and re-run lilo or grub-install to replace your MBR.
]>
]> Next time, make a Linux boot floppy *right* before re-installing
]> Windows. It'll be faster.

]---------------------------------------------------

]What if after using the rescue mode in the installation disk, after
]running /sbin/lilo it says it can't find the lilo.conf file? Does that
]mean I am not running lilo but grub? How do u reinstall grub?

Uh, I gave detailed instructions on what you had to do. Apparently you
did not follow them. You do NOT run lilo after typing recue mode.
You MUST first mount the drive on which your / partition sits and you
MUST run lilo in chroot mode.

You may of course be running grub but (while you have never told us
which distro you use) I suspect it is lilo.



]And this might be an easy question to some people, but how do u make a
]linux boot floppy? Is there a command?

In which distro?

[Nico Kadel-Garcia]

GamerKhai wrote:

> Nico Kadel-Garcia <nkadel@verizon.net> wrote in message news:<Vfrab.12593$hl4.1389@nwrdny01.gnilink.net>.. .
>

>>GamerKhai wrote:
>>
>>

>>>Hi guys,
>>>
>>>Hope some of you gurus can help me out. After reinstalling my evil
>>>windoz, it has overwritten the previous mbr that has lilo installed.
>>>Is there anyway i can recover it or is there any software i can
>>>download that lets me have the option of loading into my linux OS
>>>again? The obvious option is of course to reinstall my linux again but
>>>i got some important files in my linux partition... Any help would be
>>>appreciated.
>>>
>>>Also, if the only solution is to reinstall linux, is there anything i
>>>can do to prevent this from ever happening again? Like is there a way
>>>i can back up my MBR before i had done the Windows installation?
>>>Thanks guys.

>>
>>Most modern Linux installation CD's can be used to boot into a "rescue"
>>mode, which mounts the Linux directories and allows you to "chroot" to
>>the mount point and re-run lilo or grub-install to replace your MBR.
>>
>>Next time, make a Linux boot floppy *right* before re-installing
>>Windows. It'll be faster.

>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
>
> What if after using the rescue mode in the installation disk, after
> running /sbin/lilo it says it can't find the lilo.conf file? Does that
> mean I am not running lilo but grub? How do u reinstall grub?

Did you "chroot" to the newly mounted root file system? This is "chroot
/mnt/sysimage" with a RedHat system. With grub, first your read the
manual pages, then you read the grub.conf file (in /etc/grub.conf or
/boot/grub/grub.conf where the other one is symbolically linked to), and
see where it says "I put the MBR here". Then you run "grub-install",
typically although not always with "grub-install /dev/hda".

> And this might be an easy question to some people, but how do u make a
> linux boot floppy? Is there a command?

Yup. You look it up on Google, or type "man -k boot", and for RedHat
with the software installed it's "mkbootdisk".