remove linux, and then install Windows XP

[Jerry Feldman]

On Wednesday 26 April 2006 9:29 am, Python wrote:
> You need a windows boot floppy with the windows fdisk.  Boot into
> windows and use fdisk /mbr to install the windows "master boot record".
Please refer to the previous posts. 
The Windows (or DOS) fdisk /mbr may beed to be executed a couple of times. I 
have found that on some occasions it failed to clear the MBR. Not a biggie. 
Today however, some PCs do not even have floppy drives. 

> (You may also need to run sys to copy boot files to the hard disk.
> However, my windows knowledge is getting pretty obsolete, so do *NOT*
> run sys unless you've exhausted better ideas, or someone who knows
> better agrees.)
AFAIK, the sys command is a Windows 95 command and does not apply to Windows 
NT variants. 

The following Linux command will clear the MBR (leaving the partition table 
alone)
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=446 count=1
But, you can back up the MBR also:
dd if=/dev/hda of=<file name> bs=512 count=1

Note that the partition table is in the last 66 bytes of the MBR. 

There is a good discussion of the MBR here:
http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/mbr.htm
-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix user group
http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9
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