Uninstall GRUB boot loader!

[asdfoi83wyrl]

In the end, I think I'll just go with my original Linux installation plan -- to install a full Linux system to remove the MBR and then let my restore disk reinstall it.

I suppose I should ask this in the Linux forum for more detail, but what is the fastest Linux distro which I could install offline that is capable of fully removing the MBR?

[markwolfe Veteran]

Even a LiveCD can remove the MBR. No need to install.

And what do you mean by "remove"? Since the bytes will still be there, you obviously just want to overwrite them. With what?

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=446 will write 446 zero bytes into where your MBR's boot code resides, if that is what you are after.

[thagame]

i have xp on my hd and all i do is go to http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm. grab Windows 98 OEM file. put it on a floppy. boot with it. then use the command fdisk /mbr . sometimes you gotta go into C:/ or whatever your drive is but most times not

[asdfoi83wyrl]

  thagame said:

i have xp on my hd and all i do is go to http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm. grab Windows 98 OEM file. put it on a floppy. boot with it. then use the command fdisk /mbr . sometimes you gotta go into C:/ or whatever your drive is but most times not

laptop -- no floppy drive :(

  markjensen said:

Even a LiveCD can remove the MBR. No need to install.

And what do you mean by "remove"? Since the bytes will still be there, you obviously just want to overwrite them. With what?

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=446 will write 446 zero bytes into where your MBR's boot code resides, if that is what you are after.

OK, so I guess i need to use these commands in Terminal instead of going into the YAST control center? And, if so, should i use /sda instead of /hda, since i think that's where my hard drives are when I looked at partitions using QTParted under Knoppix?

[asdfoi83wyrl]

Uninstallation successful!

Thanks to everyone for your help. I found that my hard drive is indeed /dev/sda, and using Knoppix's Terminal session I logged in as root and typed in the command Mark gave me. Unfortunately I didn't get a response after that--I just waited for a while, then went ahead to reboot.

When booting from the hard drive, I got a generic Intel MBR thing. A halfway-installed factory image of Windows XP already existed on my C: drive, but I didn't bother to try to get into it. Instead I used the recovery CD again, which quick formatted the C: drive and is now busy copying files.

Once again, thanks to everyone--without you guys' help I probably would have to have taken my system to a local repair center :)