Linux and Windows 98 System Recovery Software

[DJLischer]

I now have Windows 98 and Linux dual-booting on my computer with LILO installed in /mbr. Before installing Linux, my Windows computer had GoBack running, which is a system recovery software.

The first time I went back into Windows after installing Linux, GoBack gave me a message about detecting tampering with the system and asked if I wanted GoBack to attempt to recover. I said no figuring it would remove LILO from mbr.

Now every time I go into Windows, GoBack asks me if I want to set GoBack up to run again. I keep saying no. Am I correct that re-activating GoBack would write over LILO? Is there any way to run Windows system recovery software like that when dual-booting with LILO?

Thanks for any help.

[ 26 February 2001: Message edited by: DJLischer ]

[bdg1983]

Do you have the manual for GoBack and if so, does it have any options to turn off certain features such as MBR recovery? Check their website for additional information if available.

Never used GoBack myself, but it sounds if you allow GoBack that it will attempt to restore your MBR and delete lilo.

[DJLischer]

Thanks for the answer :)

Poking around the GoBack documentation I have, it looks like an even better program than I realized. I'll have to look into it some more to see if I can get it working with lilo.

... No luck. I just checked out the GoBack web site and they make it very clear that GoBack does not work with boot managers because it writes to the mbr.

[ 27 February 2001: Message edited by: DJLischer ]

[n2linux]

If you have the money, use a 3rd party boot manager for windows like the one that comes with Partition Magic or BootManager.

[bigrigdriver]

You would probably have been better off NOT writing to the MBR (the reason GoBack gave you the error message is because vital system information has been tampered with). In some cases, that can make Windows non-bootable. If you can recover the original MBR, do so. Then have LILO write to the Linux partition, making the Linux partition bootable. Then set LILO to give you the choice of booting Windows or Linux (edit lilo.conf, after default = linux add:
other = /dev/hda1
label = Windows
then run /sbin/lilo to have the changes take effect. For /dev/hda1, use the partition for your Windows partition; for label, call it whatever you like.

[ 01 March 2001: Message edited by: bigrigdriver ]

[tallulah]

Is there an option to force the program to accept the change as "normal"? This is what happened with Norton Antivirus the first time it ran after I put GRUB on my MBR. I forced it to accept the change as normal, and I no longer get the alert.
:)

[DJLischer]

You would probably have been better off NOT writing to the MBR (the reason GoBack gave you the error message is because vital system information has been tampered with). In some cases, that can make Windows non-bootable. If you can recover the original MBR, do so. Then have LILO write to the Linux partition, making the Linux partition bootable.

Thanks for the great idea. I'll have to check about recovering my original MBR. If I can, I'll give your idea a try.

I have some questions though. I installed using the default Mandrake 7.2 install option. That automatically put LILO in MBR without giving me an option of where to put it.

1) After first installing Linux I could not boot into Windows at first because my lilo.conf was not set up properly. Before I figured out how to fix lilo.conf I had tried removing LILO to see if I could get Windows booting again, but it didn't work. What should I do to try to recover my original MBR and remove LILO?

2)Once that is done, I assume my computer will boot directly into Windows, but I'll be able to boot Linux from my boot floppy. Then how do I install LILO so that it is put on my Linux partition not my Windows partition?

Thanks for the help. I had given up on GoBack, but maybe there's hope yet :)

[DJLischer]

Is there an option to force the program to accept the change as "normal"? This is what happened with Norton Antivirus the first time it ran after I put GRUB on my MBR. I forced it to accept the change as normal, and I no longer get the alert.

Thanks for the suggestion. That is what I was going to try until I read on the GoBack website that GoBack won't work with boot managers. Maybe I'll go ahead and try anyway. What's the worst that could happen?

[bigrigdriver]

If you have Norton on your Windows partition, you may also have a Norton rescue disk (I hope you made one). In that case, do what I did when I trashed my system by writing to the MBR. I booted using the Norton rescue disk set I had make when I installed Norton (a Zip and a floppy), then I went through the emergency diagnostics until I got to MBR. Then I had Norton re-write the MBR from the rescue disk set (restoring the Windows MBR). I was then able to boot Windows without any problems. I use Bootmagic to boot either Windows or Linux, but LILO can be left in the MBR if properly set up. Go to www.caldera.com, (http://www.caldera.com,) click on Support, select Knowledge base, then enter a search word LILO. There is an excellent article describing how to set LILO for dual boot. It may not be exactly right for RH, but it should give you enough information on how to set your system.
On the other hand, you may have to designate your Linux partition as the primary bootable partition, then set LILO to give you the option of booting either Windows or Linux, in which case you probably still need to reset the Windows MBR to its original configuration.

[ 03 March 2001: Message edited by: bigrigdriver ]

[bdg1983]

After first installing Linux I could not boot into Windows at first because my lilo.conf was not set up properly. Before I figured out how to fix lilo.conf I had tried removing LILO to see if I could get Windows booting again, but it didn't work. What should I do to try to recover my original MBR and remove LILO?


Boot with a Dos/Win boot disk (that contains fdisk) and run 'fdisk /mbr'. This will remove lilo, restore the MBR and allow you to boot Windows again/