how to re-install LILO

[havenoclu]

I have winxp and rh 7.3 (dual boot), and after i installed rh it always went straight to linux (i accidently installed lilo to the mbr)..so i popped in the winxp cd, and went into the recovery console and created a new mbr...but now i cant get back into linux..so is there a way to re-install lilo to the first linux partition without having to re-install linux??? (im a total linux newb, so if some of it doesn't make since...sorry :)

thanks.

[mingshun]

Originally posted by havenoclu
I have winxp and rh 7.3 (dual boot), and after i installed rh it always went straight to linux (i accidently installed lilo to the mbr)..so i popped in the winxp cd, and went into the recovery console and created a new mbr...but now i cant get back into linux..so is there a way to re-install lilo to the first linux partition without having to re-install linux??? (im a total linux newb, so if some of it doesn't make since...sorry :)

thanks.

Insert your Linux CD and choose "linux rescue" while booting.
Follow the instructions given ...
(Rescuing has become so friendly nowadays ...)

On the command prompt, type:
/sbin/lilo -v

Look for any error messages.
If there isn't, it is done and you may reboot.

--
mingshun

[s3raphim]

i am running exactly the same kind of system. just got it up this week. the long and short of it is, you DO need to reinstall, here's how and why:

in the redhat 7.3 install you ARE supposed to install lilo to the mbr. there is an option then that appears at the bottom of the screen for tyou to choose your default booting os. apparently you chose linux. to choose winxp you would have to name the recognized ntfs drive something like 'winxp' or 'monkey' and then clicked the little checkbox for it to be the default boot os.

since you didn't name the ntfs drive, lilo did not consider it as a possible boot option, so it now boots straight into linux.

reinstalling winxp may have screwed you over permanently here, but you need to reinstall redhat. try the update option, although i don't remember whether the boot loader stuff is in there - it may let you skip reloading packages and such.

this time configure lilo as above to recognize winxp. you can make linux your default if you wish, in order to reach the ntfs drive all you have to do is name it, then it will appear on you boot screen as an option.

another option:
on the redhat site there are probably some emergency boot floppies. use them to boot to linux and you SHOULD [i haven't tried this] be able to reinstall lilo to your mbr. configure as above.

ALSO:
open the file /etc/lilo.conf and take a look around. there is probably documentation on it somewhere. if not, i'll post a sample tomorrow [im typing on a diff win box at the moment, so i can't look at it for you]
you can change you default drive, add boot options, and change the graphical boot all from this file.

[mdwatts]

You will need to change boot=/dev/hda to /boot=/dev/hda# (where # is your boot/root partition) in /etc/lilo.conf and then run /sbin/lilo.

[S.D.Willie]

s3raphim:
no need to HAVE to install redhat, or mandrake, or whatever to the MBR. you can just make a boot disk and add it to the win2k/xp botloader like so many did including myself. ;)

SD

[jglen490]

There is no need to re-install either OS, they are both alive and well on your hard drive. The only problem is access. Remember that the BIOS and bootstrap loader need SOMETHING in the MBR to tell them where to get the code that will boot an OS. Lilo will correctly boot just about any OS on any partition, if it is set up in the MBR and understands what OSes it needs to handle.

Mingshun had the correct idea here, use the Linux rescue procedure. You need to watch carefully what is told to Lilo as far as the available OSes and their locations.

Both the MBR and the partition boot sector are important in the boot process as are the instructions that Lilo passes to the BIOS and bootstrap loader for each OS. Ideally, Lilo should chain load the Windoze partition boot sector which will start NTloader and then WinXP, or it should instruct the BIOS to load the Linux boot instructions as determined by the lilo.conf file -- based on user selection or the default entry.

If you run into problems after reloading Lilo on the MBR, then access and post your lilo.conf file here.