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How Do I Make Sure the System Boots after Re-Installing the Operating System?

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This FAQ applies to: All

This should work whether you're re-installing Linux or some other, commercial, operating system:

Insert a blank, formatted floppy in drive A:
Save a copy of the boot hard drive's Master Boot Record to the floppy, by executing the command:
#dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/fd0 count=1
dd is a standard program on Linux systems. A MS-Windows compatible version is available from ftp://ftp.gnu.org/, as well as many MS software archives.
Test that the floppy boots the system by rebooting with the floppy in the A: drive.
Then you should be able to install the other operating system (on a different hard drive and/or partition, if you don't want to uninstall Linux).
After installation, boot Linux again from the floppy, and re-install the MBR with the command: /sbin/lilo.

[Jacques Guy]

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