Back up bootmanager

[s-m-n]

Hi,
I have a broken WinME installed on the first of my 2 harddisks. Now I need it but can't reinstall it because the boot manager is on the first disk and if I reinstall Windows it would be erased and repaced with the windows bootloader. Unfortunately i forgot to create a boot disk after the Knoppix installation. can I backup the bootmanager first, install windows and restore it afterwards (from the Knoppix live-dvd)?
I want to avoid reinstalling knoppix because it would take a very long time!

Please help me!

Thanks in advance!

s-m-n

[UnderScore]

Yes if you reinstall WinME, you are correct, it will overwrite the linux bootloader. But it is possible to reapply the linux bootloader.

The bootloader you are using is most likely GRUB. Here are some other posts where I help people reinstall the grub bootloader.

http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21927&highlight=grubinstall
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19389&highlight=grubinstall
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19793


If you are using LILO, then read this
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=86429#86429

[sakiZ]

Hmm. Since you are using WinME on fat32, you could turn lemons into lemonade.

First get a patch that will allow WinME to boot to DOS, which is actually already there in the OS. It never really disappeared in WinME. They are easily found on the web. Here is one:

http://www.geocities.com/mfd4life_2000/

Then, use Loadlin as you bootloader. There are lots of posts on this forum as to how to do that. Loadlin allows you to boot to DOS then, loads enough of linux to allow Knoppix to take over the boot process.

Getting Loadlin to work means simply copying a few appropriate files into a directory you create for booting Knoppix. Very safe. It allows you to use all cheat codes.

This means you could have a batch file that allows you to boot first into DOS then from there you could finish loading WinME or start your Knoppix install.

Think about it.

sakiZ

[s-m-n]

@underscore
Thanks very much, your first tutorial worked after substituting my harddisk paths fine. It should become sticky, shouldn't it?

@sakiZ
Thanks too, but I'd rather use GRUB as bootloader. Maybe I try loadlin later. :-)

s-m-n