Saving MBR from Windows

[pmshah]

Is there any entry possible in winnt.sif or other configuration file that will prevent XP installation from overwriting the MBR? It would be extremely useful for multiple OS users. Not al boot managers permit easy reactivationof the menu system. Even an undocumented commandline switch from a dos initiated install would be OK.

Thanks.

Edited June 24, 2006 by pmshah

[LLXX]

Couldn't you just save the MBR somewhere else and restore it after installation?

[XP_2600]

Couldn't you just save the MBR somewhere else and restore it after installation?

Can you tell me how please ?

[jaclaz]

Using MBRWIZARD or MBRFIX, for example, or any of a number of DOS based programs or Dubaron's diskimage:

http://mbrwizard.tripod.com/

http://www.sysint.no/Nedlasting/MbrFix.htm

http://home.graffiti.net/jaclaz:graffiti.net/index.html

http://www.partition-saving.com/

http://dubaron.com/diskimage/

jaclaz

[Shark007]

The MBR (Master Boot Record) has absoutely NOTHING to do with the current files stored on an harddrive.

Each harddrive has a hardcoded physical copy of its MBR stored on one of its IC's. An MBR can be restored ANYTIME, without fear of affected stored files on a hdd by using the MSDOS command fdisk.exe /MBR (note: this command ONLY works on what the BIOS see's as 'C' drive)

i'm not sure what YOU think an MBR is, possibly some more research is in your near future.

shark

[pmshah]

Couldn't you just save the MBR somewhere else and restore it after installation?

I personally do not have any problem with this on my own machine. I am using BootItNg as my boot manager. Regardless of the kind of boot/install cd I make I religiously use BCDW & my boot manager as one of the booting options which simply reactivates itself & I am back in business. It is the client machine I am concerned with.

PC penetration where I live is not high but it is climbing. There is no such thing as regular yearly or bi-yearly upgrades/replacements. People keep using what they have - as long as it serves their purpose - accounting, internet, email & a little bit of word processing - a la wordstar 7.0 for dos- until it dies. There are still machines over 10 years old & running windows 95. They are comfortable with what they have. As & when they do get a new one or finally upgrade they want their old environment exactly as it was. They get familiar with XP at their leisure. Quite a few also want Linux to get familiar with it. In such cases I have to use one of the freebie boot managers for dual/triple booting. Not all are easy to restore. If there is an occassion or need for a repair/install the boot manager has to be reinstalled/reactivaed. If one could simply avoid this overwriting bit it would save a lot of hassels.

I do not wish to revert to my old system of making c: drive bootable to dos with cdrom drivers & then start dos initiated install. It does prevent overwriting of the mbr but is too slow & time consuming.

[allen2]

Some motherboard have an antivirus protection which can protect the MBR. If you activate it you will be prompted when a program want to write the MBR. I don't know if this will help.

[LLXX]

The MBR (Master Boot Record) has absoutely NOTHING to do with the current files stored on an harddrive.

Each harddrive has a hardcoded physical copy of its MBR stored on one of its IC's. An MBR can be restored ANYTIME, without fear of affected stored files on a hdd by using the MSDOS command fdisk.exe /MBR (note: this command ONLY works on what the BIOS see's as 'C' drive)

i'm not sure what YOU think an MBR is, possibly some more research is in your near future.

shark

I have no idea where you got that information, but it's almost completely wrong. The fdisk/mbr command can be very dangerous when used in certain circumstances. It merely rewrites the bootloader code with with it has within fdisk.exe itself. ...and I'm also not aware of any hard drive that stores sector 0 in flash RAM. Most HDDs even store some of their firmware on the platters.

http://mirror.href.com/thestarman/asm/mbr/FDISK.htm#MBR

[jaclaz]

And of course fdisk /mbr actually replaces the MBR code with the "standard" dos/windows one, not really smart if you use GRUB, Partita or any other Boot Manager that is installed on the MBR.

And yes, MBR is ALWAYS on sector 1 of the hard disk, sometimes called Track0, CHS 0/0/1, NOT in any flash/rom.

An MBR can be restored ANYTIME, without fear of affected stored files on a hdd by using the MSDOS command fdisk.exe /MBR (note: this command ONLY works on what the BIOS see's as 'C' drive)

Fdisk /mbr defaults to 1st hard disk.

Just for the record, the command fdisk /cmbr x exists also:

http://www.mdgx.com/secrets.htm#FDISK-C

that allows the same action on 2nd, 3rd hard disks, etc.

jaclaz

Edited June 26, 2006 by jaclaz

[pmshah]

Some motherboard have an antivirus protection which can protect the MBR. If you activate it you will be prompted when a program want to write the MBR. I don't know if this will help.

Most of the current mobos do. I will try & remember to experiment with it.

Thanks.