Red Hat 8.0.....format c:
 

I have two machines in our office that are both running red hat 8.0 (psyche). I need to format c: because we need to run win2k. The problem is I cannot get to a command prompt before it asks me to login. No we do not have the log in or password. There is nothing on the hard drive that we need or want, can anyone tell me how to bypass the log in and format c: please?

Hey,

win2k has bootable CDs no? Just boot from the CD and let win2k totally redo the harddisks.

Boot with setup disk ( http://www.bootdisk.com) then at the prompt:

a: fdisk

Delete any partition if existing , then create one new partition.

Otherwise, you can use the disk set ( winNT= 4 / winXp = 6 ) to boot, and format.

when the machine first boots you should see a prompt which will only stay there for a few secs. It will look something like this:

LILO:


You need to very quickly type:

linux single

and hit enter....this should boot you into single user mode with root access.

But if you think you are going to format c: on a linux machine you must not know very much about linux.

Why do you need to format anyway? Go into the BIOS...set it to boot from the cdrom first, put your damn win2k install disk in the drive and reboot. win2k install will format the HDD anyway.

thanks for the help. And I know two things about linux jack and shit and jack left town.

One thing... sometimes when a drive has had Linux on it, it's hard to blow away the MBR (master boot record). So although you might have blown away all the partitions from the Linux system, it might STILL boot thinking it's a Linux system. It will eventually fail because the partitions are wiped.. but the MBR remains from the Linux build.

If using fdisk, I believe you can use the "fdisk /mbr" command to wipe the master boot record clean.

Personally I like to low-level format the drives after they've had linux just to give them that sparkling clean effect :thumbsup

Low level formatting will take the drive back to the way it was when you got it from the manufacturer (filled with zero's). You can usually find drive utilities at the manufacturer's site, and these most always include low-level formatting tools.

Good luck!