Restore boot loader after removing grub

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To restore boot loader for Windows XP after removing grub follow these steps:

1. Boot the computer using Windows XP installation CD
2. During installation you will get prompt to start recovery console by pressing 'R'
3. If you have multiple windows installations you would have to choose the correct installation for which you want to boot into recovery
4. Then recovery console will ask for Windows 'administrator' user password. Please note that this is not same as the password for any administrator user for Windows. But, in fact, there is a user with name 'administrator' that gets created during Windows XP installation. The password for this user is also set during XP installation. You are required to enter that password here. After installation Windows allows to create one more administrator user, which people usually create with their own name, such as 'Saurabh'. In this case user 'Saurabh' would also have administrative rights. But the password for user 'Saurabh' cannot be used to boot into recovery mode, even if user 'Saurabh' is administrator. For booting into recovery mode only password of 'administrator' user would work. If password for 'administrator' user is blank (not-set) then just press enter when prompted for password. In most installations password for administrator user is left blank.
5. Once you successfully get recovery command prompt use following commands in same order to re-install windows boot loader

   fixmbr
   fixboot
   bootcfg /rebuild

   Here command fixboot may require argument such as C:. First try 'fixboot' without arguments and if you face problem then try 'fixboot c:'. The command 'bootcfg /rebuild' scans hard-disk for various windows installations and hence takes time. The command would also prompt user whether to add found Windows installation to boot options. Always choose 'yes' for such prompts.

6. Use 'exit' command to exit from recovery prompt, so that system reboots.
7. Remove the CD from drive and boot from hard-disk to verify that boot loader got installed properly. If boot loader is not installed then follow above steps more accurately.

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