  This paper explores the effects that magnetic fields have on the viscous
boundary layers (VBLs) that can form in neutron stars at the crust-core
interface, and it investigates the VBL damping of the gravitational-radiation
driven r-mode instability. Approximate solutions to the magnetohydrodynamic
equations valid in the VBL are found for ordinary-fluid neutron stars. It is
shown that magnetic fields above 10^9 Gauss significantly change the structure
of the VBL, and that magnetic fields decrease the VBL damping time.
Furthermore, VBL damping completely suppresses the r-mode instability for B >=
10^{12} Gauss. Thus, magnetic fields will profoundly affect the VBL damping of
the r-mode instability in hot young pulsars (that are cool enough to have
formed a solid crust). One can speculate that magnetic fields can affect the
VBL damping of this instability in LMXBs and other cold old pulsars (if they
have sufficiently large internal fields).
