C
cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)
To do that, you need:
- a plain text editor
- a platform that can run it, as well as read and write C:\Boot.ini
If FATxx and HD is < 137G, use a DOS boot diskette with Edit.com on
it, as well as the correct version of Attrib.exe so that you can strip
the Read-Only attribute off C:\Boot.ini so changes can be saved.
If NTFS or HD is > 137G, then DOS mode can't read the file system at
all (NTFS) or safely ( > 137G). You'd want a Bart PE boot CDR so that
you could access NTFS even if the HD can't boot, and thus be able to
edit C:\Boot.ini in Notepad or similar.
Bad idea.
Firstly, MS Word is not a good choice for editing brittle files that
must remain pure text, because it's liable to add a lot of formatting
garbage and save as the wrong file type with an extra file name
extension appended to the file name.
Secondly, Word requires a ton of files to work properly, plus it
requires Windows (another ton of files) to run it. In the
troubleshooting circumstances, there will be some doubt as to whether
all these code files will actually be in working order.
Thirdly, both Word and Windows will constantly write to the hard
drive, even if you aren't saving anything - and again, in
troubleshooting circumstances, you'd want to avoid that.
Finally, because Word needs Windows to run, it can't be invoked as a
bootable OS via Boot.ini
If FATxx and < 137G, you can set a DOS mode as a Boot.ini boot option,
and use Autoexec.bat or Config.sys to automatically run Edit.
See http://cquirke/mvps.org/ "Installation" section to learn more
about multi-boot strategies, but here's a terse backgrounder...
C:\NTLDR is booted by an NT partition boot record, and this in turn
interprets C:\Boot.ini to offer a range of bootable OSs.
There are two mecanisms to boot an OS via Boot.ini
1) NT OSs
These are OSs that C:\NTLDR can understand, and they can be in any HD
volume and any path. The syntax is used to instruct where NTLDR is to
find the OS, so that it can start it up.
2) Arbitrary OSs
OSs that NTLDR does not understand, can be booted as if their
partition boot loader was present and invoked. A different syntax is
used to direct NTLDR to an image file that contains the code that
would have been present in the partition boot record.
Method (2) is used to start an HD-installed Recovery Console, as well
as a DOS mode or Win9x. I don't think it can be used to start non-MS
OSs, if the partition boot record and/or file systems differ.
When you install an NT, it will find a pre-existing DOS or Win9x OS
and set it up as an alternatre boot.
If you want to add such an OS afterwards, and you are sure it will
work safely (< 137G, FATxx, don't have a full Win9x on same volume as
an NT else they contend over "rogram Files") then you can - but you
need to be sure of what you are doing, as you can screw up!
a) Back up the NT partition boot sector
Use tool of your choice to copy the first sector of the boot partition
to a file. Don't copy more than one sector, even if it is a 3-sectot
FAT32 boot record; only the first sector is needed!
b) Create the DOS mode bootability using SYS
The DOS mode SYS command will do the following:
- replace partition boot code for that of DOS mode
- copy IO.SYS, COMMAND.COM and drive compression drivers to root
If you skipped (a), you'd have no easy way to boot the NT again,
because the boot code now loads C:\IO.SYS not C:\NTLDR
c) Harvest the new DOS mode partition boot sector
As (a), but this time save as a 512-byte file called C:\BOOTSECT.DOS
d) Restore the original NT partition boot sector
Reversing method (a) so that C:\NTLDR will now boot
e) Add new OS entry to Boot.ini
The entry will be C:\="Name of your OS here" and that will direct
C:\NTLDR to find and load C:\BOOTSECT.DOS
f) Don't ;comment in the OS setion!
Final tip; Boot.ini isn't totally compliant with .INI norms, in that
;comments within the OS section are treated as live data., i.e. they
are not ignored. You can ;comment in other sections of the file tho.
- a plain text editor
- a platform that can run it, as well as read and write C:\Boot.ini
If FATxx and HD is < 137G, use a DOS boot diskette with Edit.com on
it, as well as the correct version of Attrib.exe so that you can strip
the Read-Only attribute off C:\Boot.ini so changes can be saved.
If NTFS or HD is > 137G, then DOS mode can't read the file system at
all (NTFS) or safely ( > 137G). You'd want a Bart PE boot CDR so that
you could access NTFS even if the HD can't boot, and thus be able to
edit C:\Boot.ini in Notepad or similar.
Bad idea.
Firstly, MS Word is not a good choice for editing brittle files that
must remain pure text, because it's liable to add a lot of formatting
garbage and save as the wrong file type with an extra file name
extension appended to the file name.
Secondly, Word requires a ton of files to work properly, plus it
requires Windows (another ton of files) to run it. In the
troubleshooting circumstances, there will be some doubt as to whether
all these code files will actually be in working order.
Thirdly, both Word and Windows will constantly write to the hard
drive, even if you aren't saving anything - and again, in
troubleshooting circumstances, you'd want to avoid that.
Finally, because Word needs Windows to run, it can't be invoked as a
bootable OS via Boot.ini
If FATxx and < 137G, you can set a DOS mode as a Boot.ini boot option,
and use Autoexec.bat or Config.sys to automatically run Edit.
See http://cquirke/mvps.org/ "Installation" section to learn more
about multi-boot strategies, but here's a terse backgrounder...
C:\NTLDR is booted by an NT partition boot record, and this in turn
interprets C:\Boot.ini to offer a range of bootable OSs.
There are two mecanisms to boot an OS via Boot.ini
1) NT OSs
These are OSs that C:\NTLDR can understand, and they can be in any HD
volume and any path. The syntax is used to instruct where NTLDR is to
find the OS, so that it can start it up.
2) Arbitrary OSs
OSs that NTLDR does not understand, can be booted as if their
partition boot loader was present and invoked. A different syntax is
used to direct NTLDR to an image file that contains the code that
would have been present in the partition boot record.
Method (2) is used to start an HD-installed Recovery Console, as well
as a DOS mode or Win9x. I don't think it can be used to start non-MS
OSs, if the partition boot record and/or file systems differ.
When you install an NT, it will find a pre-existing DOS or Win9x OS
and set it up as an alternatre boot.
If you want to add such an OS afterwards, and you are sure it will
work safely (< 137G, FATxx, don't have a full Win9x on same volume as
an NT else they contend over "rogram Files") then you can - but you
need to be sure of what you are doing, as you can screw up!
a) Back up the NT partition boot sector
Use tool of your choice to copy the first sector of the boot partition
to a file. Don't copy more than one sector, even if it is a 3-sectot
FAT32 boot record; only the first sector is needed!
b) Create the DOS mode bootability using SYS
The DOS mode SYS command will do the following:
- replace partition boot code for that of DOS mode
- copy IO.SYS, COMMAND.COM and drive compression drivers to root
If you skipped (a), you'd have no easy way to boot the NT again,
because the boot code now loads C:\IO.SYS not C:\NTLDR
c) Harvest the new DOS mode partition boot sector
As (a), but this time save as a 512-byte file called C:\BOOTSECT.DOS
d) Restore the original NT partition boot sector
Reversing method (a) so that C:\NTLDR will now boot
e) Add new OS entry to Boot.ini
The entry will be C:\="Name of your OS here" and that will direct
C:\NTLDR to find and load C:\BOOTSECT.DOS
f) Don't ;comment in the OS setion!
Final tip; Boot.ini isn't totally compliant with .INI norms, in that
;comments within the OS section are treated as live data., i.e. they
are not ignored. You can ;comment in other sections of the file tho.
Drugs are usually safe. Inject? (Y/n)