How can I edit BOOT.INI in recovery console ?

[Patches Forever]

I been copying and moving my XP system partition to other partitions and
drives and would really like it if there was something like a DOS mode where
I could edit BOOT.INI. Recovery Console has the BOOTCFG utility (I think
that's the name) but that keeps the actual file hidden from you. Apparently
it scans to find the partitions that are possible to boot and then asks
which one you want to try. That's not good enough in some cases - besides,
what IS the big deal here? Why do they seem to go to so much trouble to
keep your hands tied? I can't access files in NTFS with a Win9x boot disk.
You would think they would give you some way to do that in WinXP.
Apparently not. Maybe there's a way and I just haven't figured it out. I
think I could build some special boot floppies from WinNT floppies - but
what a hassle.

I haven't looked into the Bart PE CDs yet. That's probably what everybody's
doing.

I will appreciate any comments or info you can provide on this subject.

TIA Bill S.

 

[Pennywise]

I been copying and moving my XP system partition to other partitions and
drives and would really like it if there was something like a DOS mode where
I could edit BOOT.INI. Recovery Console has the BOOTCFG utility (I think
that's the name) but that keeps the actual file hidden from you. Apparently
it scans to find the partitions that are possible to boot and then asks
which one you want to try. That's not good enough in some cases - besides,
what IS the big deal here? Why do they seem to go to so much trouble to
keep your hands tied? I can't access files in NTFS with a Win9x boot disk.
You would think they would give you some way to do that in WinXP.
Apparently not. Maybe there's a way and I just haven't figured it out. I
think I could build some special boot floppies from WinNT floppies - but
what a hassle.

I haven't looked into the Bart PE CDs yet. That's probably what everybody's
doing.

I will appreciate any comments or info you can provide on this subject.

TIA Bill S.

in the recovery console.
ATTRIB -H -R C:\boot.ini

to edit it: EDIT C:\boot.ini
use the ALT key to activate the menu

and Yes it's very hard to repair an NTFS file system and why I still
use FAT32,

 

[Patches Forever]

There is no EDIT command available in Recovery Console

 

[Timothy Daniels]

I been copying and moving my XP system partition to other
partitions and drives and would really like it if there was
something like a DOS mode where I could edit BOOT.INI.
Recovery Console has the BOOTCFG utility (I think that's the
name) but that keeps the actual file hidden from you. Apparently
it scans to find the partitions that are possible to boot and then
asks which one you want to try. That's not good enough in
some cases - besides, what IS the big deal here? Why do
they seem to go to so much trouble to keep your hands tied?...

The big deal is to keep you from having to learn the syntax
of the boot.ini file - which requires some delving into MS
online documentation to learn. Otherwise, you can just
edit boot.ini by using Notepad (as I do) if you make System
files visible.

The only thing difficult about the boot.ini syntax is the
meaning of the "rdisk" parameter in the ARC path entries.
(In 99.9999% of systems, you can leave "multi" and "disk"
set at 0.) The "rdisk" parameter stands for the displacement
of a HD from the head of the >HARD DRIVE< boot order
(not the "boot order" - which prioritizes boot device TYPES).
The "hard drive boot order" is set in the BIOS, just as the
"boot order" is, and the "hard drive boot order" prioritizes
the hard drives for booting purposes. The DEFAULT hard
drive boot order for PATA HDs is:
Master on IDE ch. 0,
Slave on IDE ch. 0,
Master on IDE ch. 1,
Slave on IDE ch. 1.

If there is another type of device at an IDE position (or no
device), the BIOS just skips to the next position in assigning
boot priority. At boot time, ntldr reads the boot.ini file, and
it interprets "rdisk(0)" to mean the HD at the head of the hard
drive boot order. In the default case, this means the HD
which is jumpered as Master on ch. 0, but you can change
the hard drive boot order via keyboard input to the BIOS.
Similarly, "rdisk(1)" refers to the HD that is 2nd in the
hard drive boot order, etc.

The setting of "rdisk" takes on a critical role if you're multi-
booting OSes in the Win2K/NT/XP family. That setting will
determine which HD that the loader will go to in finding the
partition containing the OS. Microsoft just tries to avoid all
the confusion by automating the boot.ini setup.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Pennywise]

There is no EDIT command available in Recovery Console

My bad, you would expect an editor http://tinyurl.com/nl85s none is
supplied. - yep Fat32 and a Win98 boot disk, best recovery system out.