How to boot to Previous OS instead of Default OS in Multiboot?

[John7]

Hi,

I setup a multiboot system:
- Win98 SE
- Win2K pro (default)
- WinXP pro

When no choice is made, Boot.ini always picks the default.
This is impractical when installing drivers or software in
non default OS's that require a reboot afterwards.

How can I automatically boot to the previous OS when no choice is made ?
The boot.ini options in msconfig provide no such options.
Are there more boot.ini options / keywords?

John7

 

[Tom Porterfield]

Hi,

I setup a multiboot system:
- Win98 SE
- Win2K pro (default)
- WinXP pro

When no choice is made, Boot.ini always picks the default.
This is impractical when installing drivers or software in
non default OS's that require a reboot afterwards.

How can I automatically boot to the previous OS when no choice is
made ? The boot.ini options in msconfig provide no such options.
Are there more boot.ini options / keywords?

Unfortunately no. This is one of the limitations of multi-boot support in
XP. You can only have one default OS to boot to. If you are rebooting
after driver or software upgrade you will need to be at the computer and
select the correct OS during reboot.

There are more robust multi-boot managers out there that have the
capability that you want, but the one included with XP does not.
--
Tom Porterfield
MS-MVP MCE
http://support.telop.org

Please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup only.

 

[John McGaw]

Hi,

I setup a multiboot system:
- Win98 SE
- Win2K pro (default)
- WinXP pro

When no choice is made, Boot.ini always picks the default.
This is impractical when installing drivers or software in
non default OS's that require a reboot afterwards.

How can I automatically boot to the previous OS when no choice is made ?
The boot.ini options in msconfig provide no such options.
Are there more boot.ini options / keywords?

John7

Every plain vanilla boot.ini I've seen has a section like this (copied from
my own):

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT

Which says that after ten seconds if no selection is made boot THIS OS.
Changing the default changes which will boot.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]

Return address will not work. Please
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