Topic: EasyBoot as Boot Manager
started by: Tattenbach
Posted by Tattenbach on Jan. 12 2005,05:52
Xoben or Hulk,would it be possible to boot a CD that would include a Boot Manager thus allowing me to select which partitions or HDDs boot from? Or could this be achieved with EasyBoot directly?
What I want is NOT to install the Boot Manager in the MBR nor in any other partition of the HDD but instead having it on the CD.
If this is currently possible, which Boot Managers are supported by EasyBoot? I have been trying with a couple to no success.
Edit: I think Smart BootManager can be booted from a floppy, this means, that in theory, it can be booted from a CD too. I will try out this later and let you know.
Posted by marcelo on Jan. 12 2005,07:08
Hi Tattenbach!Try this:
1st) Put the files NTDETECT.COM, NTLDR and BOOT.INI on a blank floppy. (theses files are on Root installation drive or partition of Windows XP or Windows 2000. For example C:\ ,and may be hidden.)
2nd) Edit Boot.ini file like this:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Start from Partition 1" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Start from Partition 2" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Start from Partition 3" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="Start from Partition 4" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINDOWS="Start from Partition 5" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(6)\WINDOWS="Start from Partition 6" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(7)\WINDOWS="Start from Partition 7" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(8)\WINDOWS="Start from Partition 8" /fastdetect
3rd)Test the floppy to have sure that it is booting from all partitions.
4th)Using EasyBoot or Winimage create an image from that floppy called Bootpt.img or any name you wish.
5th) Use Easy boot to create a menu with command "run Bootpt.img".
Note: To test the floppy, the bios motherboard need to be set to boot from floppy.
To boot from an partition it need to be an primary partition (not logical) and need to have an Operation System installed on it and working of course.
Good lucky. Regards!
Marcelo
Posted by Tattenbach on Jan. 12 2005,07:58
Thanks Marcelo,It looks like it should work. Since I am away from my machine at the moment I will try it out later and let you know.
I have Linux installed on a logical partition but if I include bootsect.bin (referred to that partition) in the right EasyBoot folder and write the right lines in boot.ini it might work.
Talk to you later.
Posted by Tattenbach on Jan. 13 2005,03:21
Hello Marcelo,Your suggestion works fine detecting WinXP (and I guess it would detect Win 2000 and NT too) but failed to launch Linux and DOS the other two OS that I have in my PC. This was no problem because I used dd in Linux to dump the boot sector of the Linux partition and Eric Auer’s OScheck to do the same in the DOS partition. I placed both .bin file in the root of the XP partition (active) and added some lines to boot.ini in my CD. For those interested the lines were:
[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP" /fastdetect
C:\Linux.bin="SuSe Linux 9.1"
C:\DW98.bin="DOS"
(names are not relevant)
As I mentioned this was a great solution to my questions and I appreciate your help. However I still want to try using a Boot Manager from a CD that will recognize the different bootable partitions without the user configuring too many things. If I ever find something interesting I will post it here.
Once more thanks for your valuable information.
Cheers
Posted by Tattenbach on Jan. 14 2005,02:38
I made a mistake in my last post yesterday. The dumped boot sectors .bin files should be put in the same floppy, before using UltraISO or WinImage to make that floppy's image. I wrote that they should be placed in the same XP partition but that WAS NOT right. The boot.ini file remains unchanged.
Posted by marcelo on Jan. 14 2005,05:25
Hello Tattenbach,I believe that your suggestion will work.:)
If you have sucess booting BootManager from cd, please post instructions here. I (and many users) will appreciate it.
Thanks.
Marcelo
Posted by Tattenbach on Jan. 14 2005,06:51
Marcelo,My apologies if this was not clear, but the method DID work, as explained before.
What I did was basically what Marcelo suggested in his 1st post, to put the files NTDETECT.COM, NTLDR and BOOT.INI (from the XP root folder into a blank floppy (not bootable - just formatted).
I modified Marcelo's boot.ini file to work with my configuration (SuSE Linux and DOS additionally to WIN XP).
MY boot.ini file looks like this:
[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP" /fastdetect
C:\Linux.bin="SuSe Linux 9.1"
C:\DW98.bin="DOS"
The files Linux.bin and DW98.bin are the boot sectors of the the partitions where SuSe and DOS are installed. The names do not matter, you can use your own names. To get the SUSE's bootsector I used the Linux command dd and to get the DOS' bootsector I used the DOS utility oscheck.com (Eric Auer --- >>>>>
< http://www.coli.uni-sb.de/~eric/stuff/soft/specials/). >
You can use dd in Linux for the same if you have your DOS partition mounted (and for Win9x/ME).
Here is where I am not totally pleased with this method. The file boot.ini (in the floppy) must have to be set depending on the configuration of every multi OS HDD.
I added the files Linux.bin and DW98.bin (remember: names do not matter) to the floppy commented by Marcelo in his 1st post and then used UltraISO (WinImage can be used too) to dump the .ima image. This .ima file was used in EasyBoot with the run command (and of course copied to the EZboot folder). And that's it. When EasyBoot makes the ISO you can burn it and boot the CD that works like a champ.
Hope this helps
BTW: I installed SmartBoot Manager to a floppy, dumped the .ima from the floppy, used EasyBoot to create the boot CD (obviously I could have booted with the floppy itself or use any other burning software for the CD) but it did not work correctly with my configuration. But I think this happened because I had another bootmanager installed at my MBR confusing SBM. I still plan to experiment with this a little more. I also believe that EasyBoot can boot these partitions if it's told what to boot.
Posted by Phew on Jan. 14 2005,19:44
Great stuff, one such as me can learn so much, just reading through this post, good work..At the mo I am using system commander to boot my partitions from the easyboot menu, seem to work great and I can boot linux,98,xp, no probems, And I get a nice menu to boot, And my pc.s MBR is kept nice and clean :---)
Posted by Tattenbach on Jan. 15 2005,16:10
Thanks Phew.I´ll have a look at System Commander
Posted by marcelo on Jan. 17 2005,08:03
Hi Tattenbach,Now I have understand you .
Thank you.
Marcelo
Posted by mionica on Apr. 18 2005,05:18
Tattenbach,you might want to try Gujin 0.9 as a CD boot manager. It is a boot manager which scans all hard disks for bootable partitions (concerning linux: all available boot options on a certain partition are identified, thus can be used). It uses several methods for accessing the disk, including LBA - so any partition your MBR can boot can also be booted by Gujin.
Even better, Gujin does not require an operating system; it is available as a floppy image you can run from the easyboot menu (that's actually a waste, only about 135kb being used off it).
I've attached a screenshot of Gujin running.
Links:
< Home page >
< Gujin floppy images download >
Posted by Tattenbach on Apr. 18 2005,06:30
Thanks for the hint, Mionica.I will try Gujin. I heard of it before but never really tried it. In the meantime I have found GAG 4.5 that also can be run from a floppy, so it does what I needed (actually very well). In any case, I will try your suggestion. You never know when you might find something better. Or learn something new.
Thanks a lot.
Posted by Tattenbach on Apr. 22 2005,04:23
In the meantime, I have found this PLoP BootManager (they also have some interesting things in ASM)< http://www.plop.at/page_en_3.html >
I have just tried the boot flopply and works ok. If I ever have the time I will publish a comparison between these 3 BMs working from CD.