Boot Partition 2.0 for WinNT(c)1995-96 G. Vollant (100144.2636@compuserve.com) WEB : http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/gvollant/bootpart.htm Add a partition to the Windows NT Multi-boot loader Usage : When running under Windows NT or MS-Dos BOOTPART List all partitions, with numbers BOOTPART [] where : part_number : a number of a partition (or A: for floppy) filename : the file name of the bootfile to create name_of_system : the name to be added in BOOT.INI Create a boot file for the partition, and if name_of_system is specified, register it in BOOT.INI You can also replace by DOS622 or WIN95 to create boot sectors for these systems. BOOTPART LIST List the entries in BOOT.INI (you can remove them after with BOOTPART) Under MS-Dos (MS-Dos 6.22 or the "MS-Dos 7.0" from Windows 95) only: BOOTPART BOOT:C: where is DOS622, WIN95 or WINNT, rewrite the boot sector of C: to boot MS-Dos 6.22, Win95, or the NT Boot loader BOOTPART REWRITEROOT:C: Move the IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS files from MS-Dos 6.22 to the beginning of the partition ------------------------------------ BOOTPART lets you add partitions to the Windows NT Multiboot menu. Usually, the only partitions on the Windows NT multiboot are the one or more installations of Windows NT. With BOOTPART, you can add any partition to the menu. You can add OS/2 Multiboot or Linux Partitions (with Lilo) to the menu. It seems it's actually impossible to add an HPFS partition with OS/2 boot. If you find a workaround, please let me know. BOOTPART creates a 512 byte file that contains an image of a boot sector that loads the boot sector of the partition. That is, it creates a small program that loads and executes the specified partition's boot sector. Thereafter, this file is declared in C:\BOOT.INI (a text file used by the Windows NT boot menu). The boot sector comes from FDFormat and WinImage. Note that under Windows NT, BOOTPART must be run from the Administrator account. FDFormat can be downloaded under the name FDFORM.ZIP in the PCHW compuserve forum, or by ftp (ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/diskutil/fdform18.zip). This tool, written by C.H. Hochstatter, formats floppies under MSDOS in normal (1.44 MB) or special (1.68 MB) capacity. It will also write a boot sector that boots the harddisk. WinImage, a Windows (Windows 3.1, 95 and NT) shareware I've written, can read, write, and format floppies in any capacity (including 1.68 MB), and build an image file of a floppy. It can extract from, or inject files into an image, and change the image size. The WinImage web site is : http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/gvollant/winimage.htm It can be downloaded under name WINIMA25.ZIP in the WUGNET compuserve forum, or by ftp (ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/win3/diskutil/winima25.zip). (and soon WINIMA30.ZIP with image file compression !!) Example : You create and move to a directory for the boot file, and display the list of partitions : C:\>MD BOOTFILE C:\>CD BOOTFILE C:\BOOTFILE>BOOTPART Boot Partition 2.00 for WinNT(c)1995-96 G. Vollant (100144.2636@compuserve.com) WEB : http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/gvollant/bootpart.htm Add partition in the Windows NT Multi-boot loader Run "bootpart /?" for more information 0 : C:* type=6 (BIGDOS Fat16), size = 1044193 KB 1 : C: type=a (OS/2 Boot Manag.), size = 8032 KB 2 : C: type=5 (Extended), size = 8032 KB 3 : C: type=7 (HPFS/NTFS), size = 8001 KB 4 : D: type=6 (BIGDOS Fat16), size = 261104 KB 5 : D: type=5 (Extended), size = 769024 KB 6 : D: type=7 (HPFS/NTFS), size = 102384 KB 7 : D: type=5 (Extended), size = 369664 KB 8 : D: type=7 (HPFS/NTFS), size = 369648 KB 9 : D: type=83 (Linux native), size = 296944 KB Note : Extended partitions (type 5) are the only partitions that can contain other partitions. It's not useful to add extended partitions to the NT boot menu ! The * after C: means that partition 0: is the active partition. Now, you add some partitions : C:\BOOTFILE>BOOTPART 9 BOOTLINX.BIN Linux C:\BOOTFILE>BOOTPART 1 BOOTLINX.BIN Boot Manager OS/2 C:\BOOTFILE>BOOTPART a: BOOTLINX.BIN Boot floppy A: The last line (A:) is special, and is designed for a BIOS configured for booting from C: before reading from the floppy (A:) . The next time you boot, the Windows NT menu will show Linux, OS/2 Boot Manager, and the floppy ! BOOTPART is a Win32 console application written in C++ and compiled with Visual C++ 2.2 bootpa32.mak is the Visual C++ Makefile, bootpart.cpp is the source file, bootpart.exe is the executable, and bootpart.txt is this documentation. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fast tips : To repair the Windows NT boot sector ==================================== Windows NT installs a boot sector that lauches NTLDR and displays the Windows NT boot menu. If you lose this boot sector, Bootpart can restore it. Boot under MS-Dos (this can be MS-Dos 6.22 on your hard disk, on an MS-Dos bootable floppy, or the "MS-Dos 7.0" included in Windows 95 (you can obtain it by pressing Shift+F5 when Win95 loads). Then, enter the command : BOOTPART WINNT BOOT:C: If you want to remove the WinNT boot sector, you can replace it with the command "BOOTPART DOS622 BOOT:C:" or "BOOTPART WIN95 BOOT:C:" To have both MS-Dos 6.22 and Windows 95 in the NT menu (forgot F4 !) ======================================================================= The standard situation for a computer that multiboots to Windows NT, Windows 95, or MS-Dos 6.22 is : the user selects a "Windows 95" entry in NT menu, and, then must press F4 if he wants to boot MS-Dos 6.22. If you don't have this situation (i.e. : you don't have both Win95 and MS-Dos 6.22 on your system, but want to have both), see the next section. Just enter these bootpart command : BOOTPART DOS622 C:\BOOTSECT.622 "MS-Dos 6.22" BOOTPART WIN95 C:\BOOTSECT.W95 "Windows 95" BOOTPART REWRITEROOT:C: The last line (REWRITEROOT:C:) MUST BE EXECUTED UNDER MSDOS, and moves the MS-Dos IO.* and MSDOS.* files to the beginning of the root directory. You can visit the page : http://www.bcpl.lib.md.us/~dbryan/directboot.html for more information on booting WinNT/Win95/DOS. If you have WinNT & Win95 and you only want to add MS-Dos ========================================================= Take an MSDos 6.22 floppy, copy the files IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS, and COMMAND.COM to C:\ as IO.DOS, MSDOS.DOS, and COMMAND.DOS (warning : these files can be hidden, but you can ask File Manager or Explorer to display hidden files). Then go to the section "To have both MS-Dos 6.22 and Windows 95 in the NT menu" If you have WinNT & MS-Dos and you only want to add Win95 ========================================================= Install Win95 in a new directory (start the install under MS-Dos 6.22 or Windows 3.1) and go to the section "To have both MS-Dos 6.22 and Windows 95 in the NT menu" To add OS/2 =========== Unfortunatelly, I can't directly add an OS/2 partition by itself (if you have a workaround or fix, I'd be happy to hear about it !). Install the OS/2 Boot Manager (you need 1 MB free on your first hard disk), add the OS/2 partition in the boot menu with automatic start (0 sec. waiting), and then add the OS/2 Boot Manager partition on your NT menu with BootPart. Sometimes, when you install OS/2 Boot Manager, it becomes the active partition of your first hard disk. You can use FDISK to set the partition with NT boot manager as the active partition later. To add Linux ============ For Linux, you must install Lilo at the beginning of the Linux partition (as with OS/2 boot manager) and then add the Linux partition with Bootpart: When you install Linux or run liloconfig, select "Superblock of the root linux partition" as location of Lilo. In my sample, this adds the line "boot=/dev/sdb4" on the file /etc/lilo.conf Bootpart is designed for hard drives with 4 GB or less. If this is a problem for you, contact me. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bootpart is cardware. If you like it, please send me a postcard from your city to: Gilles Vollant 13, rue F. Mansart F-91540 Mennecy France And try WinImage : http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/gvollant/winimage.htm I want thank a lot Matthew Gardiner and Dave Bryan for review of this documentation. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This program comes without any warranty either implied or expressed. In no case shall the author be liable for any damage or unwanted behavior of any computer hardware and/or software. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------