Editing WinME Dual Boot Record

Can I Edit WinME's Dual Boot record so that it will be the first to boot
as well as change the Name from Windows to Windows Millennium without
re-loading WinME
TIA

Since your message contains so little information I have to assume that
you are multi-booting Win Me with an NT type system such as XP and using
Microsoft's NT boot manager. If so you need to edit the file boot.ini in
the boot partition where you can set both the default system to be loaded
and how each system is described.
--
Mike Maltby



Robert J. Stevens wrote:

Can I Edit WinME's Dual Boot record so that it will be the first to
boot as well as change the Name from Windows to Windows Millennium
without re-loading WinME
TIA

Mike M wrote:
Since your message contains so little information I have to assume
that you are multi-booting Win Me with an NT type system such as XP
and using Microsoft's NT boot manager. If so you need to edit the
file boot.ini in the boot partition where you can set both the default
system to be loaded and how each system is described.
YES; I have WinME & XP SP1.
How do I get to the Boot.INI record???

Robert J. Stevens wrote:

YES; I have WinME & XP SP1.
How do I get to the Boot.INI record???

By using Windows Explorer as you would any other file. Boot.ini is a
plain text file and can be edited using notepad. Assuming you have a
conventional install you will find it in the root of C: however it is a
hidden file so you will have first to enable the viewing of such files in
Windows Explorer (Tools, Folder Options, View).

Be very careful though as making the wrong change could prevent you
booting to either operating system.
--
Mike Maltby

Robert J. Stevens wrote:
Mike M wrote:
Since your message contains so little information I have to assume
that you are multi-booting Win Me with an NT type system such as XP
and using Microsoft's NT boot manager. If so you need to edit the
file boot.ini in the boot partition where you can set both the
default system to be loaded and how each system is described.
YES; I have WinME & XP SP1.
How do I get to the Boot.INI record???

Just FYI, in addition to what Mike says, if you have XP on NTFS, which you
almost certainly will have, you can edit boot.ini from within Win ME (or Win
98, 95 or MS-DOS - including, of course, from a boot floppy) by using
Terabyte Unlimited's Editbini. Useless if XP is installed on a FAT32 drive -
as mine currently is (since I like to access XP from DOS if necessary) but
if you've got NTFS, Editbini is one of those indespensible tools. Even if
you never do use it.

Shane

Robert J. Stevens wrote:

YES; I have WinME & XP SP1.

SP1 is no longer supported by MS. It would be best to install SP2 once
you work out the boot 'issue'

Suggest you grab the entire package if on broadband -
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

or, if not, order the CD and pay for the shipping only :
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/d...s/default.mspx


MowGreen [MVP 2003-2007]
===============
*-343-* FDNY
Never Forgotten
===============


How do I get to the Boot.INI record???


Just FYI, in addition to what Mike says, if you have XP on NTFS, which you
almost certainly will have, you can edit boot.ini from within Win ME (or Win
98, 95 or MS-DOS - including, of course, from a boot floppy) by using
Terabyte Unlimited's Editbini. Useless if XP is installed on a FAT32 drive -
as mine currently is (since I like to access XP from DOS if necessary) but
if you've got NTFS, Editbini is one of those indespensible tools. Even if
you never do use it.

Shane

Hi,,,

I noticed this thread and thought it a good place to place a question.
I would just like a break-down of the file.

Below is a copy of my Boot.ini file::

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows"

My question relates to what the lines mean?
For instance; default=multi(0)disk(0) and etc......
What is the " 0 " for? (in all cases where 0 is shown)
It is as if it is saying that 'nothing' relates to All things.
Also the line with 'partition' in it, it says '(2)', yet I have
more than that.
(oh, and what is 'rdisk'?)

Thanks.

"Robert J. Stevens" wrote in message
...
Can I Edit WinME's Dual Boot record so that it will be the first to boot
as well as change the Name from Windows to Windows Millennium without
re-loading WinME
TIA

As I've always understood it - which isn't to say I won't be proved wrong -
the first disk is labelled (0), the second (1). Thus the first is HDD0, the
second - if you have two - is HDD1. The A: drive is FDD0. Similarly the MS
CDROM driver enumeration in DOS - the first being mscdex000 and the second
mscdex001.

A little like the way in the UK the 1st Floor of a building is the one above
the Ground Floor while in the States it is the Groung Floor, perhaps? Not
sure which makes sense.

As for the partition, I believe XP recognises them in order of installation.
So, while (2) would indicate that you have at least 3 primary drives, XP
isn't necessarily installed to the third but was the third OS installed?
That or I misunderstand it myself.

Shane


shep wrote:
Hi,,,

I noticed this thread and thought it a good place to place a question.
I would just like a break-down of the file.

Below is a copy of my Boot.ini file::

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows"

My question relates to what the lines mean?
For instance; default=multi(0)disk(0) and etc......
What is the " 0 " for? (in all cases where 0 is shown)
It is as if it is saying that 'nothing' relates to All things.
Also the line with 'partition' in it, it says '(2)', yet I have
more than that.
(oh, and what is 'rdisk'?)

Thanks.

"Robert J. Stevens" wrote in message
...
Can I Edit WinME's Dual Boot record so that it will be the first to
boot as well as change the Name from Windows to Windows Millennium
without re-loading WinME
TIA

Timeout = The length of time in seconds for which the boot menu is
displayed
Default = The operating system to be loaded if none is selected after 30
secs. In your case XP Pro.

There then appears a list of installed operating systems and their
options. The same system and location can be listed more than once but
with different switches. For example you could have two entries for XP
Pro, one for normal mode and one for safe mode using the /SAFEBOOT switch
which would then allow you which to boot from the boot menu.

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect

The "0"s refer to which drive and which partition on the drive the system
is located.
So in your case XP Pro is installed on the second (2) partition on the
first (0) physical drive.

multi (which can also be scsi) refers to the controller and which one if
more than 1
disk mainly used with scsi controllers and refers to the Logical Unit
Number (LUN) and in most cases I think almost always 0 when using ide
controllers
rdisk refers to the physical disk starting at 0
partition refers to which partition on the disk starting at 1.
The text between the double quotes (") is the description of the entry and
is what appears in the boot menu and can be freely amended to suit the
users needs.

C:\="Microsoft Windows"

A Win 9x operating system described as Microsoft Windows. This is located
on C:\ which is the boot partition and partition 1 on the drive. If this
is Win Me you could always edit Microsoft Windows to read "Windows
Millennium" if you wanted. Win9x systems do not have the more complicated
descriptors used for NT type systems such as XP.

On this (my) box, which doesn't multi-boot using the Microsoft
Bootmanager, I have just the one operating system listed
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptOut

In my case XP Pro is on the third partition of my first physical drive and
the box being an AMD64 with DEP I have this enabled which is the
/NoExecute switch.

For more details see KB314081 - "The purpose of the Boot.ini file in
Windows XP" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314081) and also
KB289022 - "How to edit the Boot.ini file in Windows XP"
(http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=289022).
--
Mike Maltby



shep wrote:

Hi,,,

I noticed this thread and thought it a good place to place a question.
I would just like a break-down of the file.

Below is a copy of my Boot.ini file::

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows"

My question relates to what the lines mean?
For instance; default=multi(0)disk(0) and etc......
What is the " 0 " for? (in all cases where 0 is shown)
It is as if it is saying that 'nothing' relates to All things.
Also the line with 'partition' in it, it says '(2)', yet I have
more than that.
(oh, and what is 'rdisk'?)

which would then allow you which to boot from the boot menu.

Should have read:
which would then allow you TO CHOOSE which to boot from the boot menu.
--
Mike Maltby



Mike M wrote:

Timeout = The length of time in seconds for which the boot menu is
displayed
Default = The operating system to be loaded if none is selected after
30 secs. In your case XP Pro.

There then appears a list of installed operating systems and their
options. The same system and location can be listed more than once
but with different switches. For example you could have two entries
for XP Pro, one for normal mode and one for safe mode using the
/SAFEBOOT switch which would then allow you which to boot from the
boot menu.

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect

The "0"s refer to which drive and which partition on the drive the
system is located.
So in your case XP Pro is installed on the second (2) partition on the
first (0) physical drive.

multi (which can also be scsi) refers to the controller and which one
if more than 1
disk mainly used with scsi controllers and refers to the Logical Unit
Number (LUN) and in most cases I think almost always 0 when using ide
controllers
rdisk refers to the physical disk starting at 0
partition refers to which partition on the disk starting at 1.
The text between the double quotes (") is the description of the
entry and is what appears in the boot menu and can be freely amended
to suit the users needs.

C:\="Microsoft Windows"

A Win 9x operating system described as Microsoft Windows. This is
located on C:\ which is the boot partition and partition 1 on the
drive. If this is Win Me you could always edit Microsoft Windows to
read "Windows Millennium" if you wanted. Win9x systems do not have
the more complicated descriptors used for NT type systems such as XP.

On this (my) box, which doesn't multi-boot using the Microsoft
Bootmanager, I have just the one operating system listed
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptOut

In my case XP Pro is on the third partition of my first physical
drive and the box being an AMD64 with DEP I have this enabled which
is the /NoExecute switch.

For more details see KB314081 - "The purpose of the Boot.ini file in
Windows XP" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314081) and also
KB289022 - "How to edit the Boot.ini file in Windows XP"
(http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=289022).