Controlling Startup Using Boot.ini


If your system can boot to one or more operating systems other than Windows XP, you’ll see the OS Choices menu at startup, which will be similar to the following:

Please select the operating system to start:         Microsoft Windows XP Professional       Microsoft Windows    Use the up and down arrow keys to move the highlight to your choice.  Press ENTER to choose.  Seconds until highlighted choice will be started automatically: 30

If you do nothing at this point, Windows XP will boot automatically after 30 seconds. Otherwise, you select the operating system you want and then press Enter to boot it.

The specifics of the OS Choices menu are determined by a hidden text file named Boot.ini, which resides in the root folder of your system’s bootable partition (usually drive C). To work with this file, you have two choices:

  • In Windows Explorer, double-click the file to open it in Notepad.

  • Select the BOOT.INI tab in the System Configuration Utility.

    Tip

    To open the System Configuration Utility with the BOOT.INI tab already displayed, run the command msconfig -4. Note, too, that you can also modify Boot.ini from the command line using the BOOTCFG utility. Run the command bootcfg /? at the command prompt to see a list of switches you can use with this utility.

Either way, you see text similar to the following:

[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="Microsoft Windows XP           Professional” /fastdetect  C:\="Microsoft Windows”

There are two sections in the Boot.ini file: [boot loader] and [operating systems]. The [boot loader] section always has two values:

  • timeout This value determines the number of seconds after which NTLDR will boot the operating system that’s selected on the menu by default. (Changing this value to 0 will prevent the OS Choices menu from appearing at startup.)

  • default This value determines which item listed in the [operating systems] section is selected on the menu by default at startup.

The [operating systems] section lists the operating systems to which the system can boot. The first line is almost always a reference to Windows XP, and subsequent lines reference the other bootable operating systems. The Windows XP line has a strange configuration. The part up to the equal sign (=) is called an Advanced Risc Computer (ARC) path. Let’s run through all the various parts of this line so you understand what you’re seeing.

  • multi(n) This is a reference to the drive controller that’s used to access the Windows XP installation. The value n is 0 for the first controller, 1 for the second, and so on. On systems that use a SCSI controller, you may see scsi(n) instead of multi(n) (the exception is on systems that have the SCSI BIOS disabled).

  • disk(n)This is a reference to the SCSI ID of the device on which Windows XP is installed. (For multi devices, the value of n is always 0.)

  • rdisk(n)This is a reference to the hard disk on which Windows XP is installed. This disk is attached to the controller specified by multi(n). The value of n is 0 for the first hard disk, 1 for the second hard disk, and so on.

  • partition(n) This is a reference to the partition on which Windows XP is installed. This partition is part of the disk specified by rdisk(n).

  • WINDOWS This is the name of the folder into which Windows XP was installed.

  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional This is the text that appears on the OS Choices menu.

  • /fastdetect The entry closes with one or more switches that determine how the operating system boots. In this example, the /fastdetect switch tells Windows XP to not enumerate the system’s serial and parallel ports during startup. These ports aren’t needed during the boot process, so this reduces the system startup time. See “Using the Boot.ini Switches,” on the following page.

Changing the Default Startup OS

To change which operating system is chosen by default at startup, you need to modify the default value in the [boot loader] section:

  • If you’re working in Notepad, find the OS in the [operating systems] section, copy all the text to the left of the equal sign, and then paste it as the new default value.

  • If you’re working with the BOOT.INI tab of the System Configuration Utility, select the operating system you want to use and then click the Set As Default button.

Using the Boot.ini Switches

The ARC path syntax supports more than 30 different switches that enable you to control various aspects of the Windows XP startup (or another operating system, as long as it’s Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows NT 4). You can either enter these switches by hand when editing Boot.ini in Notepad, or use the check boxes on the BOOT.INI tab of the System Configuration Utility. Here’s a summary of the switches that are most useful:

  • /safeboot:minimal Boots Windows XP in safe mode, which uses only a minimal set of device drivers. Use this switch if Windows XP won’t start, if a device or program is causing Windows XP to crash, or if you can’t uninstall a program while Windows XP is running normally.

  • /safeboot:minimal(alternateshell) Boots Windows XP in safe mode but also bypasses the Windows XP GUI and boots to the command prompt instead. Use this switch if the programs you need in order to repair a problem can be run from the command prompt or if you can’t load the Windows XP GUI.

  • /safeboot:network Boots Windows XP in safe mode but also includes networking drivers. Use this switch if the drivers or programs you need to repair a problem exist on a shared network resource, if you need access to e mail or other network-based communications for technical support, or if your computer is running a shared Windows XP installation.

  • /safeboot:dsrepair Boots Windows XP in safe mode and also restores a backup of the Active Directory directory service (this option applies only to domain controllers).

  • /noguiboot Tells Windows XP not to load the display driver that normally is used to display the progress bar during startup. Use this switch if Windows XP hangs while switching video modes for the progress bar, or if the display of the progress bar is garbled.

  • /bootlog Boots Windows XP and logs the boot process to a text file named Ntbtlog.txt that resides in the %SystemRoot% folder. Open Ntbtlog.txt. in Notepad, move to the end of the file, and you may see a message telling you which device driver failed. You probably need to reinstall or roll back the driver. Use this switch if the Windows XP startup hangs, if you need a detailed record of the startup process, or if you suspect (after using one of the other Startup menu options) that a driver is causing Windows XP startup to fail.

  • /basevideo Boots Windows XP using the standard VGA mode: 640 480 with 256 colors. This is useful for troubleshooting video display driver problems. Use this switch if Windows XP fails to start using any of the safe mode options, if you recently installed a new video card device driver and the screen is garbled or the driver is balking at a resolution or color depth setting that’s too high, or if you can’t load the Windows XP GUI. Once Windows XP loads, you can either reinstall or roll back the driver, or you can adjust the display settings to values that the driver can handle.

  • /sos Displays the path and location of each device driver (using the ARC path syntax) as it is loaded, as well as the operating system version and build number and the number of processors.

  • /maxmem=MB Specifies the maximum amount of memory, in megabytes, that Windows XP can use. Use this value when you suspect a faulty memory chip might be causing problems.

  • /numproc=n In a multiprocessor system, specifies the maximum of processors that Windows XP can use. Use this switch if you suspect that using multiple processors is causing a program to hang.

  • /pcilock Tells Windows XP not to dynamically assign hardware resources for PCI devices during startup. The resources assigned by the BIOS during the POST are “locked” in place. Use this switch if installing a PCI device causes the system to hang during startup.

  • /debug Enables remote debugging of the Windows XP kernel. This sends debugging information to a remote computer via one of your computer’s serial ports. You can also add any of the following switches:

    • /debugport=port Specifies the serial port, where port is one of com1, com2, com3, com4, or 1394. Specifying 1394 will require that you also use the /channel switch.

    • /baudrate=speed If you use a COM port, use this switch to specify the transmission speed of the debugging information, where speed is one of the following: 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600, or 115200.

    • /channel=number If you use an IEEE 1394 (FireWire) connection, use this switch to specify the channel, where number is a value between 1 and 64.




Insider Power Techniques for Microsoft Windows XP
Insider Power Techniques for Microsoft Windows XP (Bpg-Other)
ISBN: 0735618968
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 126

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