Used by the NTLDR bootloader when booting Windows NT .
It has a format typical of .ini files. The file is usually located in “C: \ boot.ini” and is hidden by the system by default.
Content
Main sections of the file
The file itself consists of sections.
[boot loader]
timeout = 30
default = multi (0) disk (0) rdisk (0) partition (3) \ WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi (0) disk (0) rdisk (0) partition (3) \ WINDOWS = "Windows Server 2003, Enterprise RU" / noexecute = optout / fastdetect
multi (0) disk (0) rdisk (0) partition (2) \ WINDOWS = "Microsoft Windows XP Professional RU" / noexecute = optin / fastdetect
C: \ = "Microsoft Windows"
[Boot loader] section
- timeout = - timeout until the user selects the download option (specified in seconds).
- default = - OS by default. That is, the OS that will be selected after the time "timeout", if the user does not make any choice.
- redirect = - port name.
- redirectbaudrate = - port speed ..
[Operating systems] section
Information about the installed OS and where and how to download them.
OSs installed on partitions with supported Microsoft Windows NT file systems
Information about the OS installed on partitions with (V) FAT and NTFS file systems ( such as Microsoft Windows NT , MS-DOS , FreeDOS itself ) can be specified in the following format: ( multi (*) or scsi (*) or signature (*) ).
- multi (0) - serial number of the adapter from which the download is performed.
- scsi (x) - indicated when using the SCSI controller with the BIOS disabled, where x is the number of the adapter from which to boot.
- signature (x) is the third kind of syntax. It tells Windows to find a drive with a signature that matches the first value in brackets, regardless of the number of the controller.
- disk (0) - usually 0 (if using multi (*) ).
- rdisk (n) - serial number of the hard disk from which the download is performed. 0 to 3
- partition (n) - the serial number of the partition of the hard drive from which the OS is loaded. Numbering starts at 1.
Download OS installed on partitions with other file systems
Loading OS installed on partitions with unsupported Microsoft Windows NT file systems (such as ext2 , ext3 or ZFS ), for example, GNU / Linux , FreeBSD , OSx86 , can be done by transferring control to the bootloader, which is able to work with FS data and copied to the file system NTFS or (V) FAT.
So, if Microsoft Windows NT is installed on the disk in the first physical partition, and GNU / Linux is installed in the second physical partition, you can install the bootloader (for example, LILO ) in the boot sector of the second physical partition by downloading the latter, and then copy this sector to the root directory of the file system of the first partition:
mount / dev / sda1 / mnt
dd if = / dev / sda2 of = /mnt/lilo.bin bs = 512 count = 1
umount / mnt
Then, after loading Microsoft Windows NT, you can add to the [operating systems] section of the file with: \ boot.ini a line containing the path name of the copy of the boot sector (in the usual alphanumeric way for Microsoft Windows NT) and the label of the boot menu bar, separated by an equal sign ( = ). For example:
[boot loader]
timeout = 5
default = multi (0) disk (0) rdisk (0) partition (1) \ WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi (0) disk (0) rdisk (0) partition (1) \ WINDOWS = "Microsoft Windows NT" / noexecute = optin / fastdetect
c: \ lilo.bin = "Debian GNU / Linux"
Other sections
It is possible that two more sections are possible: [multiboot] and [flexboot]. In any case, they are declared in the file C: \ NTLDR. But little is known about them.
Windows NT Boot Keys
See NTLDR for a detailed description.
Editing boot.ini
It is a plain text .ini file that can be edited with any text editor.
In addition, special editing methods are possible through:
- Msconfig.exe
- BOOTCFG.EXE [1]
- EasyBCD