In-depth analysis of Windows XP BOOT.INI

  
        A friend who has multiple operating systems installed on the computer knows that after the computer is powered on, a boot menu will appear, which lists all the operating systems installed on this computer. The user uses the “↑” and “↓” keys. You can choose which system to enter. In fact, it all comes from a file called BOOT.INI, which has been in Windows since the beginning of Windows NT. Windows XP relies primarily on the BOOT.INI file to determine which operating system categories are available for display during the reboot (boot) process. In general, it is located in the root directory of the C drive. By default, it is a hidden read-only system configuration file. To view it, just remove its hidden properties, you can open it with Notepad, or you can run msconfig.exe in the "Start", click the "BOOT.INI" tab in the "System Configuration Utility" dialog box that pops up. You can see the true face of the mountain. The following is an example of the BOOT.INI file in the author's computer.

The common format of the BOOT.INI file is as follows:

[boot loader]

timeout=30

default=multi(0)disk(0) Rdisk(0)partition(1)\\Windows

[Operating systems]

multi(X)disk(Y)rdisk(Z)partition(Q)\\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional " /fastdetect

SCSI(X)disk(Y)rdisk(Z)partition(Q)\\WIN98="Microsoft Windows 98" /fastdetect

This file is divided into Boot loader (bootloader) ) and Operating systems (operating system) two major parts. In the bootloading section, timeout=xx indicates the time to wait for the user to select the operating system. The default is 30 seconds, and the user can change it as needed. Default=xxxx indicates the default operating system path to be loaded by default, which is represented by the highlight bar part waiting for user selection at startup. But what puzzles many users is, what do those "multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)" mean?

Actually this is named according to the ARC rules, which is a general method for identifying devices in x86 or RISC computers. The ARC name points to the partition where the operating system files are stored. For disk devices, the ARC name is composed as follows:

(X)disk(Y)rdisk(Z)partition(Q)

The component part has Two valid values, multi and SCSI, are used to identify the hardware adapter. Multi indicates a non-SCSI hard disk or a SCSI hard disk accessed by the SCSI BIOS, while SCSI indicates a SCSI BiOS-disabled SCSI hard disk. The X value indicates the serial number of the disk controller where the hard disk where the operating system's system root directory is located is located on the same disk controller (X starts from 0).

disk (Y): For the hard drive, SCSI, Y represents the value of the root of the system where the operating system resides in the hard disk partition on the same hard disk controller number (Y starts from 0); for For multi, the Y value has no meaning and is always 0.

rdisk (Z): For multi speaking, Z represents a value of the root of the system where the operating system resides in the hard disk partition on the same hard disk controller number (Z starts from 0); for SCSI For the hard disk, the Z value is meaningless and is always 0.

partition (Q): Q value of the root directory represents the operating system partition of the system where the primary partition number (Q starting from 1) in the same hard disk.

The Operating Systems section lists the paths and checklists for all operating systems on this computer, including some such as /fastdetect, /basevideo, /sos. These switches have special meanings and are generally not recommended for changes.

OK, based on the above knowledge, we should have a clearer understanding of the BOOT.INI file. So we can modify it as needed. Take the author's computer as an example. The BOOT.INI file shows that there are two Windows XP Professional systems installed in the hard disk (actually one for the Chinese version and one for the English version). By default, the system on the third partition of the hard disk is started. (English version). If you want it to start the system on the first partition of the hard disk by default (Chinese version), and in order to distinguish, mark the corresponding two Windows XP Professional. At this time, we can achieve the purpose by modifying the BOOT.INI file, as shown in Figure 2. Restart your computer and see if your wishes are fulfilled!

From the above, BOOT.INI is a very important system files, without it, the system will not boot, so we usually make the necessary addition to its backup, should also edit its method . Especially when installing multiple systems, if you do not follow the installation order from low to high (Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003), the file will often be damaged. If we master the way to modify and edit it, we won’t have time to do it.
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