Fully parses windows dual-system boot menu)

Currently, there are a few friends who use the dual system. When starting the system, the system displays a Dual Boot menu asking us to select the operating system we want to enter (figure 1). If not, the operating system of the height bar will be automatically guided in 30 seconds. But how much do you know about the Dual Boot menu?

　　 I. How is dual guidance implemented?

After the system power-on self-check is passed (post), the BIOS will start from the hard disk, drive, or optical drive according to the boot sequence set in advance. For example, when the hard disk is started, the Master Boot Record is first read into the memory, then, the control is handed over to the primary boot program, then the status of the partition table is checked, the active partition is searched, and the primary boot program then delivers the control to the Boot Record of the active partition, finally, the operating system is loaded by the Boot Record.

Therefore, as long as you install the system in the order of Windows 9x/me and Windows 2000/XP, the Dual Boot menu can be automatically generated normally, but if the order is the opposite, the Dual Boot menu cannot be automatically generated.

　　2. Free dual-guide menu

In fact, the system boot sequence shown in Figure 1 can be adjusted freely, including the default boot OS, the time for displaying the OS list, and the time for displaying the recovery options as needed.

In Windows XP/2000, right-click the "my computer" icon on the desktop, and then click "system> advanced ", the "Start and fault recovery" dialog box is displayed (figure 2). This dialog box completes the following setting tasks:

　　1. Change the default Operating System

You only need to select an operating system from the drop-down list box of "default Operating System". Then, an additional word "/fastdect" appears after "is selected, this indicates that the operating system has been set as the default boot system. Click "OK" below to take effect.

2. Set the time when the operating system list is displayed.

Here, you can set the time to display the OS list or the time to display the recovery options. The default value is 30 seconds, but we do not want to wait so long at startup, therefore, it is changed to 5 seconds. We recommend that you do not shorten the time. Otherwise, you cannot press the F8 key.

　3. in-depth understanding of Dual-boot menus

However, I am more interested in this sentence: to manually edit the startup options, click "edit ". What is the content under this "edit" button?

It turns out that the Dual Boot menu is named Boot. the text file of INI is controlled. The so-called "manually edit startup options" means to manually edit the text file (Figure 3). Although there are not many contents, however, my friends may not be easy to understand. Here I will explain in detail:

 

　　1. [boot loader]: Boot Record

　　(1) Timeout = 5

Before you select the default Operating System, "timeout" indicates the number of seconds that can be used to select the operating system from the boot loader screen before ntlkr loads the default Operating System. If the value is 0, ntldr will not display the loader screen, but start the default operating system directly. In fact, it is also the "display time of the operating system list" box mentioned above. The default value is 30 seconds. Here I have adjusted it to 5 seconds.

　　(2) default = multi (0) disk (0) RDISK (0) Partition (2) Windows　

Default, of course, refers to the default Operating System Path to be loaded by the system by default, that is, the highlighted part that is waiting for you to choose when the system starts. However, many friends may not understand the names of multi (0), disk (0), RDISK (0), and partition (1). In windows, this involves some knowledge about arc:

ARC is a dynamic method used to identify devices in x86 or RISC computers. The first part of the name of arc is used to identify the hardware adapter/disk controller. The structure of a typical arc name is as follows:

Component (x) disk (y) RDISK (z) Partition ()

Here, the "component" field generally only has two valid values: SCSI and multi, representing the hardware adapter of the device. Of course, SCSI refers to a SCSI disk, while multi refers to other disk interfaces except SCSI. "X" indicates the serial number of the adapter. The first value is 0 and the second value is 1. The value can be allocated until all drives are allocated; serial refers to the bus number in the Multi-bus SCSI adapter. For multi, this value is 0; "Z" refers to the number of disks on the Multi adapter, and this value is 0 for SCSI; "A" refers to the number of partitions on the disk. All partitions have a corresponding number, starting from 1, but not 0 or 5.

Therefore, "default = multi (0) disk (0) RDISK (0) Partition (2) windows "indicates that the default Operating System is located in the first partition of a hard disk with a serial number of 0 for a non-SCSI interface. "Partition (2)" is the second partition on the first physical hard disk in the computer. It is actually a d disk (I installed Windows XP on a D disk, and install Windows 98SE on drive c). Have you figured it out now?

　　2. [Operating System]: Operating System

(1) Multi (0) disk (0) RDISK (0) Partition (2) Windows = "Microsoft Windows XP Professional"/fastdetect

Now it is easy to understand. This line of statement tells us that the default Operating System is Microsoft Windows XP Professional on drive D, that is, Windows XP. "/Fastdetect" is a usage parameter, which indicates that the serial port and parallel port are not checked at startup.

(2) c: = "Windows 98SE"

This is the first operating system. It is displayed as "Windows 98SE" in the Startup menu ".

　　3. Appendix: parameters used in the boot. ini file

Just now, we have mentioned that "/fastdetect" is a usage parameter, which means that the serial port and parallel port are not checked at startup. In details, many parameters can be used in the boot. ini file. However, if too many parameters are used, how can they be remembered? It doesn't matter. Use "bootcfg/?" at the "command prompt /?" Command to view the list of all parameters and their explanations (figure 4 ).

　 4. advanced editing of the dual-Start Menu

How do you understand the structure and usage of the boot. ini file? In fact, edit boot. the INI file is the same as the editing result in the Figure 2 dialog box. The difference is that if you cannot enter windows for some reason, you can manually edit boot in DOS or another operating system. INI file.

　　1. manually edit startup options in DOS or other operating systems

To put it simply, the options that can be modified include modifying the default Operating System, setting the display time of the operating system list, and modifying the display name of the operating system in the Startup menu. First, open "My Computer> Tools> Folder Options> View ", in the advanced settings window, remove the check before "Hide protected operating system files" and click "OK". Go to the C-drive root directory to find the boot. the INI file. Here I try to change the original line "Windows 98SE" in the double boot menu to a scary "Microsoft Windows 2008" (Figure 5). After restarting, let's see if there is any new idea?

 

2. Remove the tail left after the operating system is manually deleted.

Some of my friends may have this experience, so it's easy to give away. When I have to manually delete an operating system, I find that there are still annoying options in the Startup menu, it also takes 30 seconds, unless you press the Enter key. Especially when installing multiple operating systems, we re-installed an operating system through formatting to save time, but we found that the multiple boot menus were lost, what should I do now? Do I have to install another operating system again?

Now, all we need to do is open the boot. ini file and delete the lines of the deleted operating system statements. Of course, if the attribute of the boot. ini file is read-only, remove it first, and back up the original file before deleting it.

　　3. small changes to prevent others from using the System

Knowing the principles of the boot. ini file, we can make minor changes to it to prevent unauthorized use of the system by others. For example. if the INI file is renamed or transferred to another path and the file cannot be found during system startup, the system will continuously report errors and cannot access the file. Alternatively, you can. modify the statements in the INI file, for example, change "default = multi (0) disk (0) RDISK (0) Partition (2) Windows" to "default = multi (0) disk (1) RDISK (0) Partition (2) windows. If you want to use it later, you only need to change it back. However, new users still do not need to touch it. Otherwise, you will have to look at the screen and sigh.

　　5. How to restore the damaged dual-boot menu

I believe that friends who use dual-OS must love and hate the dual-boot menu. Of course, this dual-boot menu often suffers various Faults inexplicably, for example, if Windows 9x is re-installed or the drive C is formatted, the Dual Boot menu will no longer be displayed at startup, and thus the system will naturally be unable to access another operating system. How can we restore it?

In fact, the method is very simple. Although the Dual Boot menu is damaged, the system file and configuration of the other operating system are not damaged. You only need to re-run the Windows 2000/XP installer, select "Repair" for installation. If the first prompt is "restart" after file replication is complete, select "do not start", and then end the installation, manually delete some folders or files starting with $ in the root directory of the hard disk (they are temporary files generated during installation). After restarting, you can restore the boot menu.