AISCL: Boot Manager.

Cookie Consent Required

This website uses cookies in the Forum option, the PayPal purchase option and the Affiliate option, these cookies are required to make the website work.

If you agree to our use of cookies please click 'I Agree', for more information click 'Privacy Statement', if you do not wish to proceed please visit another web page or close your web browser.
 
logologo
 The time in Wales is: 19 March 2024 06:15:16

Boot Menu Management

Here is how to create a dual or multi-boot menu on diskette. The diskette may be used to repair the boot files on your system drive or to boot your system following the corruption, removal or deletion of your system disk.

System Partition.

The System partition contains the files needed to load Windows. The system partition contains the following files:

1. NTLDR

2. BOOT.INI

3. NTDETECT.COM.

4. BOOTSECT.DOS (If present - Required for Windows 95, 98 & ME).

5. NTBOOTDD.SYS (If present - Required for some SCSI disks).

These files normally have the System and Hidden file attributes set. This means that they cannot be seen from Windows Explorer's default display settings.

The System Partition is normally the C: drive.

Boot Partition

The Boot partition contains the Windows Operating system, this partition can be, but does not have to be, the same as the System Partition.

Manually Creating a Boot Menu (System) Diskette.

  1. You must enable viewing of System and Hidden files by selecting the Windows Explorer Tools / Folder Options / View tab . Select Show Hidden Files and Folders and 'un-hide' Protected Operating System Files (Recommended) so that you can see the files that must be copied to the diskette.

    Microsoft advise that you do not show the protected system files, you must answer Yes to display these files. 

    You can always re-instate the original settings after completing this backup.

  2. Format a floppy diskette.

  3. Select each of the above named files and then right click and choose Send To 3½ Floppy (A:).

  4. Optionally re-set the view options in Windows Explorer.

  5. Close down Windows and boot from the diskette to confirm that it has been created correctly.

Using AIS Boot Menu Manager

The features of AIS Boot Menu Manager are integrated with AISBackup under the Tools / Edit Windows Boot Menu option. We also offer the boot menu management program as a freeware option.

AIS Boot Menu Manager is a free program that enables you to create a boot menu system diskette. The system diskette differs from the manual method of creating the system diskette in the following areas:

  1. A backup is taken of the boot menu file boot.ini.

  2. The actual diskette boot menu is re-calculated to give you more boot options that can be used in the event of a hard drive failure.

  3. You can edit your existing boot menu via a GUI, from here you can change the default operating system that is loaded when the PC is turned on.

  4. The Windows XP activation files are optionally backed up to the boot diskette.

You may download the AIS Boot Menu Manager from here.