BOOTINST 4.2 (c) Kai Uwe Rommel

(15-Apr-1989 .. 26-Dec-1989)


READ THIS FILE ENTIRELY BEFORE USING BOOTINST !

WARNING!!! - INSTALLING SPECIAL BOOTSTRAP SOFTWARE ON A HARDDISK IS NOT
A JOB TO BE DONE BY A PC NEWCOMER BUT REQUIRES A LOT OF EXPERIENCE WITH
FORMATTING AND PARTITIONING DISKS AND WITH INSTALLING OPERATING SYSTEMS.


This program installs a new master boot program which is loaded into memory
with the partition table from the first sector of the first fixed disk of the
machine.

Every time the machine is reset, this master boot will display a menu with
all operating systems installed on the disk and ask the user to select the
system he wants to run.

The new master boot is invisible to partitioning programs like FDISK.
Partitions owned by DOS or OS/2, XENIX, UNIX, PC-IX and NOVELL are recognized
and DOS and OS/2 on a single (dual boot) partition are handled too.


Required steps:


1. (if not already done)

   Initialize your harddisk.


2. (may be a lot of work)

   Create all partitions you want to use for DOS (and OS/2).

   a) If you want to use OS/2 together with DOS 3.30 and below, now
      use the DOS FDISK program to create the partitions rather than
      the OS/2 FDISK because the DOS one ensures that all partitions
      are 32M or smaller and that the boot partition is inside the first
      32M of your disk. Format the partitions (without /S) and activate
      the boot partition.

      Then install OS/2 on this partitions without repartitioning and
      without reformatting the disk (OS/2 should recognize the partitions
      created in the above step, if you worked correctly). Install OS/2
      completely until it runs without problems.

   b) Otherwise, if you want to use OS/2 with DOS 4.00 and above or with
      Compaq DOS 3.31, install OS/2 onto the plain disk and create the
      Partitions (and format them) inside the OS/2 installation procedure.
      The resulting partitions may be bigger than 32M.


3. (if additional operating systems needed)

   Install all other operating systems on the rest of your disk space.
   Be shure not to destroy any of the DOS and OS/2 partitions. If they
   run properly, reactivate the DOS (OS/2) boot partition using FDISK.

   (This step was tested only with a SCO Xenix/286 System V. Please
   report problems with other OS's to me.)


4. (the MAIN step)

   Boot from a DOS floppy disk. Install the dual (or multi :-) boot
   by running the BOOTINST program with option -i. (The active DOS
   partition still contains the OS/2 system only !)

   New feature with version 4.0:
     You can define a timeout period and a default operating system wich
     is loaded on timeout. If you enter 0 (zero) for the timeout period,
     no timeout will ever occur. If you press ENTER when asked for the
     default operating system, then on timeout the operating system last
     recently booted will be booted again.

   BOOTINST creates two .BIN files on C:\ containing a copy of the previous
   partition table sector and a copy of the C: OS/2 boot sector. Store
   these two files in a safe place, you may need them in the case of a crash.


5. (OS/2 setup)

   (Still booted from the DOS floppy !)

   Rename the OS/2 CONFIG.SYS on C: to CONFIG.OS2 and AUTOEXEC.BAT (for the
   DOS mode session) to AUTOEXEC.OS2 and move COMMAND.COM (for the DOS mode
   session too) into the C:\OS2 subdirectory.

   Use NU (Norton Utilities) or a similar program to patch the OS2KRNL file
   on C:\. Replace any occurences of CONFIG.SYS with CONFIG.OS2. Replace
   AUTOEXEC.BAT strings with AUTOEXEC.OS2 in C:\OS2\COMMAND.COM too.

   Correct the SHELL= line in CONFIG.OS2 to point to C:\OS2\COMMAND.COM.
   This line specifies the command interpreter to be used within the DOS
   mode session (be shure to include the /P switch in this line).
   It should look like 'SHELL=C:\OS2\COMMAND.COM C:\OS2 /P'.


6. (DOS installation)

   Now add DOS to your harddisk by simply entering 'SYS C:' from your DOS boot
   disk. You may replace this DOS version by another without re-installing
   the dual (or multi) boot as often as you need it by running 'SYS C:'.
   Copy the DOS utility programs to C:\DOS.

   New feature with version 4.0:
     The BOOTINST program ensures that the first two root directory slots
     are free. The SYS program should not have any problems copying the two
     DOS system files onto the disk. This was a problem with earlier versions
     of BOOTINST prior to 4.0.


7. (DOS setup)

   Configure your DOS by creating a CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT

   For clarification, patch IBMBIO.COM or IO.SYS, whatever is right for your
   DOS flavour. Replace CONFIG.SYS strings with CONFIG.DOS and rename your
   C:\CONFIG.SYS to CONFIG.DOS.

   Move the DOS COMMAND.COM from C:\ into C:\DOS and correct or add the
   SHELL= line in your CONFIG.DOS file.
   It should look like 'SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS /P'.

   Patch the C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM to look for AUTOEXEC.DOS instead of
   AUTOEXEC.BAT at boot time.


If you now reboot your machine from the harddisk, you should get a prompt,
where you can select the system to boot. If DOS or OS/2 does not boot properly,
reboot from a DOS floppy disk and correct your CONFIG.xxx files or look for
mis-spellings of the CONFIG.xxx names in the patches in OS2KRNL and IBMBIO.COM.


The patch procedure for DOS and OS/2 may seem not very comfortable, but it
avoids any name conflicts at boot time. Some other dual boot programs
rename the files at boot time. This may lead into problems, when you remove
some of them (if you don't need a DOS mode session) or rename them.


If you ever have a problem, that the bootstrap program in the partition table
is overwritten by some FDISK like software (like the Xenix fdisk does sometimes)
you can reinstall the dual boot without repeating the OS/2 installation.
For this purpose use BOOTINST with option -r (new with version 4.0).


Please let me know, if you have problems using BOOTINST or if this
description of the installation procedure is too short.


This program is SHAREWARE. If you use it regularly, you are expected to
support it by reporting problems to the author and registering your copy.
Send $15, U.S. dollars, and your address to the address below (or to my bank).
If you do not want to send U.S. dollars, calculate the equivalent value
for your currency but send it only to my bank.


                  Kai Uwe Rommel

                  Breslauer Strae 25
                  D-8756 Kahl/Main

                  Western Germany


Bank:             Kreissparkasse Muenchen
                  Bank ID 702 501 50

                  Account 859 488

                  Western Germany


You may have problems reporting problems by e-mail, because I use mail services
on our university network (Technische Universitaet Muenchen) and my mail address
may have changed and because the access to our systems from the outside world
is a little difficult.

I do not add a mail address to this file. Use the sender's address from the
original mail distribution file (if you got it directly from me) or send me
a letter.
