PC Hacks

Hack #87. Multiboot with Third-Party Utilities

Use a third-party partitioning and boot utility to extend multiboot support beyond DOS and Windows.

A third-party boot management utility provides simpler configuration, significantly more options, and a friendlier user experience than FDISK and an NT-based text menu for operating system selection. These utilities are intended to be installed on a working Windows system before you add any other operating systems. Setting up partition and boot managers is not well documented in the two most popular products: Symantec's PartitionMagic and BootMagic combination, and V-Com's Partition Commander and System Commander.

To use these utilities effectively, you must install them on the first active partition of the first hard drive, and that partition should be FAT-32 and boot to DOS. Installing them on the first partition running DOS or Windows 9x allows them control over the boot process.

The third-party utilities cannot properly manage boot control if you add them after you've set up an NT-based multiboot configuration. This is because the NT-based boot loader (NTLDR) and menu (BOOT.INI) take over the boot process for the first drive and partition no matter what initial or additional operating systems or boot managers are installed. In such a scenario, you will see the third-party boot manager's menu with only one selection, typically DOS/Windows 9x. When you make that selection, the NTLDR process starts and presents the operating system selection ...