Boot.ini. Boot file in Windows

Very few users, of course, except system administrators, imagine what a certain incomprehensible boot.ini file is, even seeing such an autoloading line in the same menu prompted by the msconfig command. Let's see what kind of file it is and what it is used for.

What is the boot.ini file in the OS

In general, if someone does not know, the file named boot.ini serves for one single purpose - the operating system's boot. At the same time, it is sometimes possible to meet variants of installing several OSes on a computer (in this case we are talking about the "operating systems" of the Windows family, since in any other OS such a boot file is named differently and has a completely different extension).

Basically, for any OS, the title of the role does not play. The point is that the file itself simply indicates the boot path of the operating system. If there are several installed systems, the boot loader will work, which will suggest downloading one or another operating system from the configuration specified in the boot.ini file. It is also interesting that the file itself is simultaneously the manager, the mediator of the start of the operating systems.

The information stored in the file

Now let's try to consider what the information is that is responsible for loading Windows. In the standard version, if there is only one OS on the computer terminal or laptop, the file type can be reduced to having the standard text and the commands specified in it. For example, to download from the contents of the boot.ini file XP-versions and Windows service packs, standard content is used.

As can be seen even with the naked eye, there are several basic parameters. By the way, they are available in all versions of the boot files for different modifications of the Windows OS itself. Differences can be observed only in the main parameters of the boot of Windows NT systems, which were originally created as server versions and designed to work on the local network.

First of all, it's timeout - timeout (response, expiration), which in any OS, as a rule, has a value of "30" by default. In other words, this is a delay of 30 seconds. Sometimes you can meet other values of this parameter.

For example, if the value is set to "0", the boot menu will not be displayed at all, and if "1" is set to "hang" on the monitor indefinitely.

The value assigned to the parameter "default C: \" is the default path to the operating system startup tool (usually from the C drive, as indicated by the default letter). The very same system, or rather its main components, are located in the "Windows" folder in the root directory of the disk.

If the computer uses several "operations", such a parameter can be changed. And it does not matter whether the same OS Windows or Linux will coexist. In the lines, the specified paths will be simply written, well, and, as they say, the choice is made by the user.

A simple example would be to use two systems, say Windows Millennium and Windows XP, when the file looks like this:

[Boot loader]
Timeout = 30
Default = C: \
[Operating systems]
C: \ = "Windows Millennium Edition"
Multi (0) disk (0) rdisk (0) partition (2) \ WINNT = "Windows XP
Professional" / fastdetect

Commands of type "multi" are used only if there is a system interrupt in the BIOS for IDE, ESD or SCSI disks, as well as when selecting the boot of one of the installed OS. Strings of the type "rdisc (0)" or "partition" almost always have a zero value and indicate that the interrupt can not be used for several disk controllers, or it shows the serial number of the disk or logical partition from which, in fact, This moment is "OSes".

Location of the file

Now consider the burning question about where the boot.ini file is located. Firstly, it's worth to say that finding the file itself in any system, whether it's Windows NT or other OS versions, is not so easy. The thing is that the file itself is hidden from the user's eyes, so that it does not change anything in it (God forbid).

But experienced users know that you first need to enable the full display mode for absolutely all files and folders hidden by Windows developers for security purposes, and only then search for the file you are looking for. In principle, an ordinary user can access it. To do this, just use the "Tools" menu, where there is a transition line "Folder Options". Entering the menu, you need to use the "View" tab by ticking the option "Show hidden files, folders and drives" (paths are specified for Windows 7).

Only after that it will be possible to find out where the boot.ini file is located with all its parameters. Standard place - the root disk "C" (of course, if it is installed on it "OSes") In addition, it is worth paying attention to the attributes. By default, the attribute "Read Only" is set. This is done only to ensure that the user with his inappropriate, and sometimes completely unforeseen or accidental actions could not remove it or edit it in such a way that the launch of any system installed on the computer will be completely impossible.

The boot.ini file in different versions of Windows

As for the content and the place where the file itself is stored, in principle, it does not matter. The boot.ini file itself is some kind of conditional initializer, which is loaded into the memory of the computer system even before the start of the "operating system", offering a choice of what exactly to download.

By the way, many download managers used in the case of a complete "crash" of Windows or the presence of viruses, which can not be removed in the standard way, act in a similar manner. This is especially true for RAM, when the virus blocks the launch of applications, maximally loading the system memory and the CPU with system requests .

Download using the initializer

As you already know, you can download any OS installed on the computer terminal without any problems. For example, to boot the system by default, it's enough to use the prescribed path in the boot file.

You can do otherwise by specifying the priority of loading any other type of OS from the desired partition. When installing the appropriate boot clients, usually called boot-managers, you can achieve even more. The fact is that (as expected), they start before the start of the choice of systems. So there you can choose anything. Moreover, such managers load the boot.ini file of Windows-systems automatically, making their own adjustments to the content of the boot file.

Editing a file

As for changing the settings and editing the file on the same Windows 7 system, the boot.ini file (like in any other OS) is quite easy to open. Do not see that it has a system extension, you can open it in the usual standard application of any "operating system" called "Notepad". Yes, yes, you were not mistaken. The very file in its content carries exactly the text data, and any editor is able to process such information. The only thing you need after this, just save the file in the original format and in the same place.

True, it is worth first to create a copy of the original file. You should also take care of backup (backup) of the hard disk data , the operating system image or the standard Windows recovery point .

Save and restart

It goes without saying that the changes made, even at a high professional level, will still not take effect without rebooting the system. Only after a restart, will the boot sector be analyzed and the file responsible for starting the OS (one or more of the list).

Warnings

As it is already clear, ordinary users with such changes need to be extremely cautious. If they even know what the boot.ini boot file is, changing it is not recommended in any way. This can be done either by advanced users who are knowledgeable in the installation of "operating systems", or by system administrators who control the loading of OS on slave computer terminals with predefined parameters.

Actually, from this all you can understand that this text file is almost the main attribute of the system load. Of course, it's wrong to believe that removing it or changing it can lead to some very serious consequences (you can restore it), but it's better not to deal with such things, especially if you did not create a recovery point or a backup of the data or image of the system.