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From: Ollivier.Robert@eurocontrol.fr (Ollivier Robert)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Booting FreeBSD from NT boot manager?
Date: 16 Oct 1996 14:51:10 GMT
Organization: Eurocontrol EEC, Bretigny, France
Lines: 62
Message-ID: <542sou$t7b@polaris.eurocontrol.fr>
References: <53tji4$925@bart.rogerswave.ca>
NNTP-Posting-Host: mozart.eurocontrol.fr
[courtesy cc of this posting sent to cited author via email]
In article <53tji4$925@bart.rogerswave.ca>,
Mike Frisch <mfrisch@rogerswave.ca> wrote:
> Does anybody know if it's possible to boot FreeBSD from the NT
> boot manager? Currently, I am booting FreeBSD from a floppy disk, but
> it'd be great if I could put it on my boot manager menu.
The answer is in the FAQ:
6.6. How can I use the NT loader to boot FreeBSD?
The general idea is that you copy the first sector of your native root
Linux or FreeBSD partition into a file in the DOS/NT partition. Assuming
you name that file something like c:\bootsect.lnx or c:\bootsect.bsd
(inspired by c:\bootsect.dos) you can then edit the c:\boot.ini file to
come up with something like this:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows NT"
C:\BOOTSECT.LNX="Linux"
C:\BOOTSECT.BSD="FreeBSD"
C:\="DOS"
This procedure assumes that DOS, NT, Linux, FreeBSD, or whatever have been
installed into their respective fdisk partitions on the same disk. In my
case DOS & NT are in the first fdisk partition, Linux in the second, and
FreeBSD in the third. I also installed Linux and FreeBSD to boot from their
native partitions, not the disk MBR, and without delay.
Mount a DOS-formatted floppy (if you've converted to NTFS) or the FAT
partition, under, say, /mnt.
In Linux:
dd if=/dev/sda2 of=/mnt/bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1
In FreeBSD:
dd if=/dev/rsd0a of=/mnt/bootsect.bsd bs=512 count=1
Reboot into DOS or NT. NTFS users copy the bootsect.lnx and/or the
bootsect.bsd file from the floppy to C:\. Modify the attributes
(permissions) on boot.ini with:
attrib -s -r c:\boot.ini
Edit to add the appropriate entries from the example boot.ini above, and
restore the attributes:
attrib -r -s c:\boot.ini
If Linux or FreeBSD are booting from the MBR, restore it with the DOS
``fdisk /mbr'' command after you reconfigure them to boot from their native
partitions.
--
Ollivier ROBERT -=- Eurocontrol EEC/TS -=- Ollivier.Robert@eurocontrol.fr
FreeBSD FAQ: <URL:http://www.FreeBSD.org/FAQ/>