ASP Advantage 1994 2nd Q2

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BBBBBB OOOOO OOOOO TTTTTT SSSSS YY YY SSSSS BB BBB OO OO OO OO T TT T SS SS YY YY SS SS BB BB OO OO OO OO TT SSS YY YY SSS BBBBB OO OO OO OO TT SSS YYYY SSS BB BB OO OO OO OO TT SSS YY SSS BB BBB OO OO OO OO TT ## SS SS YY SS SS BBBBBB OOOOO OOOOO TTTT ## SSSSS YYYY SSSSS BOOT.SYS(tm) - Version 2.02 The heavy-duty configuration manager Developed by Hans Salvisberg Documentation by Hardin Brothers and Hans Salvisberg Published by Salvisberg Software & Consulting Bellevuestr. 18, CH-3095 Berne SWITZERLAND _______ ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER BOOT.SYS - 2 - Version 2.02 BOOT.SYS(tm) and the accompanying programs and documentation are Copyright (C) 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994 Hans Salvisberg All rights reserved BOOT.SYS is a trademark of Hans Salvisberg. Other product and company names are trademarks of their respective owners. Acknowledgements Many thanks to * our users who have provided encouragement, support, and many good ideas, * our beta testers, especially Robin Collins, Jon Fleming, and Ray Tackett, and many more, * the great people at JP Software, who have kindly allowed us to use their beta testing facilities, * the members of ASP; their help and advice have been invaluable for getting BOOT.SYS to you BOOT.SYS was developed using Borland C++, Turbo Assembler, and Turbo Debugger; Periscope debugger; and Spontaneous Assembly. Shareware License and Registration BOOT.SYS is not free and it is not public domain software; please see the file LICENSE.DOC for details about your license to try out BOOT.SYS. In short, you may try it out free of charge for 30 days. If you wish to continue using BOOT.SYS after the initial 30-day trial period, you must order a registered version; see the file ORDER.DOC for details. If that file is missing, type d:\path\BOOT ORDER BOOT.SYS - 3 - Version 2.02 Contents Introduction..........................................5 What BOOT.SYS does...............................5 System Requirements..............................6 User Requirements................................6 Getting Started.......................................7 The READ.ME File.................................7 Preparing A Reboot Disk..........................7 Installation.....................................8 Uninstalling BOOT.SYS...........................11 The User's View......................................12 Sample Menus.........................................14 Setting up CONFIG.SYS...........................14 Setting up AUTOEXEC.BAT.........................18 When you install new software...................19 Working with DOS.....................................21 The DOS= Command and Memory Managers............21 Using F5 and F8 under MS/PC-DOS 6.x.............22 The MS/PC-DOS 6.x INCLUDE= Command..............22 Running MemMaker, Optimize, Maximize, etc.......23 DR DOS..........................................24 BOOT.SYS Commands....................................25 BOOT.SYS........................................25 BOOT.SYS Parameters.............................25 BOOT.SYS Advanced Parameters....................28 BOOT.1 to BOOT.20...............................31 BOOT.0..........................................32 BOOT.END........................................32 BOOT.#..........................................33 BOOT.?..........................................33 BOOT.A to BOOT.Y................................34 BOOT.Z..........................................34 BOOT.EDIT.......................................35 BOOT.IF.........................................36 BOOT.ELSEIF.....................................39 BOOT.ELSE.......................................39 BOOT.ENDIF......................................39 BOOT.NAME.......................................39 BOOT.OPTION.....................................40 BOOT.REM........................................42 BOOT.RENAME.....................................42 BOOT.SET and Enhanced Commands..................43 BOOT.TOP........................................45 BOOT.SYS - 4 - Version 2.02 Common Sections.................................45 Other CONFIG.SYS Commands............................47 DEVICE=d:\path\PAUSE.SYS........................47 DEVICE=REM......................................48 DEVICE=TOP text.................................48 BOOT.EXE Commands....................................49 BOOT with no Command............................50 BOOT CLEAR......................................50 BOOT COLD.......................................51 BOOT Date or Time...............................51 BOOT HELP.......................................54 BOOT OnceA... ..................................54 BOOT SET........................................57 BOOT TOUCH......................................57 BOOT WARM.......................................59 Named Reboots........................................60 Naming Configurations...........................60 Selecting a Configuration.......................61 Reboot Options..................................62 Using Multiple Configuration Names..............63 Advanced Topics......................................64 Nested Menus vs. Menu Sequences.................64 Using Variables and Conditionals in CONFIG.SYS..65 Using BOOT.SYS to manage LAN workstations.......67 Sample Files, New Ideas.........................68 When Things Go Wrong.................................69 Error Messages and Cures........................69 If You Can't Boot Up After Installation.........72 License and Warranty.................................74 BOOT.SYS - 5 - Version 2.02 Introduction Thank you for trying BOOT.SYS. We believe that you have selected the best and most powerful configuration manager available. If you ever need to change your computer's configuration, BOOT.SYS will help you. If you have been editing your configuration files in order to switch from one task to another, BOOT.SYS will speed up the reboot process and help you avoid the potentially disastrous results of a careless editing error. And if you keep multiple versions of your configuration files, BOOT.SYS will reduce those to a single pair of files that will be easy to maintain and update. With BOOT.SYS and its companion programs, you can build menus that let you choose the proper configuration every time you boot your computer. Each menu may have up to 20 items, and you may have up to 25 menus to define different aspects of your system. BOOT.SYS also lets you design menus based on the hardware in your computer and the operating system you are using. If you have more than one computer, you can use BOOT.SYS to create one set of configuration files for them all and let BOOT.SYS decide which configuration to use or which menus to display on each. Whether you are an individual user who needs to juggle two or more configurations, or a computer support specialist who needs to maintain configurations on hundreds of computers both on and off a company network, BOOT.SYS will help you do the job safely and efficiently. What BOOT.SYS does BOOT.SYS takes control of your CONFIG.SYS file. It passes some commands on to DOS for processing and hides other commands from DOS. While it has control of your configuration file, BOOT.SYS can display menus, wait for user input, examine your computer's configuration, and perform other tests. It can also create environment variables during CONFIG.SYS processing in all versions of DOS. A companion program included in the package, BOOT.EXE, extends configuration control to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and the DOS prompt. In earlier versions of DOS, it creates environment strings to indicate which menu choices you made during CONFIG.SYS processing. It can also signal that it's time to perform periodic activities like backups and monthly reports, reboot your computer from any batch file or the command line, and instruct BOOT.SYS how to configure your computer automatically. BOOT.SYS - 6 - Version 2.02 Unlike other configuration programs, BOOT.SYS doesn't write to your disk nor does it keep multiple configuration files on your hard disk. BOOT.SYS performs all of its magic in RAM while your computer is processing the CONFIG.SYS file. This eliminates all risks of corrupting the valuable data on your disks. It also lets you use BOOT.SYS on disk-less PCs. System Requirements BOOT.SYS will work with any IBM-compatible computer that uses MS- DOS or PC-DOS versions 2.11 through 6.2. It will also work with DR-DOS versions 5.0 and 6.0. BOOT.SYS typically uses less than 200 bytes of DOS memory; under the newest DOS versions it does not stay resident at all. BOOT.SYS includes support for color, LCD, and monochrome video systems. It works with ANSI.SYS or a compatible display driver, but does not require that you use such a driver. User Requirements To set up a computer using BOOT.SYS, you must have a general understanding of the commands in your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files and know how to edit those files with an ASCII editor. This manual will not teach you how to create an effective system configuration nor will it teach you how to use an ASCII editor. See your DOS manual or any of the dozens of books that cover those topics if you need help creating or maintaining your configuration files. BOOT.SYS is a powerful utility program for those who need to manage multiple system configurations. However, you must understand what configurations you need, and how to create the necessary commands for each configuration, before you can use BOOT.SYS effectively. If you set up computers for others, you will find BOOT.SYS invaluable. After you have created the necessary menus for your users, they will be able to select a configuration with a couple of keystrokes. Your users will never have to worry about managing multiple copies of CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT; they can just run their machines using the menus that you and BOOT.SYS provide. You can even set up some spare configurations for your users to tinker with without disturbing the ones you support. You must, of course, have a separate, licensed copy of BOOT.SYS for each machine that you use it on. BOOT.SYS - 7 - Version 2.02 Getting Started The READ.ME File One of the files in the BOOT.SYS distribution, READ.ME, contains information you should read before you begin to install the program. Put the BOOT.SYS diskette in drive A and type TYPE a:READ.ME | MORE to view the contents of the file (you may use drive B if you prefer). If you want to print a copy of the file, type COPY a:READ.ME PRN Preparing A Reboot Disk It is highly unlikely that you will have any problems when you install BOOT.SYS. However, whenever you make major changes to your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, you should have a reboot diskette handy. If anything goes wrong, such as a power failure while you are updating your configuration files, it will be a simple matter to boot from your emergency diskette and edit the configuration files on your hard disk. Without a reboot diskette, an incorrect instruction in a configuration file may keep your computer from booting up at all. To create a reboot diskette, format a new diskette in your A drive with the command FORMAT A: /S With older versions of DOS, you will have to copy COMMAND.COM to the diskette; newer DOS versions will copy it for you. You may also want to save a copy of your current configuration files on the diskette, along with a simple ASCII editor that you can use if you have to edit your configuration files. Depending on your system, you may need additional drivers and programs for accessing your disk, for defining a national keyboard layout, or for utilizing other hardware devices. Some users like to keep other data and programs on their reboot diskettes, including a copy of the CMOS memory data (the information that you see if you run your computer's SETUP program). After you have prepared your reboot diskette, you should test it: put the diskette in drive A and reboot your computer to make sure that the diskette works and that you can edit the CONFIG.SYS and BOOT.SYS - 8 - Version 2.02 AUTOEXEC.BAT files on your hard disk. The reboot diskette won't do you any good if it won't boot up your machine. Once you have a working reboot diskette, you are ready to install BOOT.SYS. Installation The BOOT.SYS installation procedure, which is started by a program called INSTALL.BAT, serves three purposes. First, it extracts and decompresses the program files from the condensed library file in which they are shipped. You must use the installation program to perform this extraction; other decompression programs will not work. Second, the installation program, or Install for short, examines your current configuration files and suggests a new pair of files that utilize BOOT.SYS's features; it does not modify your configuration files. Install can work with your configuration files if they are in one of three different formats: * single-configuration setup Install creates sample configuration files from your current files to help you get up and running quickly. These sample files will present a single menu that will let you pick between your current configuration and a simple, "generic" configuration. * MS/PC-DOS 6.x multi-configuration setup Install translates your DOS 6 CONFIG.SYS file to BOOT.SYS syntax. You will get the exact same configurations under BOOT.SYS, with the additional power of BOOT.SYS to make further refinements. * BOOT.SYS multi-configuration setup (any version) Install examines your CONFIG.SYS file and makes any necessary changes to adapt it to the syntax required by this version. Install can only work correctly if your CONFIG.SYS is in one of these formats and if it doesn't have any errors in it. Finally, Install creates documentation based on your system and original configuration files. The documentation file is stored on your disk as BOOTINST.LOG. Please read it carefully; it is an essential part of the BOOT.SYS documentation. The file will explain what Install has done and what file names it has used. The BOOTINST.LOG file also will contain a complete listing of both the suggested configuration files and your originals, along with a detailed explanation of the changes. BOOT.SYS - 9 - Version 2.02 Running Install In the shareware version of BOOT.SYS, Install is called BOOTINST.EXE, and it is a self-extracting self-installing archive. You should not have this text unless you've already run BOOTINST. To start Install insert the BOOT.SYS distribution diskette into drive A and type a: INSTALL You may, of course, use drive B if you prefer. Install will guide you through the installation. For your information, we list the major steps below, but you should read the information presented by Install and follow its prompts. Install will lead you through these major steps: 1. You will be asked to enter the directory where you wish to store the BOOT.SYS files. We suggest using C:\BOOT and have based the remainder of this discussion on that suggestion. If you choose a different directory, you should modify the following instructions and descriptions appropriately. The directory does not need to exist before you start the installation procedure. If you are upgrading from a previous version of BOOT.SYS, we suggest you use a different directory to keep the two versions separate. If you overwrite your old BOOT.SYS files and for some reason you don't complete the installation and update your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, you may not be able to boot up successfully! Do not install BOOT.SYS on your distribution diskette! 2. You will be asked to confirm or enter the names of your configuration files. They are usually called C:\CONFIG.SYS and C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT. 3. Install will ask you to confirm or enter the commands that will load the BOOT.SYS executable programs. For most users, the suggested defaults will be correct. Install goes through this procedure to allow you to change the drive and/or path in case you use a program like Stacker which reassigns your drive letters during execution of CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT. 4. Install will create backup copies of your original configuration files in two places. The names of the backup BOOT.SYS - 10 - Version 2.02 files will be included in the BOOTINST.LOG file. The backup files will usually be called c:\config.001 c:\autoexec.001 c:\boot\config.BEF c:\boot\autoexec.BEF 5. Install next creates suggested configuration files for you. These files will usually be named c:\boot\config.AFT c:\boot\autoexec.AFT 6. Install will offer to print out the installation log, which is stored as c:\boot\BOOTINST.LOG Be sure to print and read this file. It lists the old and new versions of your configuration files, along with specific comments customized for your system. WE CONSIDER THE INSTALLATION LOG TO BE PART OF YOUR DOCUMENTATION! Install may find errors or potential problems in your files, or it may make suggestions for improving your files. The log may also contain specific instructions about how to proceed. 7. Finally, Install will display a few more informational screens and then end. Reboot We know only too well how some installation programs can mess up users' configuration files. We have tried our best to make Install work with all configuration files, but it is possible that you have an unusual CONFIG.SYS file which we did not foresee. We rely on you to examine the BOOTINST.LOG file and then the *.AFT configuration files. Make sure the suggested configuration files look reasonable before you try to boot up with them. If you are satisfied with the *.AFT files, copy them over your old files like this: COPY c:\boot\config.AFT c:\config.sys COPY c:\boot\autoexec.AFT c:\autoexec.bat and then reboot your computer. Watch the screen carefully as your computer boots up for any error messages or other irregularities. You should get the BOOT.SYS menu and be able to select which configuration you wish to use. Try each available configuration to make sure it works as intended. BOOT.SYS - 11 - Version 2.02 If you don't see the BOOT.SYS menu, please refer to "If You Can't Boot Up After Installation..." on page 78. If you see some error messages, but they scroll by too fast to read, you can try three things: * If you're using MS/PC-DOS 6.x use the F8 key (see page 23). * Press the Pause key to temporarily "freeze" your machine and then any other key to continue. Some people claim their PCs are so fast that it's impossible to catch error messages this way. We have found that we can read all messages on even the fastest machines using the following trick: press Pause early in the boot process; put your thumb on the Enter key and your middle finger on the Pause key; now hit both keys almost at once, the Enter key just a fraction of a second before the Pause key, and the boot process will advance just a little bit. Do this repeatedly, and with some practice you'll be able to single- step your CONFIG.SYS and other programs or batch files that produce scrolling output. * Use the PAUSE.SYS program to pause execution of CONFIG.SYS at selected points (see page 50). Where To Go From Here... Use your editor to customize your configurations, add new configurations, and improve the sophistication of your configuration files by using the advanced features of BOOT.SYS that are explained in this documentation. Uninstalling BOOT.SYS If you wish to uninstall BOOT.SYS, you can either replace CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT with the backups that were created when you installed BOOT.SYS, or you can use your editor to extract a single configuration to use as your new CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. Then you can delete the files in the BOOT.SYS directory. BOOT.SYS does not make any changes to the boot sector or other vital parts of your disks or DOS. BOOT.SYS - 12 - Version 2.02 The User's View When BOOT.SYS is installed on a computer, the user typically sees two text windows on the screen during the boot process. The upper window contains messages or any text that you would like to have displayed. The lower window contains a menu. Depending on the BOOT.SYS instructions in the CONFIG.SYS file, several menus may appear sequentially and some menu choices may lead to submenus. (We have omitted the screen shot here because the box characters in the IBM PC character set do not print well on some printers. However, this page is repeated at the end of the file, with the screen shot.) Sample BOOT.SYS screen The user may select an item in several different ways. The most intuitive selection method is moving the highlight or selection bar to the desired item and pressing the Enter or CursorRight key. New users often favor this method, but experienced users prefer a quicker way of making a selection, especially once they know what to expect from each menu. BOOT.SYS - 13 - Version 2.02 When you create BOOT.SYS menus, you can designate a quick key for each menu item. The quick key, which is a character in each menu item's text, will be highlighted on the screen. Once the quick keys have been defined, the user need only press the appropriate key to select a menu item. Also, each menu item is preceded by a number from 1 to 20. A user can select an item by pressing a numeric key or a function key. For menu items 1 through 9, the user can make a selection by pressing the numerals 1 through 9 or the function keys F1 through F9. The following chart shows the selection keys for menu items 10 through 20. Menu Item Numeric Keys Function Keys 10 0 F10 11 ! (Shift-1) or Shift-F1 or - (minus) F11 12 @ (Shift-2) or Shift-F2 or = (equal) F12 13 # (Shift-3) Shift-F3 14 $ (Shift-4) Shift-F4 15 % (Shift-5) Shift-F5 16 ^ (Shift-6) Shift-F6 17 & (Shift-7) Shift-F7 18 * (Shift-8) Shift-F8 19 ( (Shift-9) Shift-F9 20 ) (Shift-0) Shift-F10 The special characters listed here are those on the US keyboard. If you have a non-US keyboard, your international keyboard driver will not be loaded before BOOT.SYS displays its menus. Just use shift-1 through shift-0 in the top row. The minus and equal sign are the two keys to the right of the 0. Depending on the state of NumLock, you can use the keys on the numeric keypad either as cursor keys or for selecting items 1 through 10 (0) (see the /N parameter on page 28 for information about controlling NumLock). The "shifted digits" cannot be entered with the numeric keypad. BOOT.SYS - 14 - Version 2.02 Sample Menus There are many ways to use BOOT.SYS to control your computer's configuration. At one extreme, you can have it display a single menu of 2 or 3 possible configurations. At the other, you can write a single set of configuration files for all of the computers on a network. This section demonstrates the basics of using BOOT.SYS. See page 69 for tips about using the advanced features built into the package. Setting up CONFIG.SYS You can let BOOT.SYS control all or part of your CONFIG.SYS file. If it controls just part of the file, the commands before and after the BOOT.SYS section will be executed normally. The beginning of the BOOT.SYS section of your CONFIG.SYS file must be marked with the command DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS The "d:" and "\path" in that line are the drive and directory that contain the BOOT.SYS program. For a complete list of the parameters or options that can be added to this line, see page 26. The last line of the BOOT.SYS section of your CONFIG.SYS file must be marked with this command: DEVICE=BOOT.END Although this looks like a standard DEVICE statement, it really isn't. You may not include a drive and path. Also, this line will never be processed by DOS. It is one of the lines that BOOT.SYS will hide before DOS gets a chance to execute it. However, the DEVICE= part of the line is necessary to prevent DOS from generating an error message before it gives control to BOOT.SYS. The "DEVICE=BOOT." part of the line defines this as a BOOT.SYS command. The heart of the line, which begins after the period, is the name of the command plus any additional information. Let's assume that you want to create a simple configuration file with two choices: Windows and DOS. Your CONFIG.SYS file could look like this, without the line numbers: BOOT.SYS - 15 - Version 2.02 1. DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS 2. DEVICE=BOOT.TOP My BOOT.SYS Configuration Menu 3. DEVICE=BOOT.1 &Windows Configuration 4. DEVICE=BOOT.SET BOOT=Windows 5. {commands for Windows configuration} 6. DEVICE=BOOT.2 &DOS Configuration 7. DEVICE=BOOT.SET BOOT=DOS 8. {commands for DOS configuration} 9. DEVICE=BOOT.END The first and last lines should look familiar. They delineate the section of the file that BOOT.SYS controls. In this case, BOOT.SYS is responsible for the entire file. The second line, which begins DEVICE=BOOT.TOP, creates a message that will appear in the top window on the screen. You can display several lines of text, if you wish, with multiple BOOT.TOP commands. The third line, DEVICE=BOOT.1, defines the first menu item that the user will see. The ampersand [&] in front of the "W" in Windows tells BOOT.SYS that the "W" is a quick key for this menu choice. The next line, DEVICE=BOOT.SET, creates an environment variable called BOOT with the value "WINDOWS." This variable can be used in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to select commands that you want to execute there for the Windows configuration (see page 19). You would then replace the fifth line with all the CONFIG.SYS commands you normally use when you want to configure your computer to run Windows. (We use curly braces to mark comments.) Lines 6 and 7 are the menu item text and BOOT name for the DOS configuration. Notice that the "D" in "DOS" in line 6 has been defined as the quick key. Replace Line 8 with the configuration commands that you use when you want to boot your computer for use with DOS applications. The last line, line 9, tells BOOT.SYS that it has reached the end of the text that it is supposed to process. When you save this CONFIG.SYS file and reboot your computer, you will see two windows on the screen. The top window contains the text "My BOOT.SYS Configuration Menu." The bottom window contains a menu with two choices: "1 - Windows Configuration" and "2 - DOS Configuration." You can make a choice by moving the selection bar and pressing Enter, by pressing '1' or '2' (or F1 or F2) for the menu option numbers, or by using a quick key, 'W' or 'D.' The corresponding AUTOEXEC.BAT file is on page 19. BOOT.SYS - 16 - Version 2.02 Two Simple Menus Many times, you may want two or more menus of choices. For example, you might use one menu to decide whether to install a RAM disk and the next menu to decide whether to load ANSI.SYS. Whenever you have more than one menu, you have to tell BOOT.SYS where each one starts and stops. The command DEVICE=BOOT.A defines the beginning of the first menu, while DEVICE=BOOT.B defines the start of the second menu. You can create up to 25 menus in this manner. The last menu, whatever its letter, must be terminated with the command DEVICE=BOOT.Z. This sample CONFIG.SYS file has two menus, each with 2 choices: DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS /T5 DEVICE=BOOT.A /D2 DEVICE=BOOT.TOP Do you want a RAM disk? DEVICE=BOOT.1 &No DEVICE=BOOT.2 &Yes, 64K RAM Disk DEVICE=C:\DOS\RAMDRIVE.SYS 64K DEVICE=BOOT.B /D1 DEVICE=BOOT.TOP Do you need ANSI.SYS? DEVICE=BOOT.1 &No DEVICE=BOOT.2 &Yes, install ANSI.SYS DEVICE=C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS DEVICE=BOOT.Z DEVICE=BOOT.END This example demonstrates several BOOT.SYS features. In the first line, the /T5 parameter instructs the program to wait 5 seconds for a user response to each menu. If the user doesn't respond, the program will select the default menu item and then continue. The second line, DEVICE=BOOT.A /D2, defines the beginning of menu A, the first menu that the user will see. The /D2 parameter sets the second menu choice as the default. The selection bar will be on that choice when the menu is displayed, and that choice will be selected automatically if the user does not respond within the time-out period. The following four lines define a 2-choice menu, just as in the first example, and the action that should be taken if the user selects the second choice. In this menu, there aren't any actions for the first choice, no RAM disk. The second menu begins with the line DEVICE=BOOT.B /D1. It defines the first choice as the default item. In this case, the BOOT.SYS - 17 - Version 2.02 /D1 isn't strictly needed, since BOOT.SYS will select the first item as the default unless you specifically name a different one. However, the /D1 makes the operation of the menu easier for human readers to understand and edit if you decide to change the default. The remainder of the second menu follows the same structure as the first. The line DEVICE=BOOT.Z defines the end of the last menu. Similarly, the line DEVICE=BOOT.END defines the end of the section of CONFIG.SYS that BOOT.SYS controls. Nested Menus In a series of menus, like those in the last example, the order and number of menus never changes and the menus are independent of each other. BOOT.SYS also lets you use another kind of menu: submenus. If the user picks a specific menu choice, a new series of menus appears based on the choice. Submenus can even lead to their own submenus. The only restriction is that not more than 25 menus can appear on the user's screen during BOOT.SYS execution. It doesn't matter to BOOT.SYS whether those menus are arranged in a series, as submenus, or as a combination of both. In the previous example, every time the user chooses to install a RAM disk, that disk will be 64K bytes long. This next example uses submenus to let the user choose the size of the RAM disk and whether COMMAND.COM should be copied to the RAM disk for more efficient operation at the DOS prompt. DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS /T5 DEVICE=BOOT.A /D2 DEVICE=BOOT.TOP Do you want a RAM disk? DEVICE=BOOT.1 &No DEVICE=BOOT.2 &Yes, RAM Disk DEVICE=BOOT.A /D1 DEVICE=BOOT.TOP What size RAM disk do you need? DEVICE=BOOT.1 64K? DEVICE=c:\dos\RAMDRIVE.SYS 64 DEVICE=BOOT.2 128K? DEVICE=c:\dos\RAMDRIVE.SYS 128 DEVICE=BOOT.B /D1 DEVICE=BOOT.TOP Do you want to copy DEVICE=BOOT.TOP Command.Com to the RAM disk? DEVICE=BOOT.1 Yes DEVICE=BOOT.SET Copy_CC=Y DEVICE=BOOT.2 No DEVICE=BOOT.Z DEVICE=BOOT.B /D1 DEVICE=BOOT.TOP Do you need ANSI.SYS? DEVICE=BOOT.1 &No DEVICE=BOOT.2 &Yes, install ANSI.SYS BOOT.SYS - 18 - Version 2.02 DEVICE=c:\dos\ANSI.SYS DEVICE=BOOT.Z DEVICE=BOOT.END As this example shows, it is easy to create submenus. The sequence of DEVICE=BOOT.A through DEVICE=BOOT.Z commands defines a menu or series of menus. If this sequence is inserted as part of the activity that occurs for a particular menu choice, a submenu is created. BOOT.A can be preceded, and BOOT.Z can be followed, by DOS and/or BOOT.SYS commands that will be executed regardless of the submenu choice the user makes. This example also shows one other interesting wrinkle. There is no way to copy COMMAND.COM to a RAM disk during CONFIG.SYS operations. Instead, the command DEVICE=BOOT.SET Copy_CC=Y is used to create an environment variable called COPY_CC. In your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you could then include the following lines to actually copy the file and make the copy the active command processor: IF "%COPY_CC%"=="Y" COPY c:\dos\COMMAND.COM d: IF "%COPY_CC%"=="Y" SET COMSPEC=d:\COMMAND.COM There are several other BOOT.SYS techniques that you will find handy for complex menu systems. See the reference section of this manual, beginning on page 26, and the chapter called Advanced Topics for more details about them. Setting up AUTOEXEC.BAT Once you have BOOT.SYS set up in your CONFIG.SYS file, you'll probably want to pass information about the user's choices to AUTOEXEC.BAT for further processing. For example, if you choose between DOS and Windows configurations in CONFIG.SYS, you may want to load either a DOS shell or Windows in AUTOEXEC.BAT. BOOT.SYS communicates with your AUTOEXEC.BAT file via environment variables that you define in CONFIG.SYS with the DEVICE=BOOT.SET command. If you use MS/PC-DOS 6.x or DR DOS, you can also use the standard SET command in CONFIG.SYS to create environment variables. See page 46 for a discussion of the minor differences between these two commands. The DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS command in CONFIG.SYS has a counterpart in AUTOEXEC.BAT: d:\path\BOOT.EXE SET or BOOT SET for short -- do not confuse this with (DEVICE=)BOOT.SET! Under DOS versions that don't support SET in CONFIG.SYS, BOOT SET reads the environment variables that BOOT.SYS - 19 - Version 2.02 BOOT.SYS placed in resident memory and copies them into the environment. But BOOT SET performs other house keeping tasks as well, and YOU MUST HAVE IT AT THE BEGINNING OF YOUR AUTOEXEC.BAT FILE UNDER ALL VERSIONS OF DOS. The example CONFIG.SYS file on page 15 above sets the variable BOOT to WINDOWS, if the user wants to configure the computer for Microsoft Windows, or to DOS, if the user wants to run DOS applications. Here is a companion AUTOEXEC.BAT file that uses the variable to continue the configuration process: @ECHO OFF d:\path\BOOT SET IF ERRORLEVEL 255 GOTO No_BOOTSYS GOTO %BOOT% :No_BOOTSYS ECHO BOOT.SYS was not properly installed GOTO END :DOS {DOS configuration commands go here} GOTO END :Windows {Windows configuration commands go here} GOTO END :END After the standard @ECHO OFF, this AUTOEXEC.BAT file begins with the BOOT SET command. If that command returns an Errorlevel of 255, BOOT.EXE could not find any trace of BOOT.SYS, which usually means something went wrong in CONFIG.SYS. In this example, the batch file recovers from the error by jumping to the label No_BOOTSYS, where it displays an error message and then ends. Because the No_BOOTSYS section is placed immediately after the GOTO command, that section will also be executed if the GOTO command fails, perhaps because of a spelling error in the variable value or the batch file's labels. It's a good idea to organized batch files this way so you can see right away when something goes wrong. If BOOT SET was successful, the next line branches to the label %BOOT%. The batch file interpreter will look up the environment variable called BOOT, and substitute its text in place of %BOOT%. Then it will jump to the label that you defined with BOOT.SYS. In this case, that label will be either DOS or Windows. The lines following each label are responsible for finishing the appropriate configuration and initialization. BOOT.SYS - 20 - Version 2.02 You can define any number of variables (subject to a 2K bytes limit under MS/PC-DOS 5.0 and earlier) and they will all be transferred to the DOS environment. If you want to release the environment space they use, you can, of course, use the DOS SET command like this: SET name= When you install new software Many application programs have installation routines that help neophyte users configure their computers correctly. These routines typically install the application in its own subdirectory and then update the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files to make the program run most efficiently. Unfortunately, these programs know nothing about BOOT.SYS or carefully crafted configuration files. When some installation routines become confused, they can scatter extraneous commands throughout your configuration files and create all sorts of damage; some even purposely remove commands for loading competing products. Installing a new application safely, especially when you are using BOOT.SYS or any unusual commands in your configuration files, is a 3-step process. First, make sure that you have saved a copy of your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. If something goes wrong during the installation, it will be a simple matter to restore the files from the copies and reboot. If you don't have backup copies, you may have to spend hours reconstructing your carefully tuned configuration files. Before you start the installation program, rename your configuration files. Once you have done so, the installation program will not be able to find them. Instead, it will probably create new CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. It will put the commands that it requires in those new files. After the program is installed, you can examine the new configuration files and see what commands the application wants. You can then use those files as a guide for creating a configuration in your original files for the new application or adjusting one or more of your existing configurations. Don't forget to give your configuration files their original names before rebooting. You can avoid some of this work if you are willing to patch two system files and change DOS's names for CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. This technique is not for the faint of heart! If you are reluctant to patch IO.SYS (or IBMBIO.COM) and COMMAND.COM, don't do it. But if you have a bootable diskette BOOT.SYS - 21 - Version 2.02 and some experience patching files, you should have little problem changing the names that DOS uses for the configuration files. The advantage of making the patch is that installation programs won't bother your installation files because they won't find a CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file on your disk. The disadvantage is that if you use the FORMAT /S command, the patched versions of these files will be moved to the floppy diskette, so you'll have to continue to use your new names for the configuration files on the diskette. BOOT.SYS - 22 - Version 2.02 Working with DOS BOOT.SYS and its companion programs work with all versions of MS/PC-DOS from 2.11 to 6.2 and DR DOS 5.0 and 6.0. In general, once you have learned BOOT.SYS, you can use it with very few changes regardless of the DOS version that happens to be installed on your computer. If you wish to share a CONFIG.SYS file among different DOS versions you may have to use BOOT.IF to adjust to the differences between the various DOS versions. The DOS= Command and Memory Managers For most practical purposes, you can assume that DOS executes the commands in your CONFIG.SYS file one at a time, as it reads them from the file. However, the DOS= command, introduced in MS/PC- DOS 5.0, is different. DOS scans through the entire file, looking for DOS= commands, before it executes any device drivers, including BOOT.SYS. If you want to have the same DOS= settings in all of your configurations, we suggest that you use the desired command (including DOS=HIGH, DOS=LOW, DOS=UMB, and DOS=NOUMB and their combinations) before the DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS command that defines the beginning of the BOOT.SYS section of your CONFIG.SYS file. On the other hand, if you want to have different DOS= settings in different configurations, you must follow a fairly rigid formula to give BOOT.SYS control over the settings. Your CONFIG.SYS file should look like this: {global commands} DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS DOS=LOW {everything else here} DEVICE=BOOT.END DOS=HIGH,NOUMB {global commands, no DOS= commands!} As DOS scans through CONFIG.SYS, later settings override earlier ones, and it ends up with DOS=HIGH,NOUMB immediately below BOOT.END. DOS=HIGH is required by BOOT.SYS, because it can force DOS low if it's set to go high, but not the other way around; DOS=NOUMB provides the usual default. No other DOS= commands should follow this line. When BOOT.SYS runs, it sees the DOS=LOW command immediately after the BOOT.SYS line in the global section, and it takes this as the default, just like DOS. BOOT.SYS - 23 - Version 2.02 Within this framework, all you do is add DOS=HIGH and/or DOS=UMB commands to those configurations that need them. BOOT.SYS cannot control the DOS= settings if you install your memory manager before BOOT.SYS or after BOOT.END. If you are going to use the same memory manager for all configurations, put the correct DEVICE= command on the line immediately after DOS=LOW in the template above. If you want to use a different memory manager or different settings, you can add the correct memory manager command to each of your configurations. The versions of HIMEM.SYS delivered with DOS 5, DOS 6, and Windows 3.1 are designed to load part of themselves into the HMA or High Memory Area when DOS=HIGH is active. Unfortunately, they grow considerably (to about 33K instead of about 4K) when BOOT.SYS is used to set DOS=LOW. This problem doesn't exist with the version of HIMEM.SYS that was distributed with Windows 3.0, nor with any of the third-party memory managers (like QEMM-386, 386MAX, etc.); if you need a memory manager for your DOS=LOW configurations, we suggest you use one of these. Using F5 and F8 under MS/PC-DOS 6.x Pressing F8 early in the boot process under MS/PC-DOS 6.x results in single-step execution of CONFIG.SYS. DOS will ask whether to execute each line. As explained above, DOS prescans the DOS= command, and you will first get prompts for all the DOS= commands in your entire CONFIG.SYS. Press 'Y' for all of them. Another peculiarity is that you may get a second prompt for loading BOOT.SYS after the commands for the configuration you selected. Press 'Y' for this one as well. If you have been using the DOS 6 multi-configuration feature, you were able to press F5 or F8 when its menu appeared. These keys still work with BOOT.SYS, but you have to press them before the first BOOT.SYS menu. The MS/PC-DOS 6.x INCLUDE= Command Do not use the INCLUDE= command between the BOOT.SYS and BOOT.END lines. Similar to DOS=, all INCLUDE= commands are executed before BOOT.SYS gets control. If you have two or more INCLUDE= commands referring to the same configuration block, all but the first are ignored. Unfortunately, BOOT.SYS cannot even detect that situation. However, BOOT.SYS gives you an even more powerful mechanism to share commands among several configurations, as follows: BOOT.SYS - 24 - Version 2.02 DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS DEVICE=c:\dos\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=BOOT.TOP Just a test DEVICE=BOOT.1 Don't load EMM386 DEVICE=BOOT.2 Load EMM386, use EMS DEVICE=BOOT.SET EMM386=Y DEVICE=BOOT.SET EMMPARM=RAM DEVICE=BOOT.3 Load EMM386, no EMS DEVICE=BOOT.SET EMM386=Y DEVICE=BOOT.SET EMMPARM=NOEMS DEVICE=BOOT.0 {this starts a common section} DEVICE=BOOT.IF %EMM386%==Y DEVICE=c:\dos\EMM386.EXE x=D000-D1FF %EMMPARM% DEVICE=BOOT.SET EMMPARM= DEVICE=BOOT.ENDIF DEVICE=BOOT.END The command loading HIMEM.SYS on the second line, and the conditional (IF...ENDIF) block near the end are shared among all configurations. Whenever you need to share commands among several configurations, this is an indication that nested menus might be more appropriate: DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS DEVICE=c:\dos\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=BOOT.TOP Load EMM386? DEVICE=BOOT.1 &No DEVICE=BOOT.2 &Yes DEVICE=BOOT.A DEVICE=BOOT.TOP Use EMS memory? DEVICE=BOOT.1 Yes, use &EMS DEVICE=BOOT.SET EMMPARM=RAM DEVICE=BOOT.2 &No DEVICE=BOOT.SET EMMPARM=NOEMS DEVICE=BOOT.Z DEVICE=c:\dos\EMM386.EXE x=D000-D1FF %EMMPARM% DEVICE=BOOT.SET EMMPARM= DEVICE=BOOT.END BOOT.SYS - 25 - Version 2.02 Here, no conditional block is required, because the EMM386.EXE line is part of what's executed when you select item #2 on the main menu. See Common Sections on page 48 for a complete list of where you can place commands that should be shared among several configurations. Running MemMaker, Optimize, Maximize, etc. Every 386 memory manager comes with its own optimize program that claims to set up your system in the most efficient way. Unfortunately, none of these programs is smart enough to correctly handle a CONFIG.SYS file with BOOT.SYS installed. If you need to run one of these programs, you must manually extract the configuration that you wish to optimize, run the program, and then manually reinsert the optimized configuration into the BOOT.SYS multi-configuration framework. DR DOS BOOT.SYS includes complete support for DR DOS, and it behaves under DR DOS just as it does under MS/PC-DOS 6.x, with two exceptions. First, DR DOS does not translate the CONFIG.SYS file to upper case before invoking BOOT.SYS. Therefore, you can use mixed-case text and create mixed-case values for environment variables without using the /Uc or /Uct command-line parameters (see page 29). If you are sharing a CONFIG.SYS file between MS/PC-DOS and DR DOS you can use the /Uc or /Uct parameters even with DR DOS and BOOT.SYS will filter out the c and t characters. Second, unlike MS/PC-DOS, DR DOS sets a low limit on the size of the CONFIG.SYS file (8K bytes in DR DOS 6.0). If you exceed the limit, it simply ignores the extra bytes and lines. If BOOT.SYS warns you that your CONFIG.SYS file may be too long, try trimming it down until you find a size that your version of DR DOS will accept and process correctly. DR DOS does not recognize the DOS= command. To help you to share CONFIG.SYS files between MS/PC-DOS and DR DOS, BOOT.SYS automatically removes all DOS= commands between the BOOT.SYS and BOOT.END lines as well as the one right after BOOT.END. BOOT.SYS - 26 - Version 2.02 BOOT.SYS Commands BOOT.SYS DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS [params] This command marks the beginning of the section of your CONFIG.SYS file that you want BOOT.SYS to control. The section must be terminated with the command DEVICE=BOOT.END Everything before the BOOT.SYS line or after the BOOT.END line will be handled normally by DOS and apply to all of your configurations. All of your menus and other BOOT.SYS commands must be included between these two lines. You may use this command only once in your CONFIG.SYS file. The drive letter and path are required unless BOOT.SYS is in the root directory of your boot drive. If you are using MS/PC-DOS 5.0 or later, see page 22 for details about how to use the DOS= command with BOOT.SYS. BOOT.SYS Parameters The DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS command may be followed by one or more parameters. Each parameter must begin with either a slash [/], as shown, or with a hyphen [-]. BOOT.SYS evaluates the parameters from left to right. If two parameters contradict each other, BOOT.SYS will ignore the first one and use the second one. The parameters on the DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS command line set defaults for the entire BOOT.SYS session. You may also use these parameters to set values for any specific menu by including them on the DEVICE=BOOT.A to DEVICE=BOOT.Y line (see page 35). /BW Sets BOOT.SYS to use screen colors suitable for a black and white or LCD display attached to a color video adapter (CGA, EGA, VGA, etc.). Do not use this parameter if you have a monochrome video adapter and display; use /MONO instead. BOOT.SYS - 27 - Version 2.02 /Dc or /Dnn Sets the default menu item. BOOT.SYS will display the menu with the selection bar on the default item. If a time-out (see /T below) is specified and no key is pressed before the end of the time-out period, BOOT.SYS will act as if the default item had been selected. If the /D parameter is not specified, BOOT.SYS will place the selection bar on the first displayed menu item and select that item at the end of the time-out period. The c in the first form of this parameter is a quick key character or an item number. It will select the same menu item as pressing that key when the menu is displayed. If c is a single digit which is not defined as a quick key, BOOT.SYS uses item number c as displayed on the screen. /D3 selects the third item, /D0 the tenth, /D! the eleventh, etc. (see page 12). If c is neither a quick key nor a valid item number, /Dc (and /Tn if specified) is ignored and the selection bar is placed on the first menu item. With the second form of this parameter (nn with two digits; for example, /D05 or /D12), BOOT.SYS will count all menu items, including BOOT.? items that are not displayed (see page 35), to find the default item for the menu. If nn is a BOOT.? line that is not displayed, BOOT.SYS will ignore the /D and /T parameters. /MN Suppresses the display of item numbers in menus. This parameter also disables the use of digit keys in menus, forcing the use of quick keys or the selection bar. /MN is a toggle. If you have multiple menus and you specify it on the BOOT.SYS line, it turns off item numbers for all menus, but you can turn them back on for a specific menu by including it on that menu's BOOT.c (BOOT.A, BOOT.B, etc.) line. /MONO Instructs BOOT.SYS to use screen attributes suitable for monochrome adapters and displays. Do not use this parameter if you have a monochrome or LCD monitor attached to a color video adapter; use /BW instead. BOOT.SYS - 28 - Version 2.02 /N+ or /N- Turns the NumLock key on (/N+) or off (/N-). This parameter simplifies using the numeric keypad to make menu choices or to move the selection bar. /Tn or /T Sets the time-out value in seconds. If the user does not press any key within n seconds, BOOT.SYS continues execution with the default menu item, which is set with the /Dc or /Dnn parameter (if a default is not specified, BOOT.SYS selects the first item displayed in the menu). Pressing any key within the specified time disables the time-out. BOOT.SYS reacts to the key as expected, so the user can move the cursor or make selections before the time-out period ends just as if no time-out had been specified. A parameter of /T0 is valid. It tells BOOT.SYS to check if there is a keystroke waiting in the keyboard type ahead buffer. If so, that key is used to disable the time-out and possibly make a menu selection. If no key is waiting in the type ahead buffer, BOOT.SYS continues with the default selection immediately. Most BIOS's accept key presses right after the initial beep during boot up. To disable the time-out, especially if you are using /T0, you can * turn CapsLock on before BOOT.SYS starts, * press any key that doesn't select a menu item (for example, the space bar or CursorDown key) before BOOT.SYS starts, or * hold down a Shift, Ctrl, or Alt key while BOOT.SYS starts. If there is a frame around the menu (this is the default), BOOT.SYS displays the number of seconds remaining in the time-out period in the lower right corner of the frame. If BOOT.SYS finds a BOOT.NXT file (see page 64), the /Tn and /D parameters are ignored and there is no time-out. Unless you turn on CapsLock before BOOT.SYS starts, or hold down a Shift, Ctrl, or Alt key while BOOT.SYS starts, there will be no way to interact with BOOT.SYS at all when it is processing a BOOT.NXT file. There is no time-out if the parameter /T is used without a numeric value or if the /Tn parameter is omitted. The /T parameter is most often used to disable the time-out for a particular menu when a general time-out has been set on the BOOT.SYS command line. BOOT.SYS - 29 - Version 2.02 /Uc Sets the character c as the shift character. If this parameter is used, all alphabetic characters preceded by the specified shift character will be displayed in upper case in DEVICE=BOOT.TOP and DEVICE=BOOT.n lines. All other alphabetic characters will be displayed in lower case. There is no default value for the shift character. /U^ and /U~, which set the shift character to a caret [^] or a tilde [~], are good choices. To display the shift character itself, write it twice (for example, [^^] or [~~]). This parameter is necessary because MS-DOS and PC-DOS convert everything in the CONFIG.SYS file to upper case before invoking BOOT.SYS. Users of DR DOS do not need to use this parameter because case is preserved in their CONFIG.SYS files. But they may include it if they use the same configuration files for both MS/PC-DOS and DR DOS; BOOT.SYS will remove the shift characters before displaying text regardless of DOS version. /Uct Sets both a shift character c and a toggle character t. If this parameter is used, each display line in a DEVICE=BOOT.TOP or DEVICE=BOOT.n command begins in lower case. All alphabetic characters between a pair of toggle characters, as well as those between the toggle character and the end of the line, will be displayed in upper case. Any alphabetic character following the shift character will have its case changed. The toggle character is analogous to the CapsLock key and the shift character is analogous to the shift key on the keyboard. For example, /U^| sets the caret [^] as the shift character and the vertical bar [|] as the toggle character. After this parameter is used, the line one |two| ^three |fo^ur will be displayed as one TWO Three FOuR To display either the shift character or the toggle character in a line, write it twice. This parameter is necessary because MS-DOS and PC-DOS convert everything in the CONFIG.SYS file to upper case before invoking BOOT.SYS. Users of DR DOS do not need to use this parameter because case is preserved in their CONFIG.SYS files. But they may include it if they use the same configuration files for both BOOT.SYS - 30 - Version 2.02 MS/PC-DOS and DR DOS; BOOT.SYS will remove the shift and toggle characters before displaying text regardless of DOS version. /U Forces BOOT.SYS to display all alphabetic characters in upper case. Under MS-DOS and PC-DOS, which translate the entire CONFIG.SYS file to upper case, this parameter tells BOOT.SYS that there is no shift or toggle character and that everything should be left unchanged. Under DR DOS, which does not translate CONFIG.SYS to upper case, this parameter tells BOOT.SYS to perform the translation to upper case. BOOT.SYS Advanced Parameters The following parameters are not needed for basic operation of BOOT.SYS. However, they are useful if you want complete control over menu screens and other advanced BOOT.SYS features. We suggest that you learn to use the other features of BOOT.SYS before you experiment with these. /H Forces BOOT.SYS to hide any menus for which a selection is made before the menu is displayed. A prior selection can be made by typing ahead of BOOT.SYS or by using the /T0 time-out parameter. The /H parameter is ignored if BOOT.SYS finds a BOOT.NXT file (see page 64). If you use this parameter and /T0, you can set up BOOT.SYS so that it doesn't display anything at all unless the time-out is disabled (see page 28). The shareware version of BOOT.SYS, however, will always display a copyright message. /La[,b[,c[,d]]] Specifies the upper left corners of one or both of the two boxes that BOOT.SYS displays on the screen. The upper box contains the BOOT.TOP text; the lower box contains the menu items. The parameters a, b, c, and d are one- or two-digit integers separated by commas. The top left corner of the screen is row 1, column 1. a = row of text box b = column of text box c = row of menu items box d = column of menu items box The default value for all parameters is 0, which means that the boxes are centered automatically by BOOT.SYS. You can use a BOOT.SYS - 31 - Version 2.02 value of 0 for any parameter that you wish to leave unspecified. Omitted parameters at the end of the list are automatically given a value of 0. /Mibf Sets the colors and screen attributes for BOOT.SYS. /M is followed by 3 characters, without any spaces or punctuation, for each item that you wish to specify. If you wish to set multiple items, concatenate the appropriate three-character strings without any spaces. The first character i in each three-character set selects a screen item: Character Screen Item B background color S shadow color T text color for top box U frame color for top box O text color for menu items (menu options) box P frame color for menu items (menu options) box Q color for quick key in menu items H color for highlighted text (selected menu item) I color for quick key in highlighted text (selected menu item) The second and third characters select the background and foreground colors for the selected item. On a color system, use these values for the background b and foreground f: Color Background Foreground Normal Blinking Normal Bright black 0 8 0 8 blue 1 9 1 9 green 2 A 2 A cyan 3 B 3 B red 4 C 4 C magenta 5 D 5 D brown 6 E 6 E white 7 F 7 F BOOT.SYS - 32 - Version 2.02 If you have a monochrome system, use the following values for b and f: Monochrome Attribute Background & Foreground normal 07 high intensity 0F underlined 02 high intensity 09 underlined reverse video 70 We recommend that you avoid using an invisible background such as black on black (/MB00) or blue on blue (/MB11). These colors may prevent BOOT.SYS from displaying important error messages. Instead, use the /MK parameter, below, to set the background character to a space. Some values have special meanings: /MSbf (bf same as /MBbf) No Shadow /MT00 No TOP box even if BOOT.TOP present /MU00, /MP00 No border for top and options box /MUbb, /MPbb (f same as b) No frame around the boxes /MKhh or /MCc Selects the character that BOOT.SYS will use to fill the background areas of the screen. /MK must be followed by the two- digit hexadecimal ASCII code of the desired character. /MK20, for example, sets the background character to a space (ASCII 20 hex), effectively making it invisible: only the background color will appear on the screen. Alternatively, you can use /MC, followed by the desired character. /ML Changes blinking attributes to high intensity background colors. This command is only effective with a VGA-compatible video adapter. If you use /ML, the second (background) character of the /Mibf command can select among 16 colors. /M&c In menu definitions, the quick key for each item is marked with a preceding ampersand [&]. If you want to use the ampersand itself as a quick key, you must define a new marking character with the /M&c command. To do so, replace the cwith the desired BOOT.SYS - 33 - Version 2.02 character. For example, to set the exclamation point [!] as the quick key marker, you would use /M&!. /P Causes BOOT.SYS to display a menu identifier in the lower right corner of the screen. This command is useful for setting up and debugging a complex menu system. /Xd:\path\filename.ext Specifies the directory and file name that BOOT.SYS should use to look for the BOOT.NXT file. If this file is found, it defines menu choices that will be made automatically by BOOT.SYS. See page 64 for more information about this file. This parameter may only be used on the DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS command line; unlike the other parameters, it cannot be set or reset for an individual menu. BOOT.1 to BOOT.20 DEVICE=BOOT.n text The DEVICE=BOOT.n command marks the beginning of a menu item. The n can be any number from 1 to 20, but menu items must be numbered consecutively. To avoid renumbering, use the DEVICE=BOOT.# command in place of this command (see below). Everything that follows n is the text that will appear in the menu. If you precede a character with an ampersand [&] , that character will be used as a quick choice key for the menu item. If you want an ampersand in the menu, include two together in the text: [&&]. To use the ampersand as a quick key, you can choose a different quick key indicator with the /M&c command line parameter (see page 32). If you assign digits as quick keys, they will override the item numbers and may confuse the user. For example, if your fourth item is "&386MAX," pressing either '3' or '4' selects that item. To avoid this confusion, you can suppress the item numbers with the /MN parameter (see page 27). If you have the same quick key for more than one menu item, pressing that key cycles through the matching items, and you have to press the Enter key to select the one you want. BOOT.SYS - 34 - Version 2.02 BOOT.0 DEVICE=BOOT.0 In each menu, the last item may be followed by DEVICE=BOOT.0 and a list of CONFIG.SYS commands. If the menu is executed, all the commands that follow DEVICE=BOOT.0 will also be executed. This command is used to avoid repetitious CONFIG.SYS commands that you want to attach to every choice in a menu. If you use BOOT.0 in a submenu, however, remember that the commands will only be executed if the menu is run. If the menu is a submenu to an item that the user does not select, if it is inside a BOOT.IF block with a false conditional expression, or if the user takes a different path through your menu structure and avoids the menu, the commands will not be executed. See Common Sections on page 48 and the discussion of the MS/PC- DOS 6.x INCLUDE= Command on page 23 for related information. BOOT.END DEVICE=BOOT.END This command is required to mark the end of the section of your CONFIG.SYS file that BOOT.SYS controls. All BOOT.SYS commands must be placed between the opening DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS command and the closing DEVICE=BOOT.END command. All CONFIG.SYS lines outside the BOOT.SYS block will be passed to DOS for normal processing. (See page 22 for a discussion of the special processing needed for the DOS= command.) BOOT.# DEVICE=BOOT.# text This is the same as the DEVICE=BOOT.n command (above) except that the numbering is managed by BOOT.SYS. If you edit menus frequently, this feature will save you from renumbering them. Even if you use this command, you are still limited to 20 choices per menu. If you try to use more, BOOT.SYS displays an error message and performs an "emergency recovery" (see page 74). BOOT.SYS - 35 - Version 2.02 BOOT.? DEVICE=BOOT.? conditional_expression # text BOOT.? can hide or display a single menu item based on a conditional expression. The text of the menu item must be separated from the conditional expression by a number sign [#]. Like BOOT.#, above, a BOOT.? menu item automatically takes the next higher menu number if it is displayed. Because the numbers of the subsequent menu items must change depending on whether this item is displayed, you must use BOOT.# (or BOOT.?) for all items following BOOT.? in a menu. If you want to use the /D parameter to specify a default item in a menu that uses BOOT.?, either use the quick key to identify the default or use a two-digit number (with a leading zero [0] if necessary) to indicate the default menu item. To determine the correct number, count all menu items including all BOOT.? lines. BOOT.? is useful if you have more than one menu and you wish to include some items depending on the selections the user has made earlier. It can also be used to suppress certain items based on the current hardware or software configuration. Examples: DEVICE=BOOT.? %MEMMAN% == QEMM # ... DEVICE=BOOT.? %USER% == JOE # ... DEVICE=BOOT.? 386 # ... DEVICE=BOOT.? EXIST d:\windows\win.com You may have a total of 99 items per menu, but no more than 20 may be active or displayed at any one time. Otherwise, BOOT.SYS displays an error message and performs an "emergency recovery" (see page 74). The conditional_expression follows the same format and allows the same tests as that used in the BOOT.IF command (see page 38). BOOT.A to BOOT.Y DEVICE=BOOT.c [parameters] The character c can be any letter between A and Y (but not Z). This command introduces a menu or submenu. The first menu at any menu level is introduced by BOOT.A, the next by BOOT.B, etc. The group of menus must be terminated by the command DEVICE=BOOT.Z. BOOT.SYS - 36 - Version 2.02 That is, for every DEVICE=BOOT.A you have in your CONFIG.SYS file, there must be a corresponding DEVICE=BOOT.Z. You may have a maximum of 25 menus (A through Y) at any menu level. Also, BOOT.SYS can display a total of 25 menus during boot-up. If you try to create more than 25 menus on a single menu level, or if the user's path through your menu structure displays more than 25 menus all together, BOOT.SYS will display an error message and perform an emergency recovery (see page 74). The following menu sequences are equivalent: DEVICE=BOOT.A DEVICE=BOOT.A {menu A} {menu A} DEVICE=BOOT.B DEVICE=BOOT.Z {menu B} DEVICE=BOOT.A DEVICE=BOOT.Z {menu B} DEVICE=BOOT.Z The BOOT.c lines serve only to separate menus. The advantage of using consecutive letters on the left is that it's easier to keep track of which menu is which. If you use BOOT.B etc., BOOT.SYS will verify that the letters are in sequence. The advantages of the syntax on the right are that you can add or remove menus without having to reassign the letters, and you can put one of the menus in a sequence inside an IF/ELSE/ENDIF construct (see page 38). You can set a time-out, default value, and screen color for a specific menu by using the parameters described under DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS on page 26 on the BOOT.c line. You may use any of the parameters for a menu except /X. BOOT.Z DEVICE=BOOT.Z This command terminates a section of menus that begins with the DEVICE=BOOT.A command. It is a required signal to BOOT.SYS that a particular menu level is finished and that processing can return to the next higher menu level, if there is one. You must have a DEVICE=BOOT.Z command for every DEVICE=BOOT.A in your CONFIG.SYS file. DEVICE=BOOT.A can be preceded, and DEVICE=BOOT.Z can be followed, by both CONFIG.SYS commands and BOOT.SYS commands (like BOOT.SET) which will be executed in sequence. See Common Sections on page 48 for details. BOOT.SYS - 37 - Version 2.02 BOOT.EDIT DEVICE=BOOT.EDIT [/Tn] [text] any executable CONFIG.SYS command This command lets you edit any executable CONFIG.SYS line during the boot up process. The line can contain a single enhanced CONFIG.SYS command (see page 47). When BOOT.SYS executes a DEVICE=BOOT.EDIT command, the command following the BOOT.EDIT line appears in a box on the screen. The user can edit everything to the right of the equal sign. The keyword and equal sign are required but cannot be changed by the user . For example, if a menu item included the following two lines: DEVICE=BOOT.EDIT FILES=20 the user could edit the "20" but not the "FILES=" portion of the line. Under DR DOS, the user can edit the entire line. The maximum length of the edited line is 250 characters. However, if BOOT.SYS runs out of internal work space, it may restrict the line length. If that happens, you can use the DEVICE=BOOT.REM command (see page 44) to increase the amount of internal space that BOOT.SYS has available. A summary of the active editing keys appears on the screen while the user is editing the line. If you would rather display your own text, you can place it on the BOOT.EDIT line. You can include multiple lines of text like this: DEVICE=BOOT.EDIT You may experiment with different DEVICE=BOOT.EDIT FILES= values (<Esc> to ignore): FILES=20 You can include a time-out for BOOT.EDIT by using the /Tn parameter before any explanatory text. If the user does not begin to edit the line during the time-out period, BOOT.SYS will leave the current line unchanged and continue execution just as if the user had pressed the Enter key. BOOT.SYS - 38 - Version 2.02 BOOT.IF DEVICE=BOOT.IF conditional_expression ... DEVICE=BOOT.ENDIF This command allows conditional execution of enhanced CONFIG.SYS commands (see page 47) and menus. The full format of a BOOT.IF block is DEVICE=BOOT.IF conditional_expression ... DEVICE=BOOT.ELSEIF conditional_expression ... DEVICE=BOOT.ELSE ... DEVICE=BOOT.ENDIF The closing BOOT.ENDIF line is required. The BOOT.ELSEIF (which may be repeated) and BOOT.ELSE parts are optional. The conditional expression may contain more than one condition. Conditions can be combined with .AND. and .OR. and individual conditions can be negated with .NOT.. In addition, to maintain an analogy with the DOS batch language, the word NOT can be used without enclosing periods immediately after BOOT.IF or BOOT.ELSEIF, like this: DEVICE=BOOT.IF NOT %MEMMAN% == EMM386 The line is evaluated from left to right with no order of precedence. A .NOT. applies only to the condition that immediately follows. In a BOOT.IF ... BOOT.ENDIF block, you may place any number of enhanced CONFIG.SYS commands (see page 47). You may also include a single menu or a menu sequence. However, the menu or menu sequence must be contained entirely within the BOOT.IF ... BOOT.ENDIF block. Do not try to dynamically include or exclude menu items with BOOT.IF; use BOOT.? for that purpose. BOOT.IF blocks can be nested. The allowable conditions are string==string The strings can be any combination of constants and variables (created with BOOT.SET). Leading and trailing spaces are ignored. If you wish to check for leading or trailing spaces, BOOT.SYS - 39 - Version 2.02 put the strings inside quotation marks. The comparison is case- insensitive. Note: This is different than the string comparison in the DOS BATch language, which is case-dependent. EXIST filename This condition is true if the specified filename exists. The filename may include the standard DOS wildcards [*] and [?]. BOOT.SYS will handle empty diskette drives properly, returning a false condition for any file on the drive. If you want to test for the presence of a subdirectory or a disk even if it has no files, you can use commands like DEVICE=BOOT.IF EXIST d:\dirname\NUL or DEVICE=BOOT.IF EXIST a:\NUL However, under DR DOS this test will always produce a true result, regardless of whether the directory exists. (The same is true for similar tests in the DR DOS BATch file language.) VGA This condition is true if a VGA-compatible video adapter is installed. EGA This condition is true if an EGA-compatible video adapter is installed. VGA adapters are accepted as EGA-compatible by this test. CGA This condition is true if a CGA-compatible video adapter is installed. VGA and EGA adapters are accepted as CGA-compatible by this test. EGA_ACTIVE This condition is true if an EGA-compatible video adapter is installed and active. This test is useful in a dual-display computer system. MONO This condition is true if an MDA-compatible display card is active. VGA and EGA adapters in monochrome mode are accepted as MDA-compatible by this test, as are Hercules-compatible monochrome adapters. BOOT.SYS - 40 - Version 2.02 See BOOT.OPTION EXTMON (page 43) for a way to switch between color and monochrome modes. 86 This condition is true if the computer is using at least an 8088 or 8086 CPU. 186 This condition is true if the computer is using at least an 80186 CPU. 286 This condition is true if the computer is using at least an 80286 CPU. 386 This condition is true if the computer is using at least a 386 CPU. 486 This condition is true if the computer is using at least a 486 CPU. NEC This condition is true if the computer is using an NEC V20 or V30 CPU. All of the above CPU tests are false for these processors. 87 This condition is true if an 8087 or higher numeric processor is installed. 287 This condition is true if an 80287 or higher numeric processor is installed. 387 This condition is true if an 80387 or higher numeric processor is installed. It is also true for 486DX CPUs which have a built-in numeric processor. BOOT.SYS - 41 - Version 2.02 DOS n.mm This condition is true if the computer is booting up under DOS version n.mm (for example, 3.31) or higher. DRDOS This condition is true if the computer is booting up under DR DOS. TOSHIBA_DS4 This condition is only defined on Toshiba Laptops that can connect to a DeskStation IV; it is true if the DeskStation IV is connected. TRUE or 1 This condition is always true. FALSE or 0 This condition is always false. BOOT.ELSEIF DEVICE=BOOT.ELSEIF conditional_expression The lines following this command will be executed if the conditional expressions of the preceding BOOT.IF and BOOT.ELSEIF commands are all false, and if the conditional expression in this command is true. There is no limit to the number of BOOT.ELSEIF commands that can be used in a BOOT.IF ... BOOT.ENDIF block. BOOT.ELSE DEVICE=BOOT.ELSE This command begins the list of default items in a BOOT.IF block. The lines following BOOT.ELSE will be executed if the conditional expressions in the preceding BOOT.IF and BOOT.ELSEIF lines in the same BOOT.IF block are all false. BOOT.ENDIF DEVICE=BOOT.ENDIF See BOOT.IF on page 38. BOOT.SYS - 42 - Version 2.02 BOOT.NAME DEVICE=BOOT.NAME name This command can only be used inside a menu item, after a DEVICE=BOOT.n, a DEVICE=BOOT.#, or a DEVICE=BOOT.? command. The name in this command, which must be a single word, establishes a name for the menu item. That name is used by BOOT.SYS to make automatic menu selections during a reboot to a specific configuration. BOOT.SYS uses the name if it locates a BOOT.NXT file when it begins processing your CONFIG.SYS file. You may use more than one DEVICE=BOOT.NAME command inside a menu choice, which will have the effect of selecting that menu choice for various configuration names. If you have more than one menu, you may use the same name in several menus, but only in one menu item for each menu. See page 64 for more information about using named configurations during rebooting. BOOT.OPTION BOOT.OPTION FREE DEVICE=BOOT.OPTION FREE If this command is part of at least one menu item you select, then BOOT.SYS will not remain resident as a device driver after it has finished processing your CONFIG.SYS file. This command is useful for compatibility testing or for creating a bare-bones DOS configuration with as much free memory as possible. However, BOOT.SYS typically uses less than 200 bytes of memory when it remains resident, so this command is rarely needed. Under MS/PC-DOS 6.x and DR DOS, BOOT.SYS normally doesn't stay resident, so this command is not needed. Under earlier versions of DOS, if you use BOOT.OPTION FREE, the environment variables you have set with DEVICE=BOOT.SET will be discarded before DOS finishes processing your CONFIG.SYS file. The BOOT.EXE program, which is normally run from AUTOEXEC.BAT, will report that BOOT.SYS is not loaded and will return an ERRORLEVEL of 255. There is no way to retrieve your CONFIG.SYS menu choice(s) with BOOT.EXE if BOOT.OPTION FREE is used under MS/PC-DOS 5.0 or earlier. BOOT.SYS - 43 - Version 2.02 BOOT.OPTION EXTMON DEVICE=BOOT.OPTION EXTMON type This command switches the display to an external monitor on laptop computers that are appropriately equipped. WARNING: WE STRONGLY ADVISE THAT YOU HAVE A BOOTABLE DISKETTE AVAILABLE BEFORE YOU TEST EXTMON ON YOUR COMPUTER. IF THE COMMAND DOES NOT WORK PROPERLY, YOUR SCREEN MAY GO BLANK AND YOU WILL HAVE NO WAY TO EDIT CONFIG.SYS UNTIL YOU REBOOT FROM A FLOPPY DISKETTE. If you use BOOT.SYS with a portable or laptop computer with an external monitor, the menus will usually be displayed on the laptop's built-in monitor, not on the external monitor. BOOT.OPTION EXTMON tries to switch the BOOT.SYS display to the external monitor. However, because there are no industry standards for switching monitors (sometimes different, undocumented techniques are needed for different computers from the same manufacturer), this command may or may not work on your particular machine. If you use this command, you must specify the computer type. For all Compaq portable and laptop computers, specify the type as COMPAQ and write the command as DEVICE=BOOT.OPTION EXTMON COMPAQ For all other computers with an external color screen, use the type COLOR. Finally, for computers with an external monochrome screen, specify the type as MONO. Some laptop computers are smart enough to know whether or not they are attached to an external monitor. If BOOT.SYS tries to switch to an external monitor on such a machine when no external monitor is attached, the computer will ignore the command and continue to display everything on its internal monitor. If you have such a machine, you can put the BOOT.OPTION EXTMON command immediately after DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS and know that all text and menus will appear on the correct screen. On the other hand, if your portable or laptop is not smart enough to sense whether an external monitor is in use, you will probably want to use commands like this: DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS DEVICE=BOOT.A /D1 /T5 DEVICE=BOOT.TOP Which monitor do you want to use? DEVICE=BOOT.1 Internal BOOT.SYS - 44 - Version 2.02 DEVICE=BOOT.2 External DEVICE=BOOT.OPTION EXTMON COLOR DEVICE=BOOT.B {this is your first "real" menu} {etc.} BOOT.OPTION COLOR DEVICE=BOOT.OPTION COLOR hh This command sets the screen color for DOS to use after BOOT.SYS ends. The color will stay in effect until it is changed by a device driver's or TSR's installation message, a DOS CLS command (perhaps issued in AUTOEXEC.BAT) or an application program. The hh is a two-digit hexadecimal code. The first digit sets the background color; the second digit sets the foreground color. The possible color values are shown in the following chart: Color Background Foreground Normal Blinking Normal Bright black 0 8 0 8 blue 1 9 1 9 green 2 A 2 A cyan 3 B 3 B red 4 C 4 C magenta 5 D 5 D brown 6 E 6 E white 7 F 7 F BOOT.REM DEVICE=BOOT.REM text This command is intended for use primarily with older versions of DOS which do not accept a REM command in CONFIG.SYS to mark a line as a remark. All text following the command is ignored and discarded. You can also use BOOT.REM to create additional working space if BOOT.SYS runs out of working memory. If this happens, BOOT.SYS will display an error message. To create more working memory, follow BOOT.REM with dummy text or a line of spaces terminated with a non-space character. The additional space can be used by both the BOOT.SET and BOOT.EDIT commands. The BOOT.REM command that creates the extra memory must precede the command that will use that memory. BOOT.SYS - 45 - Version 2.02 BOOT.RENAME DEVICE=BOOT.RENAME oldname newname... This command is used to rename files while booting up. In general, you can do this from AUTOEXEC.BAT, but there are some programs that force you to swap their files when BOOT.SYS runs, such as a memory manager which automatically re-optimizes your configuration when it detects any change (such as selecting a different configuration with BOOT.SYS). Wildcards are NOT supported and you have to spell out the full path for both the original and new file names. No error checking is done; if the original file doesn't exist or the rename operation fails for any reason, no error message is generated. If more than one new file name is given, BOOT.SYS tries to rename the original file to each one in sequence, stopping after the first successful attempt. As an example, this is how you could switch between two different Windows screen modes: DEVICE=BOOT.5 Windows (high res) DEVICE=BOOT.RENAME c:\win\system.ini c:\win\syslow.ini c:\win\syshi.ini DEVICE=BOOT.RENAME c:\win\syshi.ini c:\win\system.ini DEVICE=BOOT.6 Windows (low res) DEVICE=BOOT.RENAME c:\win\system.ini c:\win\syslow.ini c:\win\syshi.ini DEVICE=BOOT.RENAME c:\win\syslow.ini c:\win\system.ini BOOT.SET and Enhanced Commands DEVICE=BOOT.SET [param] variable=[text] This command is similar to the DOS SET command. It creates environment variables in the form variable=text. The variable name is always stored in upper case letters. You can use either the /U, /Uc, or /Uct parameter (see page 29) to control the case of the text after the equal sign. The environment variables are transferred to your DOS environment automatically under MS/PC-DOS 6.x and DR DOS. If you use an earlier version of DOS, the variables are transferred to the DOS environment with the command BOOT SET, which should always be included in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (see page 60). Variables created with BOOT.SET can be used in the portion of your CONFIG.SYS file controlled by BOOT.SYS by enclosing the variable name in percent signs (e.g., %variable%). BOOT.SYS will BOOT.SYS - 46 - Version 2.02 substitute the text for the variable name before executing the line. You can use variables to simplify the commands in your CONFIG.SYS file. For example, you might include the following line near the top of the BOOT.SYS block: DEVICE=BOOT.SET lh=c:\qemm\loadhi.sys Later in the block, perhaps as part of a menu item, you could then include the following line: DEVICE=%lh% c:\dos\ansi.sys BOOT.SYS will recognize %lh% as a variable and expand the line as DEVICE=c:\qemm\loadhi.sys c:\dos\ansi.sys before it's executed. Due to the internal workings of MS-DOS and PC-DOS, it is not possible to include a CONFIG.SYS command as part of the variable's text. For example, DEVICE=BOOT.SET ansi=device=c:\dos\ansi.sys %ansi% will generate an "Unrecognized command" error in all versions of MS-DOS and PC-DOS. If you are using DR DOS, the second line will be correctly expanded to device=c:\dos\ansi.sys If you want to remove a string from the environment and release its space, use the BOOT.SET command without any text, like this: DEVICE=BOOT.SET lh= If you use MS/PC-DOS 6.x or DR DOS, you can use SET instead of DEVICE=BOOT.SET in CONFIG.SYS. Under these DOS versions, BOOT.SYS internally translates DEVICE=BOOT.SET commands to SET commands in order to store the variables in the DOS environment. There are two important differences between DEVICE=BOOT.SET and SET in these DOS versions: * Variables defined with DEVICE=BOOT.SET can be used in CONFIG.SYS as explained above, but they are translated to upper case. * Variables defined with SET retain their case, but they cannot be used in CONFIG.SYS. BOOT.SYS - 47 - Version 2.02 Earlier versions of MS/PC-DOS don't support the SET command in CONFIG.SYS and you must use DEVICE=BOOT.SET. If you use one of these versions, you can create up to about 2K bytes of variables. BOOT.SYS will keep them resident until you reboot your computer, and will add about 100 bytes of additional overhead. Variables created with BOOT.SET can be used on the right side of the equal sign [=] in all standard CONFIG.SYS commands. You can also use variables in BOOT.SYS commands like BOOT.IF and BOOT.? for testing conditions; in display commands like BOOT.TOP and BOOT.# to create text dynamically; and in executable BOOT.SYS commands like BOOT.SET, BOOT.OPTION, or BOOT.RENAME. We have coined the term enhanced command to mean a standard DOS CONFIG.SYS command with or without variables. More formally, when the term enhanced command is used in this manual, it means either of * a standard DOS CONFIG.SYS command, * a standard DOS CONFIG.SYS command with variables defined by BOOT.SET. All references in the form %name% will be replaced by the corresponding values; if %name% is not defined it is simply removed, similar to the DOS BATch language. To specify a percent sign [%], use two of them [%%]. * an executable BOOT.SYS command, with or without variables. * BOOT.EDIT followed by a single enhanced command. BOOT.TOP DEVICE=BOOT.TOP text This command displays a single line of text in the top window. You can use multiple BOOT.TOP commands to display more than one line of text. The colors of the text are controlled by the command line parameters set in the DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS line or in the most recent DEVICE=BOOT.c menu line. BOOT.SYS displays the text specified with DEVICE=BOOT.TOP in a window or box and the menu in another window. If you don't use DEVICE=BOOT.TOP to display explanatory text, only the menu window will appear on the screen. BOOT.SYS - 48 - Version 2.02 Common Sections There are several places in a BOOT.SYS menu structure where commands are shared among several menu items: 1. Commands above BOOT.SYS and below BOOT.END are global and apply to all configurations. With many of the CONFIG.SYS commands (such as FILES=, BUFFERS=, and other commands that don't load programs, as well as SHELL=) you can set defaults above the BOOT.SYS line and change these in some of the configurations. 2. In simple menus: DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS {common} DEVICE=BOOT.TOP ... DEVICE=BOOT.1 ... DEVICE=BOOT.2 ... ... DEVICE=BOOT.0 {only needed if common commands below} {common} DEVICE=BOOT.END 3. In menu sequences: DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS {common} DEVICE=BOOT.A {common} DEVICE=BOOT.TOP ... DEVICE=BOOT.1 ... DEVICE=BOOT.2 ... ... DEVICE=BOOT.0 {only needed if common commands below} {common} DEVICE=BOOT.B {common} DEVICE=BOOT.TOP ... DEVICE=BOOT.1 ... DEVICE=BOOT.2 ... ... DEVICE=BOOT.0 {only needed if common commands below} {common} ... DEVICE=BOOT.Z {common} DEVICE=BOOT.END BOOT.SYS - 49 - Version 2.02 4. In submenus: DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS {common} DEVICE=BOOT.TOP ... DEVICE=BOOT.1 ... {common within item 1} DEVICE=BOOT.A DEVICE=BOOT.TOP DEVICE=BOOT.1 ... DEVICE=BOOT.Z {common within item 1} DEVICE=BOOT.2 ... ... DEVICE=BOOT.0 {only needed if common commands below} {common} DEVICE=BOOT.END In general, you can rely on BOOT.SYS behaving reasonably. If a command does not belong to a menu item because it's above BOOT.TOP, BOOT.1, or BOOT.A, or below BOOT.0 or BOOT.Z, BOOT.SYS treats it as common among all menu items. If you need to share commands among some menu items but not all, you can use BOOT.IF as shown in the discussion of the MS/PC-DOS 6.x INCLUDE= Command on page 23, or you may want to create a submenu for these items. BOOT.SYS - 50 - Version 2.02 Other CONFIG.SYS Commands DEVICE=d:\path\PAUSE.SYS DEVICE=d:\path\PAUSE.SYS [/Q] [param] [text] This command is intended as a debugging aid for creating complex or sophisticated menu systems. PAUSE.SYS is a stand-alone program, so it can be used anywhere in your CONFIG.SYS file, not just inside the BOOT.SYS block. If you use it inside the BOOT.SYS block, it will not be executed until BOOT.SYS has processed all of your menus and returned control to DOS. In its simplest form, PAUSE.SYS is simply followed by any text you wish. It will display the text on the screen and wait for you to press a key to continue. By default, all text is translated to lower case. To display a character in upper case, precede it with a caret [^]. To display a caret, include two carets in a row in the text. All the command line parameters except /Q disable the wait for a keystroke. If you want to use one and also pause for a key, call PAUSE.SYS twice in succession. Except for /Q, parameters may not be combined in a single command. For a summary of the PAUSE.SYS syntax, type TYPE d:\path\PAUSE.SYS Available parameters: /C DEVICE=d:\path\PAUSE.SYS /C This command clears the screen to the default colors (normally white on black). /E DEVICE=d:\path\PAUSE.SYS /Eseq This command generates an escape sequence that is sent to ANSI.SYS or a compatible console driver. It assumes that the driver has already been loaded. The /E sends the escape code (ASCII 27); you must follow it immediately with any ANSI command supported by the driver you use. Remember that upper case BOOT.SYS - 51 - Version 2.02 letters must be preceded by a caret [^], e.g. /E[2^J to clear the screen. /O DEVICE=d:\path\PAUSE.SYS /O text This command displays text on the screen but does not wait for a keystroke. /P DEVICE=d:\path\PAUSE.SYS /P This command does a print screen, so you can generate a hard copy of the current screen for study and debugging. /Q DEVICE=d:\path\PAUSE.SYS /Q [param] [text] This parameter hides the PAUSE.SYS copyright message. It does not disable the wait for a keystroke. It may be combined with text or with any of the parameters above. DEVICE=REM This command, which is equivalent to DEVICE=BOOT.REM, is provided only for compatibility with previous versions of BOOT.SYS. Support for this command may be dropped in future versions of BOOT.SYS, so it should no longer be used. DEVICE=TOP text This command, which is equivalent to DEVICE=BOOT.TOP, is provided only for compatibility with previous versions of BOOT.SYS. Support for this command may be dropped in future versions of BOOT.SYS, so it should no longer be used. BOOT.SYS - 52 - Version 2.02 BOOT.EXE Commands BOOT [Command] BOOT.SYS and its many commands work with DOS to process your CONFIG.SYS file. But the task of creating a complete computer configuration is not over until the instructions in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file have also been executed. BOOT.EXE gives you control over your AUTOEXEC.BAT; it also communicates with the small memory-resident device driver that BOOT.SYS leaves in memory with all versions of MS/PC-DOS prior to 6.0. Under MS/PC-DOS 6.x and DR DOS, BOOT.SYS uses an environment variable that is also called BOOT.SYS to communicate with BOOT.EXE. If you remove that variable from the environment, BOOT.EXE will complain that BOOT.SYS is not installed. BOOT.EXE is a normal executable program. Like many such programs, it communicates with batch files by returning an exit code or Errorlevel value. In general, BOOT.EXE returns an Errorlevel of 0 to indicate success and an Errorlevel of 255 to indicate a general failure. The meaning of other Errorlevels is explained in the following command reference. The primary task of BOOT.EXE under MS/PC-DOS up to 5.0 is to set environment variables in the current parent environment, which batch files (and other programs) can test and use. The parent environment, in this sense, is the environment owned by the program that executes BOOT.EXE. Normally, this is the environment maintained by the command processor that is running BOOT.EXE or the current batch file. In almost all cases, the environment variables will appear where you expect and need them. However, if you use BOOT.EXE to set environment variables after you have "shelled to DOS" from an application program, or if you use one batch file to start another by using COMMAND instead of CALL, and then run BOOT.EXE in the second batch file, the environment variables will not appear when you return to your main batch file or to the DOS prompt. !! If you are running under MS/PC-DOS 6.x or DR DOS, BOOT.SYS !!!! transfers the variables directly to the master environment, but !!!! YOU MUST RUN THE FOLLOWING COMMAND AT THE BEGINNING OF !! AUTOEXEC.BAT UNDER ALL VERSIONS OF DOS because it performs other !! house keeping tasks as well: !! d:\path\BOOT.EXE SET BOOT.SYS - 53 - Version 2.02 Because BOOT.EXE is a standard executable file, it can be used both in batch files and from the DOS command line. However, as the descriptions of the commands suggest, some BOOT.EXE commands are better suited to one use or the other. Install does not add the BOOT.SYS directory to your PATH command. You can do either of: * Use the fully qualified name to call BOOT.EXE: d:\path\BOOT [command] * Copy BOOT.EXE to your utilities directory which is already in the PATH. * Add the BOOT.SYS drive/directory to the PATH command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. For better clarity we don't include "d:\path\" in the following sections. BOOT with no Command BOOT When BOOT.EXE is invoked with no command, it displays a list of BOOT.SYS menu choices that the user made during boot-up. The display might look something like this: The user selected the following menu choices: A1 B3 B3A1 This display means that during boot-up, the user selected item one on the first menu, Menu A, and then item 3 on the second menu, Menu B. The second choice led to a submenu (Menu B3A), from which the user selected item 1. This display is similar to what appears on the menu screens if you use the /P parameter on the BOOT.SYS command line (see page 33). With the /P parameter, you would see A, B, and B3A, for the menus in this example. BOOT CLEAR BOOT CLEAR This command erases the BOOT.SYS variables from the environment and releases the environment space for other uses. These are the BOOT.SYS - 54 - Version 2.02 variables that were defined in your CONFIG.SYS file and later moved to the environment with the BOOT SET command. Using BOOT CLEAR has the same effect as typing SET var= for each variable that was created with BOOT SET. BOOT CLEAR does not work under MS/PC-DOS 6.x and DR DOS. BOOT COLD BOOT COLD [[/Xd:\path\filename] name ... [/KEEP[?]]] This command performs a cold boot, similar to pressing a hardware reset switch or turning the computer's power switch off and then on. All the optional parameters are used for rebooting to the specific configuration, name. See page 64 for details. This command has been tested on a wide variety of hardware and software, but it may not work on your specific computer. If it does not work, you need to use whatever works to reboot your system. To reboot into a specific configuration on such a computer, you can create the BOOT.NXT file with a command like ECHO name... [/KEEP[?]] >c:\BOOT.NXT before rebooting. BOOT Date or Time BOOT element[=] [filename | yymmddhhmm[ss]] This command evaluates the system clock, the time stamp on a file, or a date and time string. It returns part of a date or time as an Errorlevel and displays the result on the screen in a format like YEAR=93. If the optional equal sign [=] is present, an environment variable is also created with the same name as the date or time element (for example, YEAR=93 or MONTH=05). By default, this command reads and returns information about the system clock. If you include the optional filename, and if BOOT.EXE can find the file, it uses the time stamp of the file instead of the system clock. If you include a date and time in the format yymmddhhmm or yymmddhhmmss (year, month, day, hour, minute and second, each as BOOT.SYS - 55 - Version 2.02 2 digits), that date and time are used instead of the system clock. The year portion of the date and time string (yy) must be between 80 (for 1980) and 37 (for 2037). BOOT.EXE supports the following date and time commands: TIME /? Displays a summary of all BOOT date and time commands. No Errorlevel is returned and no environment variable is created. DAY (day of month) The Errorlevel returned is the day of the month between 1 and 31. If an environment variable is created, it is in the format DAY=nn, with nn being a two-digit day of the month (01 to 31). DOW (day of week) The Errorlevel returned is the day of the week between 1 and 7, with Monday = 1 and Sunday = 7. If an environment variable is created, it is in the format DOW=n, with n being a one-digit number between 1 and 7. DOWN (day of week name) The Errorlevel returned is the same as for DOW, above. If an environment variable is created, it is in the format DOWN=ccc with ccc being a three-letter abbreviation of the day name in upper case letters (MON, TUE, etc.). DOY (day of year) The day of the year (1 to 366) is evaluated. The Errorlevel returned is the last two digits of the day of the year. If an environment variable is created, it is in the format DOY=nnn with nnn being a three-digit number between 001 and 366. DOYH (day of year hundreds' digit) The day of the year (1 to 366) is evaluated. The Errorlevel returned is the hundreds' digit of the result (0 to 3). If an environment variable is created, it is in the format DOY=nnn with nnn being a three-digit number between 001 and 366. HOUR The Errorlevel returned is the hour between 0 and 23. If an environment variable is created, it is in the format HOUR=nn with nn being a two-digit number between 00 and 23. BOOT.SYS - 56 - Version 2.02 MINUTE The Errorlevel returned is the minute between 0 and 59. If an environment variable is created, it is in the format MINUTE=nn with nn being a two-digit number between 00 and 59. MONTH The Errorlevel returned is the month between 1 and 12. If an environment variable is created, it is in the format MONTH=nn with nn being a two-digit number between 01 and 12. MONTHN (month name) The Errorlevel returned is the month between 1 and 12. If an environment variable is created, it is in the format MONTHN=ccc with ccc being a three-letter abbreviation of the month name in upper case letters (JAN, FEB, etc.) SECOND The Errorlevel returned is the seconds between 0 and 59. If an environment variable is created, it is in the format SECOND=nn with nn being a two-digit number between 00 and 59. TIME Displays all date/time elements; the Errorlevel returned is 0. If an environment variable is created, it is in the format TIME=01-JAN-1993 12:30:00, DAY 001, FRI (5) OF WEEK 00. This command is most useful for testing and debugging. WEEK (week of the year) The week of the year, between 0 and 53, is calculated. The first Monday of the year begins week 1, and each succeeding week begins on a Monday. Dates before the first Monday of the year are reported as part of week 0. The Errorlevel returned is the week of the year. If an environment variable is created, it is in the format WEEK=nn with nn being a number between 00 and 53. YEAR (two-digit year number) The Errorlevel returned is the last two digits of the year (0 to 99). If an environment variable is created, it is in the format YEAR=nn with nn being between 00 and 99. YEAR3 (three-digit year number) The Errorlevel returned is the year number minus 1900. For example, the year 1993 is returned as 93; 2001 is returned as BOOT.SYS - 57 - Version 2.02 101. The highest acceptable year is 2037, for which BOOT YEAR3 returns an Errorlevel of 137. If an environment variable is created, it is in the format YEAR3=nnn with nnn between 000 and 137. YEAR4 (four-digit year number) The Errorlevel returned is the year number minus 1980. For example, 1993 is returned as 13; 2001 is returned as 21. The highest acceptable year is 2037, for which BOOT YEAR4 returns an Errorlevel of 57. If an environment variable is created, it is in the format YEAR4=nnnn with nnnn being the complete, four-digit year number (1980 or later). BOOT HELP BOOT HELP This command displays a list of the available BOOT.EXE commands. BOOT OnceA... BOOT frequency filename [/T] [/E] [m] [+n] [?[sy|n] text] This group of commands let you execute a portion of a batch file at specific intervals. They return Errorlevel values that can be used to branch to different parts of a batch file or to select batch file lines for execution. These commands calculate the Errorlevel by comparing the system clock with the time stamp of a file that you specify. You can have them prompt the user when they determine that the requisite time has elapsed. You can also set time-out and default values for the prompt. The user's response or the default response is also reported as Errorlevel values. Whether these commands update the time stamp on the file used in the Errorlevel calculation depends on both the elapsed time and the user's response to the prompt, if any: BOOT.SYS - 58 - Version 2.02 Action & User Response Errorlevel Update time stamp? Not Yet Triggered 0 no Triggered, 'N' to prompt 1 no Triggered, time-out to 'N' 2 no Triggered, time-out to 'Y' 3 yes Triggered, 'Y' to prompt 4 yes Triggered, no prompt 4 yes File not found, created 5 yes File not found, cannot create 0 An Errorlevel of 3 or above means that the scheduled actions should be performed. Errorlevels 1 and 2 mean that it is time to perform the actions but the user declines to do so. The details of these commands are discussed along with the parameters below. frequency The frequency determines how often the action will be performed. The acceptable frequencies are OnceAYear OnceAMonth OnceAWeek OnceADay OnceAnHour OnceAMinute OnceASecond The minimum resolution for OnceASecond is 2 seconds. filename This is the file that the command checks to determine whether the scheduled activity should be performed. It is created automatically if it does not exist. The file can be of any length (including zero bytes) and can have any combination of the read-only, hidden, or system attributes set. Even if the file is marked read-only, the time stamp will be updated properly when the activity is triggered. BOOT.SYS - 59 - Version 2.02 You can use BOOT TOUCH /C to create a file with the desired attributes (see page 61). /T This parameter is used to test the OnceA... commands. When you use /T, the command tests whether the activity should be performed and returns the appropriate Errorlevel. However, the time stamp on the file is not updated. /E This parameter displays the Errorlevel on the screen. It can be used alone or in combination with /T to test the operation of these commands. m and +n These parameters are used to fine-tune the activity schedule. Both are numbers that adjust when the activity will be triggered. The units represented by each depend on the frequency parameter: Frequency m +n units OnceAYear month of year years OnceAMonth day of month months OnceAWeek day of week weeks OnceADay hour of day days OnceAnHour minute hours OnceAMinute second minutes OnceASecond (ignored) seconds The m parameter is used to define when the frequency period begins. For example, an m value of 10 used with OnceADay would specify that days begin at 10:00 a.m. An m value of 15 used with OnceAMonth would trigger the activity on or after the 15th of each month. The +n parameter (the leading plus sign [+] is mandatory) is used to set a minimum time between activity triggers. For example, a +n value of +2 used with OnceADay would specify that at least two days must elapse between activities. A +n value of +10 used with OnceAnHour would space activity triggers at least 10 hours apart. If the +n parameter is not specified, a value of 0 is assumed. BOOT.SYS - 60 - Version 2.02 The following table gives some examples of how m and +n work with OnceADay. The file time stamp is shown at the top; the earliest time of the next activity trigger appears in the table: OnceADay Mon 08:00 Mon 14:00 Explanation Parameters Time stamp Time stamp (none) Tue 00:00 Tue 00:00 the next day 9 Mon 09:00 Tue 09:00 the next day (days start at 09:00) 33 (24+9) Tue 09:00 Tue 09:00 the next day, starting at 09:00. +1 Tue 08:00 Tue 14:00 wait a day (24 hours) 9 +1 Tue 09:00 Wed 09:00 wait a day (days start at 09:00) 33 +1 Wed 09:00 Wed 09:00 wait a day, same as 33 ? text If the question mark parameter [?] is included at the end of the command, the user will be prompted when the activity is triggered. The prompt that will be used is the text which follows the question mark. 'Y' and 'N' are the only allowed responses to the prompt. If you wish to include a time-out and default response, the length of the time-out, in seconds, plus the default response must follow the question mark immediately with no intervening spaces. For example, to pause 5 seconds and then enter N as a default response, you would use a statement similar to this in your batch file: BOOT OnceADay c:\oneday.trg ?5N prompt_text BOOT SET BOOT SET [/X[d:\path\filename]] Under MS/PC-DOS up to 5.0, this command collects the environment variables that were created during CONFIG.SYS processing and places them in the DOS environment. It also performs other house-keeping functions, and it MUST BE RUN IN AUTOEXEC.BAT WITH ALL VERSIONS OF DOS to ensure that BOOT.SYS works as expected in all cases! BOOT.SYS - 61 - Version 2.02 Under MS/PC-DOS 6.x and DR DOS, BOOT.SYS uses the SET command in CONFIG.SYS to transfer the variables to the DOS environment and does not store them in its own storage. Consequently, BOOT SET cannot be used to restore environment variables that you have removed. BOOT.SYS needs to pass other information besides the variable definitions to BOOT.EXE. If the driver doesn't stay resident, this information is passed in a special environment variable that is also called "BOOT.SYS." BOOT.EXE will complain that BOOT.SYS has not been installed if it doesn't find the resident driver or this environment variable. If BOOT.SYS used a BOOT.NXT file to create a named configuration, BOOT SET will search for and delete that file (or the file you indicate with the /Xfilename parameter). See page 64 for more information. BOOT TOUCH BOOT TOUCH [/Q] [/C [/1] [/R] [/H]] [yymmddhhmm[ss] | /Fother_filename] filename... This command sets the time stamp, or "touches," one or more files. It can also create the files if they don't exist. You may use normal DOS wildcards [*] and [?] to specify groups of files. The optional parameters give BOOT TOUCH a great deal of flexibility: /C Instructs BOOT TOUCH to create the specified file or files with the indicated time stamp. /1 This parameter can only be used with /C. It instructs BOOT TOUCH to create one-byte files instead of zero-byte files with the indicated time stamp. One-byte files can be copied with the DOS COPY command; zero-byte files cannot. /R This parameter can only be used with /C. It instructs BOOT TOUCH to mark the newly-created files with the read-only attribute. BOOT.SYS - 62 - Version 2.02 /H This parameter can only be used with /C. It instructs BOOT TOUCH to mark the newly-created files with the hidden attribute. /Q Instructs BOOT TOUCH to continue execution quietly (without an error message) when an error occurs. Normally, BOOT TOUCH displays an error message, waits for a keystroke, and stops processing when it encounters an error. BOOT TOUCH will report an error if it cannot find a specified file when the /C parameter is not used or if the file is already present when the /C parameter is used. However, DOS errors such as "Access denied" or "Sharing violation" cannot be bypassed with /Q. yymmddhhmm[ss] This is a date and time specified as the year, month, day, hour, minutes, and seconds. Each must be a two-digit number and you may not include any spaces or punctuation between them. The seconds are optional. The year must be between 80 (for 1980) and 37 (for 2037). If you specify this parameter, BOOT TOUCH will use the date and time you specify, instead of the system clock, as the new time stamp for the files it touches. /Fother_filename If you specify this parameter, BOOT TOUCH will read the time stamp of the file you specify and use it, instead of the system clock, as the new time stamp for the files it touches. filename... One or more files that you want the command to touch. You may use standard DOS wildcards [*] and [?] to touch groups of files. You must include the full path for each filename unless the files are in the default directory. Do not use wildcards when you use the /C parameter. BOOT WARM BOOT WARM [[/Xd:\path\filename] name ... [/KEEP[?]]] This command performs a warm boot, similar to pressing the Ctrl, Alt, and Del keys simultaneously. The optional parameters are used for rebooting to the specific configuration named name. See page 64 for details. BOOT.SYS - 63 - Version 2.02 This command has been tested on a wide variety of hardware and software, but it may not work on your specific computer. If it does not work, try BOOT COLD. BOOT.SYS - 64 - Version 2.02 Named Reboots BOOT.EXE lets you reboot your computer from the command line or inside a batch file with the BOOT COLD and BOOT WARM commands (see pages 54 and 62). The first command is similar to turning your computer off and back on or pressing a reset switch; the second is similar to pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del. Normally, either reboot command would lead you through the BOOT.SYS menus in your CONFIG.SYS file. But you may know what configuration you want and prefer to bypass the menus completely. Both BOOT COLD and BOOT WARM let you name the reboot configuration you want to use. Naming Configurations To use a named configuration, you must first name menu items in the portion of your CONFIG.SYS file that BOOT.SYS controls. You can attach names to menu items in two ways. If you use a simple menu structure, you probably already have the command DEVICE=BOOT.SET BOOT=name in each configuration. During a named reboot, BOOT.SYS will look for a name designated this way in your first menu and its submenus. The search is case-insensitive. If BOOT.SYS finds such a name, that will be the configuration that it selects automatically during the reboot. If the name is in a submenu, BOOT.SYS will make the necessary choices to reach the submenu and then pick the appropriate menu item. For simple setups this method is usually sufficient, and you need not read the remainder of this section. But if you have more than one menu, you probably need more flexibility. If BOOT.SYS doesn't find the name, it will then look for a line in this format: DEVICE=BOOT.NAME name If it finds that name, it will select the menu choice that it is attached to, again moving into submenus if necessary. If you have more than one top-level menu, BOOT.SYS will move through each, searching for the configuration name in each menu BOOT.SYS - 65 - Version 2.02 and its submenus and making the appropriate choices automatically. In each menu, it will first look for a DEVICE=BOOT.SET BOOT=name command and then a DEVICE=BOOT.NAME name command that matches the configuration that you have specified. During this process, each menu will flash on the screen to show you that BOOT.SYS is making the choices for you. If BOOT.SYS fails to find the name in a menu or its submenus, it will pause and wait for you to make the necessary menu selections, ignoring any /T (time-out) parameter. If you use the BOOT.NAME command to name configurations in your CONFIG.SYS file, you can attach the same name to items in more than one menu. You can also attach more than one name to any individual menu choice. If you use the BOOT.NAME command, you can create very sophisticated and complex named configurations. However, you need to remember that BOOT.SYS first tries to find a reboot configuration by looking for the simpler DEVICE=BOOT.SET BOOT=name syntax. You should avoid using the same names for both commands or avoid using "BOOT" as an environment variable name. Selecting a Configuration Once you have named configurations (by using either BOOT.SET BOOT=, which is part of the standard set-up, or BOOT.NAME), selecting one is simply a matter of using one of two commands: BOOT COLD name or BOOT WARM name In both commands, the name (or names, if you include more than one) can be abbreviated by placing an asterisk [*] at the end of the abbreviation. For example, a configuration called "windows" could be abbreviated as "win*" or even "w*" and BOOT.SYS will select the first configuration name that matches the abbreviation. If you use an asterisk by itself as a configuration name (i.e., "BOOT WARM *"), BOOT.SYS will select the default item in the first menu. (See page 68 for a more complete discussion of how BOOT.SYS processes the asterisk.) If they are followed by any text at all, the reboot commands create a file called BOOT.NXT in the root directory of the boot drive (or the root directory of the default drive in DOS versions BOOT.SYS - 66 - Version 2.02 prior to 4.0). The BOOT.NXT file contains everything on the command line after BOOT WARM or BOOT COLD; that is, it contains the configuration name or names plus any command-line parameters you have included, except for the /X parameter. You can create the BOOT.NXT file with a text editor, if you prefer, or by using a command like one of these: COPY CON c:\BOOT.NXT and typing the configuration name and then pressing Ctrl-Z and Enter, or ECHO name > c:\BOOT.NXT When the computer reboots, BOOT.SYS looks for the BOOT.NXT file in the root directory of the boot drive. If the file exists, BOOT.SYS uses the configuration name or names in the file instead of presenting menus to the user. The menus still flash by on the screen to remind you that BOOT.SYS is making selections for you; there is no way to suppress the flash when BOOT.NXT is used. When you use BOOT.SYS, one of the first commands in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file will normally be BOOT SET (see page 60). Besides copying variables into the environment and other house keeping functions, BOOT SET checks whether any menu selections were made based on a BOOT.NXT file. If so, BOOT SET will delete the file so that you will see the normal menus the next time you reboot. You can disable BOOT.NXT processing by turning on CapsLock before BOOT.SYS starts or by holding down any of the shift keys while BOOT.SYS starts. If BOOT.SYS finds the BOOT.NXT file but cannot match the first or only configuration name with the first menu or its submenus, it assumes that you created the file for some other purpose. In such a case, it processes your menus normally and ignores the BOOT.NXT file entirely. In addition, BOOT SET will not erase the file because the name in it was not used to make automatic menu selections. This also happens when you mistype the name in the "BOOT WARM/COLD name" command! Reboot Options You can alter the action of BOOT SET during a named reboot by using one of two options on the BOOT COLD and BOOT WARM command line. If you follow the configuration name or names with /KEEP, BOOT SET will not erase the BOOT.NXT file. The same named configuration will be selected every time you boot your computer (unless you use BOOT WARM or BOOT COLD plus a different name or manually erase the BOOT.NXT file). On the other hand, if you BOOT.SYS - 67 - Version 2.02 follow the name or names with /KEEP?, BOOT SET will ask whether you wish to delete the BOOT.NXT file. If you prefer, you can use a filename other than BOOT.NXT. To do so, you need to alter three commands. First, the DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS line in your CONFIG.SYS file must be modified to include the name of the possible configuration file: DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS /Xd:\path\filename [params] Then, when you use BOOT WARM or BOOT COLD, you must add the name of the file before the configuration name like this: BOOT COLD /Xd:\path\filename name... [/KEEP[?]] or BOOT WARM /Xd:\path\filename name... [/KEEP[?]] Finally, if you want BOOT SET in AUTOEXEC.BAT to search for and erase the configuration name file, you must tell it what file to look for like this: d:\path\BOOT SET /Xd:\path\filename Using Multiple Configuration Names You may put more than one configuration name in a BOOT WARM or BOOT COLD command. The reason for doing so is to make automatic selections from more than one menu. For example, you may have one top-level menu that selects a memory manager and a second that selects DOS or Windows. Once your CONFIG.SYS file is properly set up, you might then reboot with a command like BOOT WARM himem windows to select HIMEM.SYS as your memory manager and Windows as your operating environment. When the BOOT.NXT file contains more than one configuration name, BOOT.SYS applies the first name in as many menus (and their submenus) as possible. When it comes to a menu in which it cannot use the first name, it looks in the BOOT.NXT file for another name. If it can't find a second name, or if the second name doesn't provide a match in the current menu, BOOT.SYS will stop and wait for the user to continue manually. If BOOT.SYS finds a second name, it applies it to the current menu and as many succeeding menus as possible. If it comes to a menu in which it cannot use the second name, it looks in the BOOT.NXT file for a third configuration name and continues the process. BOOT.SYS - 68 - Version 2.02 BOOT.SYS applies the configuration names in the order that they are listed in the BOOT.NXT file. If BOOT.SYS can not apply either the current or the next configuration name at any time during this process, it will stop to let the user continue manually from the menu where the error occurred. It will use any /D parameter settings to position the selection bar, but it will disable all time-outs for the current menu and all following menus. There is one exception to the way BOOT.SYS processes names. If you use an asterisk [*] alone for a configuration name (meaning "select the default item"), the asterisk will be applied to only one menu. BOOT.SYS will use the next configuration name (if there is one) for the following menu or menus. This lets you put an asterisk into the middle of a list of configuration names and have BOOT.SYS use the names that follow the asterisk. BOOT.SYS - 69 - Version 2.02 Advanced Topics Nested Menus vs. Menu Sequences BOOT.SYS supports two different kinds of menus. The more common are hierarchical or nested menus: there is a main menu and some of the selections lead on to one or more submenus that define the main choice in detail. Let's illustrate this with an example: DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS | DEVICE=BOOT.1 DOS | DOS DEVICE=BOOT.A | plain DEVICE=BOOT.1 plain | EMM386 DEVICE=BOOT.2 EMM386 | QEMM DEVICE=BOOT.3 QEMM | Windows DEVICE=BOOT.Z | DEVICE=BOOT.2 Windows | DEVICE=BOOT.END The main menu presents only two choices, DOS or Windows; if you choose DOS, you get a submenu with either plain DOS, or DOS with one of two memory managers. Now imagine you want to select whether to load a network driver or not. With hierarchical menus, you have several ways of doing so, but you can't avoid duplication: * Expand the main menu to four items, DOS or Windows, each with or without the network, and duplicate the submenu for the two DOS choices. * Add a new main menu for the network question and duplicate the entire menu tree for Yes and No. * Add a submenu to each of plain, EMM386, QEMM, and Windows, asking about the network. None of these choices is attractive because duplication results in additional complexity and makes your configuration files more difficult to maintain as you add more options. The core of the problem is that the operating environment and the network are unrelated choices, but a hierarchical menu is based on a relationship between the choices. BOOT.SYS - 70 - Version 2.02 What you really need is a set of independent menus or a menu sequence: DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS | DEVICE=BOOT.A | DEVICE=BOOT.1 load Network | Load Network DEVICE=BOOT.2 no Network | Don't Load Network | DEVICE=BOOT.B | ----------------------- DEVICE=BOOT.1 DOS | DEVICE=BOOT.A | DOS DEVICE=BOOT.1 plain | plain DEVICE=BOOT.2 EMM386 | EMM386 DEVICE=BOOT.3 QEMM | QEMM DEVICE=BOOT.Z | Windows DEVICE=BOOT.2 Windows | | DEVICE=BOOT.Z | DEVICE=BOOT.END Now we have a menu A for the network question and a menu B for the operating environment. Item B1 in menu B happens to contain a submenu, which we call B1A. These are the menu names you will see in the lower right corner of the screen if you specify the /P parameter on the BOOT.SYS command line (see page 33). Note the similarity of syntax between submenus and menu sequences: submenus are really just menu sequences (with only one menu in this case) inside a menu item. You can combine nested menus and menu sequences in any way you like. For example, you could add a menu C to define a third unrelated aspect of your configuration, a menu B1B to specify DOS=UMB or NOUMB, or a menu A1A to select among different networks. Instead of adding a submenu to A1, you might prefer to add more menu items (A3, A4, etc.) to menu A. Only you know what works best for you. Using Variables and Conditionals in CONFIG.SYS Let's look at the previous example once again and assume that we cannot run the network software without a memory manager. That is, there should be no "plain" choice in menu B when the user selected to start the network in menu A: BOOT.SYS - 71 - Version 2.02 DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS DEVICE=BOOT.A DEVICE=BOOT.1 load Network DEVICE=BOOT.SET NET=Y DEVICE=BOOT.2 no Network DEVICE=BOOT.B DEVICE=BOOT.1 DOS DEVICE=BOOT.A DEVICE=BOOT.? NOT %NET% == Y # plain DEVICE=BOOT.# EMM386 DEVICE=BOOT.# QEMM DEVICE=BOOT.Z DEVICE=BOOT.2 Windows DEVICE=BOOT.Z DEVICE=BOOT.END Here the "plain" choice is displayed only when the variable NET does not have a value of Y. Perhaps we always want to load the network driver into upper memory, using the proper command for the chosen memory manager: DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS DEVICE=BOOT.A DEVICE=BOOT.1 load Network DEVICE=BOOT.SET NET=Y DEVICE=BOOT.2 no Network DEVICE=BOOT.B DEVICE=BOOT.1 DOS DEVICE=BOOT.A DEVICE=BOOT.? NOT %NET% == Y # plain DEVICE=BOOT.# EMM386 device=c:\dos\HIMEM.SYS device=c:\dos\EMM386.EXE ram dos=umb DEVICE=BOOT.IF %NET% == Y devicehigh=d:\net\wd8003.sys DEVICE=BOOT.ENDIF DEVICE=BOOT.# QEMM device=c:\qemm\QEMM386.SYS DEVICE=BOOT.IF %NET% == Y device=c:\qemm\LOADHI.SYS d:\net\wd8003.sys DEVICE=BOOT.ENDIF DEVICE=BOOT.Z DEVICE=BOOT.2 Windows DEVICE=BOOT.Z DEVICE=BOOT.END BOOT.SYS - 72 - Version 2.02 DOS=NOUMB If you want to avoid duplicating the command line for the network driver, you can use another variable: DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS DEVICE=BOOT.A DEVICE=BOOT.1 load Network DEVICE=BOOT.SET NET=Y DEVICE=BOOT.SET NETDRVR=d:\net\wd8003.sys {parameters...} DEVICE=BOOT.2 no Network DEVICE=BOOT.B DEVICE=BOOT.1 DOS DEVICE=BOOT.A DEVICE=BOOT.? NOT %NET% == Y # plain DEVICE=BOOT.# EMM386 device=c:\dos\HIMEM.SYS device=c:\dos\EMM386.EXE ram dos=umb DEVICE=BOOT.IF %NET% == Y devicehigh=%NETDRVR% DEVICE=BOOT.ENDIF DEVICE=BOOT.# QEMM device=c:\qemm\QEMM386.SYS DEVICE=BOOT.IF %NET% == Y device=c:\qemm\LOADHI.SYS %NETDRVR% DEVICE=BOOT.ENDIF DEVICE=BOOT.Z DEVICE=BOOT.SET NETDRVR= DEVICE=BOOT.2 Windows DEVICE=BOOT.Z DEVICE=BOOT.END DOS=NOUMB Using BOOT.SYS to manage LAN workstations If you are responsible for managing a number of PCs in an enterprise, BOOT.SYS can help you to keep them running smoothly. You may want to adopt some of these strategies: * Create a single pair of configuration files to run on all your PCs. * Set up a few officially-supported standard configurations and add some place holders. Tell your advanced users how they can create their own configurations, if needed, and tell them not to change the standard configurations. BOOT.SYS - 73 - Version 2.02 * If you have dissimilar PCs, you can use commands like "BOOT.IF 386" to customize the menus and commands for the given hardware. Users of 80286 PCs won't need to answer questions about 386 memory managers. * With "BOOT.IF DOS x.yy" and "BOOT.IF DRDOS" you can adapt one pair of configuration files to run under different DOS versions. (Warning: DR DOS severely limits the size of CONFIG.SYS!) * You can further customize the configurations based on the presence of certain files with "BOOT.IF EXIST filename." The files can be application programs or even zero-byte "flags" that identify different machines and users. * Use "BOOT.EXE ONCEADAY" to schedule periodic activities for you and your end users, such as daily backups. Sample Files, New Ideas To give you some more ideas, we have included sample files from some of our users. They are located in the SAMPLES subdirectory of the BOOT.SYS installation directory. These files are intended to demonstrate different ways of using BOOT.SYS in the real world, but you must adapt them to your own system. They contain references to commercial software packages which are not related to BOOT.SYS, and which you may not have. The command line syntax used in the sample files may not be correct for your system or your versions of other products. If you have an interesting setup that you would like to share with us, please send us your files and tell us explicitly if we have your permission to include them in a future release of BOOT.SYS. We reserve the right to edit your files, but we will not remove your name if you decide to include it in a comment. Please do not add a copyright notice or advertisement. BOOT.SYS - 74 - Version 2.02 When Things Go Wrong Once you have BOOT.SYS installed and your new CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files correctly written for the configurations you use, you will rarely, if ever, see a BOOT.SYS error message. However, when you add a new configuration to your CONFIG.SYS file, or change the menu structure, you may accidentally inject errors that BOOT.SYS can not handle. When BOOT.SYS finds an error in your CONFIG.SYS file such as a misnumbered menu item or a misspelled command, it displays an error message and then performs an EMERGENCY RECOVERY. BOOT.SYS cannot know the safest options to choose from your various menus when an error occurs, so it takes the most conservative approach possible: it hides all lines from DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS to DEVICE=BOOT.END from DOS. If BOOT.SYS controls only a portion of your CONFIG.SYS file, the commands before and after the BOOT.SYS section will be executed normally. If BOOT.SYS controls the entire CONFIG.SYS, DOS will boot using its default configuration, just as if no CONFIG.SYS file existed at all. Once BOOT.SYS has reported an error and performed its Emergency Recovery, you can edit your CONFIG.SYS file to correct the problem and then reboot your computer. There is a very good chance that your computer will be usable after an Emergency Recovery, but no guarantee. You may need to use your boot diskette -- please keep it current. However, you will probably have to use your boot diskette less often with BOOT.SYS, because you can safely experiment with configurations (e.g. different settings for a memory manager). If one configuration becomes unusable, you can simply reboot and choose another configuration. Error Messages and Cures When BOOT.SYS detects a problem while it is processing your CONFIG.SYS file, it will report one or more of the following errors. Some errors will be just warnings and you can boot up normally, others cause BOOT.SYS to perform its Emergency Recovery, and some may occasionally force you to boot with your emergency boot up diskette. In all cases, you should fix the problem and reboot. Most error messages are self-explanatory and are not documented here. The suggestions below will help you fix some of the less obvious problems that BOOT.SYS may detect. BOOT.SYS - 75 - Version 2.02 Error 1: No tabs allowed in CONFIG.SYS Some text editors replace multiple spaces with tabs. Because of the way that DOS pre-processes the CONFIG.SYS file, BOOT.SYS cannot expand tabs properly. To fix the problem, set your editor to save files without tabs. Error 2: "Unrecognized command" messages If you are using a version of DOS prior to 4.00, BOOT.SYS at times may be unable to properly hide the commands that you do not select. DOS will then generate an error message after BOOT.SYS has finished processing the CONFIG.SYS file in memory. You can cure this problem by giving BOOT.SYS additional processing memory. To do so, insert some long remark lines in the following format immediately after the DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS command line: DEVICE=BOOT.REM any text (make it long) Error 3: Warning. This BOOT.SYS configuration defaults to DOS=UMB If some of your configurations contain the DOS=UMB command, it may "spill over" into other configurations that have neither DOS=UMB nor DOS=NOUMB configurations. To avoid this, add the following line at the end of your CONFIG.SYS file, after the DEVICE=BOOT.END command: DOS=NOUMB This line will establish DOS=NOUMB as the default for all configurations that don't contain a DOS=UMB command. See page 22 for a discussion of the DOS= command. Error 4: Cannot load DOS HIGH See page 22 for a discussion of the DOS= command. Error 5: Load your XMS driver between BOOT.SYS and BOOT.END If you load an extended memory (XMS) driver like HIMEM.SYS, QEMM, or 386MAX before the DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS command, BOOT.SYS will be unable to control the DOS= settings. You can either load the XMS driver in specific configurations or, if you always want it loaded, put the line DEVICE={your XMS driver} immediately after the DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS command. BOOT.SYS - 76 - Version 2.02 See page 22 for a discussion of the DOS= command. Error 6: CONFIG.SYS may be too long. Some versions of DR DOS, and perhaps some other DOS clones, severely limit the size of CONFIG.SYS and discard any part of the file that extends past the limit. If BOOT.SYS displays this error message, try reducing your CONFIG.SYS file to one or two configurations and work back up until you can determine the limit and the number of lines that will fit in the file. Error 7: Do not use an invisible background attribute. BOOT.SYS displays some of its error messages on top of the menu screen, so you can see how far it got building the current menu and the error message at the same time. If you see this message, a previous BOOT.SYS error message may have been hidden because of your choice of a background color set the with the /Mbif parameter (see page 31). If you want a solid background, set the background character to a space with the /MK20 parameter and then use /MBif to set different foreground and background colors. Error 8: Out of space. BOOT.SYS needs some work space to process your CONFIG.SYS file. If it runs out of space (perhaps because you are making heavy use of variable expansion), it will not be able to continue. To create more work space, insert some long remark lines in the following format immediately after the DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS command line: DEVICE=BOOT.REM any text (make it long) Do not use a standard REM command in place of the BOOT.REM command, because BOOT.SYS is not able to reclaim space from a DOS REM command. Error 9: Warning. Variable space overrun. BOOT.SYS does not have enough work space for passing on all the variables you defined using DEVICE=BOOT.SET via the SET command (see page 45). A small part of BOOT.SYS will stay resident to store the remaining variables and BOOT SET in AUTOEXEC.BAT will put them into the environment. To avoid this situation, either delete some of the variables in the common section preceding BOOT.END (see page 48), or add some BOOT.REM commands as described for Error 8. BOOT.SYS - 77 - Version 2.02 Error 10: Warning. Variable value starts with space. You have a command like DEVICE=BOOT.SET name= value in your CONFIG.SYS file. Having a space (or tab) to the right of the equal sign [=] can lead to problems; you should probably remove it. If you really need the space there, you can disable this message by appending the /W2 parameter to the DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS command line. Error 11: Warning. Variable name ends with space. You have a command like DEVICE=BOOT.SET name =value in your CONFIG.SYS file. Having a space (or tab) to the left of the equal sign [=] usually leads to problems; please remove it. If you absolutely need the space there, and you know what you're doing, you can disable this message by adding the /W1 parameter to the DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS command line. Error 16: Due to a fatal error... If you see this message, it is very unlikely that the boot process can continue successfully. Insert a bootable diskette into drive A, press Ctrl-Alt-Del to reboot the system, and edit your CONFIG.SYS file to correct the problems reported in the preceding error messages. You may press any key to continue after this message, but you do so at your own risk. You will probably get many additional error messages and your computer may or may not be usable, depending on the contents of your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. In some circumstances, continuing the boot process may even corrupt the data on your hard drive. BOOT.SYS - 78 - Version 2.02 If You Can't Boot Up After Installation... If the BOOT.SYS menu doesn't come up when you reboot, DOS can't find the BOOT.SYS file. Make sure the drive and path in the DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS line are correct. If you load drivers or programs during the boot process that add or remap drive letters, such as disk compression or network software, you must place the BOOT.SYS files in a location that is available when DOS tries to load them. Also, DOS may need to load BOOT.SYS a second time when the DEVICE=BOOT.END line is executed, and it will look in the same location. If your drive letters change between the BOOT.SYS and BOOT.END lines, you may have to put the BOOT.SYS files into directories with identical names on two different drives. Under normal conditions, you will not notice the second invocation of the BOOT.SYS driver. Another possible cause for not being able to boot up is that BOOT.SYS displays an error message and is unable to continue. Most error messages are self-explanatory; some of them are explained in more detail in the preceding section. Correct the problem and boot up again. Manual Installation If you cannot get BOOT.SYS up and running, try the following procedure. Also, please try this procedure before you call for support: 1. Create a single-configuration CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT and verify that you can boot up with them. 2. Add the following lines at the top of CONFIG.SYS: DEVICE=d:\path\BOOT.SYS DEVICE=BOOT.1 standard DEVICE=BOOT.2 custom DEVICE=BOOT.END 3. Reboot and verify that you get the BOOT.SYS menu. Either choice should boot up your single configuration. BOOT.SYS - 79 - Version 2.02 4. Move the last two of the four lines above to the end of CONFIG.SYS and reboot; your Standard configuration should still work, the other one may or may not work. 5. Copy of the lines between BOOT.1 and BOOT.2 and place them between BOOT.2 and BOOT.END. Now you should have two identical configurations (try it out!). 6. Make some changes that are easy to verify to your second configuration and confirm that you can now choose between two different configurations. 7. Add the DEVICE=BOOT.SET commands to CONFIG.SYS and set up AUTOEXEC.BAT as explained on page 18. 8. Now add more configurations, one at a time, and try them out until you have what you want. If you still can't get BOOT.SYS to work correctly, see the README file for your support options. BOOT.SYS - 80 - Version 2.02 License and Warranty Please see the file LICENSE.DOC. BOOT.SYS - 12 - Version 2.02 The User's View When BOOT.SYS is installed on a computer, the user typically sees two text windows on the screen during the boot process. The upper window contains messages or any text that you would like to have displayed. The lower window contains a menu. Depending on the BOOT.SYS instructions in the CONFIG.SYS file, several menus may appear sequentially and some menu choices may lead to submenus. ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ╔═════════════════════════════════╗ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║ ║ ▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║ Select Your Configuration ║ ▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║ ║ ▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ╚═════════════════════════════════╝ ▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ╔═══════════════════════════════════════╗ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║> 1 - Standard (4DOS, 386^MAX, Cache) <║ ▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║ 2 - Standard + Network ║ ▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║ 3 - Windows Enhanced ║ ▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║ 4 - Windows Enhanced + CD-ROM ║ ▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║ 5 - Host Connection ║ ▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║ 6 - plain DOS ║ ▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║ 7 - plain DOS, EMM386 ║ ▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║ 8 - Backup ║ ▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ║ 9 - Experimental Configuration ║ ▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════╝ ▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ BOOT.SYS - 2.02 Copyright (c) 1989-94 Hans Salvisberg. All rights reserved. Sample BOOT.SYS screen The user may select an item in several different ways. The most intuitive selection method is moving the highlight or selection bar to the desired item and pressing the Enter or CursorRight key. New users often favor this method, but experienced users prefer a quicker way of making a selection, especially once they know what to expect from each menu.