		      ͻ
		       MASTERBOOTER v2.2 DOCUMENTATION 
		          (C) Nagy Daniel 05-30-97     
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                               SHAREWARE VERSION

Ŀ
 CONTENTS 


		Disclaimer............................ 1

                Copyright............................. 2

		Introduction.......................... 3

                Files in the Package.................. 4

		Features.............................. 5

		Compatibility......................... 6

		Usage................................. 7

                The DynamicLoader Utility............. 8

                A Step-by-step Example................ 9

		History.............................. 10

		Registration......................... 11

		Contact, About the Author............ 12


Ŀ
 DISCLAIMER  1 


        Using this program comes without any warranty. The author
        and distributors will not accept responsibility for any
        damage incurred directly or indirectly through use of this
        program.
        Use at your own risk!

Ŀ
 COPYRIGHT  2 


        This program is copyright (c) Nagy Daniel. This program is shareware.
        You are free to distribute it by electronic means and make as
        many copies as you want on electronic or magnetic media, as long
        as the files of this package remain unmodified, with copyright
        notices intact. Distributing parts separtely is not allowed!
        Selling for money is prohibited without the author's prior
        permission.

Ŀ
 INTRODUCTION  3 


        MasterBooter is a very powerful utility which enables your
        computer to use multiple operation systems without changing
        harddisks or messing with boot floppies.
        You can choose among up to three operating systems at boot time
        (six in the registered verison).
        MasterBooter is compatible with many operating systems.

Ŀ
 FILES IN PACKAGE  4 


        DYNALOAD.EXE   - Dynamic bootmanager
        EFDISK.EXE     - Extended FDISK partitioning program
        EFDISK.DOC     - EFDISK documentation
        EFDHUN.DOC     - Hungarian EFDISK documentation
        FILE_ID.DIZ    - Description for BBS systems
        MRBOOTER.EXE   - MasterBooter executable
        MRBOOTER.DOC   - MasterBooter documentation
        MRBTHUN.DOC    - Hungarian MasterBooter documentation
        MRESCUE.COM    - Rescue disk maker utility
        REGISTER.FRM   - Registration form

Ŀ
 FEATURES  5 


        - Capability of booting from any harddisk's any primary partition

        - Compatibility with many operating systems:
             MS-DOS
             Novell DOS, Caldera OpenDOS, IBM DOS
             Linux
             FreeBSD
             OS/2 (Warp, Merlin)
             Windows95
             Windows97 (Memphis) (*)
             Windows NT
             Unknown OS with 'standard' boot process (*)

        - Programmable delay time (3 is the default in the shareware) (*)

        - Primary FAT partition hiding/unhiding

        - Password protecting a partition

        - Optional beeping when the boot menu appears

        - Up to three operating systems on a single computer without
          the hassle of boot disks! (Registered version allows six!)

        - VERY small memory and harddisk space requirement for the setup
          program only. The loader doesn't use any memory or disk space!

        - Support for command line options to customize your boot menu (*)

        - Safety and easy-to-use user interface

(*) these features work in registered version only!

Ŀ
 COMPATIBILITY  6 


        Requirements:  - 80286 processor or newer
                       - MS-DOS or compatible operating system
                         (for installation only)
                       - At least one harddisk
                       - Keyboard
                       - VGA adapter
                       - If you have a harddisk with capacity of more
                         than 540MB, then your mainboard MUST have
                         a new BIOS (EBIOS) which supports large drives,
                         else you won't be able to use MasterBooter.
                         Most 486 and all Pentium machines have such BIOS.

        This program souldn't conflict with any other programs which
        don't alter your disk's Master Boot Record.

        Known programs which alter the MBR (and therefore can't be used
        with MasterBooter) are:

          - LILO (Linux's booter) if installed in MBR. Note that if LILO
            is installed in its partition's boot sector (the Linux partition
            superblock), then MasterBooter CAN coexist with LILO!
          - MicroHouse's EZ-Drive
          - OnTrack's Disk Manager
          - PC Vault

Ŀ
 USAGE  7 


        Introduction:
        

        Every time you turn on your computer, the BIOS executes a small
        program, which resides in the very first sector of your harddisk.
        This sector is the so-called Master Boot Record (MBR). This small
        program examines the partitions, and loads the operating system of
        the partition which has the 'active' flag. A harddisk can contain
        up to four primary partitions, but only one can be active at a time.
        This flexible technique enables many operating systems to be used
        on a PC. However, these systems often have their own unique loader
        code, and won't let you use other systems, unless you know tricky
        methods to get past this. MasterBooter works by replacing the program
        in the MBR with its own loader code that you can configure, so you
        can select from any installed operating systems. MasterBooter uses
        additional four sectors after the Master Boot Record.


        Overview:
        

        If you have all operating systems installed, all you need to do is
        to run MRBOOTER.EXE, and configure your MBR. Before doing so you
        can use MRESCUE to create a backup copy of your partition tables and
        boot sectors.
        The Rescue utility from Norton Utilities is also a good choice to
        save all important areas of your harddisks.

        If you want to create a completely new system, follow the
        instructions below.
        Using EFDISK, partition the disk into as many primary partitions as
        you intend to have operating systems (up to a maximum of four per
        harddisk). Install DOS to them, and then use MRBOOTER to configure
        the MBR. Then install an operating system on each partition.
        When complete, you will be able to choose which system to boot each
        time you start your computer!


     1) Preparing To Partition Your Harddisk
        

        WARNING: Re-partitioning your harddisk will erase ALL data from it!
                 Make sure you have backed up any important files!

        Since most operating systems need to be started from a primary
        partition to boot reliably, you will need to use a disk partitioning
        utility that lets you make multiple primary partitions. FDISK, which
        is supplied as standard with DOS and Windows95, cannot create more
        than one primary partition, so the MasterBooter package includes
        EFDISK for this purpose.

        First, create a boot floppy and put copies of the following files
        onto it:
                    MRBOOTER.EXE (the MasterBooter utility)
                    EFDISK.EXE (disk-partitioning utility)
                    FDISK.EXE (disk-partitioning utility)
                    FORMAT.COM (to format DOS partitions)

        If you need to install any operating systems from a CD-ROM, you will
        also need CD-ROM driver files, plus properly configured AUTOEXEC.BAT
        and CONFIG.SYS files for this. Make sure it works before proceeding! 

        Reboot your machine with your boot floppy. From the relevant directory
        at the A: prompt, type EFDISK. This will start the EFDISK utility. 

        EFDISK will gather information about your disks and partitions. You
        will then be provided with a list of all partitions on all disks and
        their parameters. From this list you can choose the partition entry
        you want to change.

        When you select a partition, EFDISK will ask the following questions:
             - The hexadecimal type ID of the partition. EFDISK will show you
               the most common types and their IDs.
             - The starting cylinder of the partition (the minimum is 0).
               If the previous partition ends on cylinder 'x' then set this to
               'x+1'. This number is decimal.
             - The ending cylinder number of partition. EFDISK will show you
               the maximum cylinder number available for the actual harddisk.

        The number of heads and sectors per track are determined automatically
        for each disk, you don't have to mess with them.

        Pressing SPACE will activate the highlighted partition, pressing DEL
        will clear it.

        NOTE: EFDISK doesn't check for partition errors! It's not an
              'intelligent' program. You have total freedom to set all
              parameters, even if they are incorrect or redundant!
 
        When setting up partitions, bear the following in mind: Due to DOS
        file system limits, the larger the partition, the more space is wasted
        by "overhang." If you have a large drive (around 800MB or above) you
        may want to optimise your use of disk space by making each partition
        just below one of the "doubling points" (i.e. 255, 511, 1023
        megabytes, etc.). However if you plan to convert the partition into
        any non-FAT type, this is not important.
        You can also have "extended" partitions, but EFDISK can only create
        primary partitions. You can, however, use the standard DOS FDISK
        utility to create an extended partition, and then create "logical
        drives" within that if you wish. Bear in mind that you can have a
        maximum of four primary and extended partitions on one drive, because
        each allocates one partition entry in the table.

        After preparing all partition entries, press F10 to save the new
        partition table to disk.


     2) Using MRBOOTER
        

        Now that you have successfully partitioned your harddisk, you can use
        the MRBOOTER utility to set up your system for booting multiple
        operating systems, then install the systems you wish to run. 

        How you now proceed depends on which operating systems you plan to
        install, but you will probably need to format and install DOS on at
        least one of them if you are planning to put DOS, Windows 3.x or
        Windows95 on any partition. Use FORMAT.EXE on your boot floppy with
        the /s switch to format and install the DOS kernel on the relevant
        partitions. 

        Now boot from your floppy and run MRBOOTER. You will be asked to name
        each boot partition. Here you can enable passwords, FAT partition
        hiding and beeping. When you have finished, you can then write this
        information to the MBR and MasterBooter has been installed!

        Please note, that MasterBooter can read the keystrokes from a file.
        This can be very helpful for system administrators, because setting
        up a complete system can be automatic with a simple batch file.

        When you next reboot from the harddisk you will see a small menu
        asking you to type a number corresponding to the operating system
        you wish to boot. If you use password protecting, then you will be
        asked for a password. If you enter bad passwords 3 times, the computer
        will stop.

        If you enable partition hiding, then only the active FAT partition
        will be accessible (as drive C:), the other primary FAT partitions
        on the master harddisk will be hidden. Of course all logical drives
        will be accessible.

        Now you can begin installing the operating systems.


     3) Uninstalling
        

        MasterBooter can be uninstalled with the FDISK program, which is
        included in all versions of DOS. Simply typing 'fdisk /mbr' will
        uninstall MasterBooter. Note that the currently active partition
        will boot after restarting the computer.


     4) Important Notes
        

        - DOS based systems (therefore Windows95) and Windows NT
          can boot from the slave harddisk only if FAT hiding is enabled!
        - Before using this program be sure to disable the virus warning
          option in your system's BIOS (if it has this option), else the
          BIOS won't let MasterBooter to modify your harddisk's MBR!
        - If you want to add a partition later, don't hesitate, but
          after doing so you must re-run MasterBooter to update the
          new system.
        - Before running MasterBooter quit all multitasking environments
          (ie. Windows or OS/2 DOS box) and run plain DOS, because these
          operating systems won't let programs to modify the Master Boot
          Record.
        - If you have two harddisks then I recommend the following:
          Put DOSes and Windowses (3.1, 95 and NT) on the master,
          OS/2 Warp and Linux on the slave disk. 
        - With DOS and Windows (not NT!) versions it's usually a good idea
          to create as small partitions as possible for the OSes itselves,
          and bigger logical drives for common data.
        - If you want to use common data partitions, create an extended
          partition with the original FDISK, then create logical drives
          in it. These logical drives are usable by nearly all OSes.
        - After installing Windows95, MasterBooter menu will disappear,
          because the installer overwrites the Master Boot Record.
          Don't panic, just simply re-run MasterBooter, and everything will
          work fine.
        - If you install Linux on the slave disk, don't let LILO to modify
          the Master Boot Record, install it in the Linux partition's boot
          sector instead. Maybe you'll get a warning message saying you
          will not be able to boot Linux, but don't panic. Just run
          MasterBooter after the installation is done.
        - If you're installing FreeBSD do not set the beginning of the
          FreeBSD partition directly after the Master Boot Record, because
          MasterBooter uses four more sectors after the MBR.
        - Bear in mind that the active partition is always called C:.
          Don't overwrite one system with another by choosing the wrong
          partition to install it on!

Ŀ
 THE DYNAMICLOADER UTILITY  8 


         From v2.2. a new utility called dynamicloader (dynaload.exe) is
         added to the MasterBooter package. This utility installs a
         dynamic bootmanager, which means that it recognizes all installed
         operating systems at boot time on-the-fly, and generates a boot menu.
         Because it is dynamic, the system names, passwords and default
         systems are not customizable.

         When executed, DynamicLoader asks for FAT hiding, beeping and
         delay time setting. With all these options set, DynamicLoader
         installs its loader code, and next time you start the computer,
         an automatically generated boot menu appears.

         This utility is useful if you often change the slave harddisks
         with different operating systems on them.

Ŀ
 A STEP-BY-STEP EXAMPLE  9 


         Let's suppose that we have a 1.6Gig master, and a 540Mb slave
         harddisk. We won't use FAT partition hiding here.
         Let's partition the harddisks in the following way:

         Master: 100Mb  - for MS-DOS/Win3.1
                 300Mb  - for Windows95
                 500Mb  - for programs and data  Ŀ These two partitions will
                 699Mb  - for games, archive area  be logical drives in an
                          for writing CD-ROMs     extended partition
                   1Mb  - for OS/2 Warp Boot Manager (it can be deleted after
                          OS/2 is fully installed)

         Slave:  240Mb  - for Linux
                 300Mb  - for OS/2 Warp

         Here's the recipee:

         1: Create a system diskette, and copy FORMAT, FDISK, EFDISK
            and MRBOOTER onto it.
         2: Run EFDISK and create the 100Mb and 300Mb partitions on the
            master harddisk (both are BIGDOS type)
         3: When the computer reboots, boot up with the system diskette and
            run FDISK. Create a 1199Mb extended partition, and crate the
            500Mb and 699Mb logical drives in it.
         4: After rebooting, use the diskette again. Format C: and F: with
            the '/s' command line option, D: and E: without it.
            Now you have two simple primary bootable partitions with plain
            DOS on them, and two logical drives (D: and E:).
         5: Run MasterBooter and select both DOSes. After rebooting, you
            should see a small bootmenu with the names you've entered in
            MasterBooter.
         6: Select the 100Mb partition, and install DOS and Windows 3.1 on C:.
            C: is always the partition you boot, F: will be the other
            primary partition, D: and E: will be the logical drives.
         7: Reboot the computer and select the 300Mb partition. Because now
            it becomes the C: drive, therfore it should be empty and F:
            should contain the installed DOS/Win3.1. Install Windows95 to C:.
            When Windows95 reboots the computer, the bootmenu will disappear.
            Just continue installing Windows95, and if you're ready, re-install
            MasterBooter.
         8: Now the master harddisk is ready to go. Let's continue with
            Warp and Linux. Before installing Warp, do a 'fdisk /mbr' to
            uninstall MasterBooter.
         9: Install Warp. During installing, you can use Warp's FDISK to
            create the 300MB HPFS partition. Warp will call it D:.
        10: When all is done, install Linux, but don't let it to write LILO
            in the Master Boot Record. Install LILO in its own partition's
            boot sector (superblock) instead.
        11: Now install MasterBooter, and live a long and happy life with
            four OSes on a single PC!

            The numbers above are just for this example only. The only
            important thing is that you should leave 1Mb unpartitioned
            space on the master harddisk, because Warp needs it during
            installation.

Ŀ
 HISTORY  10 


       Version:

       1.0b - First official test release. Max number of OSes is 4, no
              password protecting, no FAT hiding, system names are
              max 8 characters long, no partitioning utility

       1.1  - Both versions: Added EFDISK partitioning program to package
                             Fixed typos in documentations
                             Removed 'by NagyD' string from loader
                             Improved 'string input' routine
                             Added Hungarian documentation
              Registered:    Minor bug fixes
                             Added support for unknown file system
                             Added infinite boot delay time
              Shareware:     Minor bug fixes

       1.2  - Both versions: Less useless MBR writes (better loader routine)
                             If an OS is not on the first harddisk, then
                               MasterBooter will examine that the 'physical
                               drive number' value in the boot sector is
                               correct. If not, it will be corrected.
                               For example OS/2 cannot boot if this value is
                               incorrect.
                             OS/2's Boot Manager doesn't patch the MBR (this
                               was an error in the documentation of
                               MasterBooter), so it can coexist with
                               MasterBooter (but unnecessary).

       1.3  - Both versions: Fixed a small bug in the Boot Sector patcher
                             Added LILO detection in the MBR
                             Loader now clears screen if necessary
                             System names can be up to 16 characters long

       1.4  - Both versions: Small improvements in loader routine

       1.5  - Both versions: Added support for Windows NT
                             Some documentation cosmetics and additions

                      A Big Thanks goes to Jonathan Baker-Bates, who helped
                      me to re-write and correct the documentation.

              Shareware:     Added support for Novell DOS

       2.0  - Both versions: Added support for password protecting a partition
                             Added support for hiding/unhiding FAT partitions
                             Better OS detection routine
                             Fixed documentation bug in the example section
                             DOC files are renamed to TXT

       2.1  - Both versions: After writing the new Master Boot Record,
                               pressing ESC will quit to DOS (doesn't reboot)
                             Tested with OS/2 v4.0 (Merlin)
                             Added support for beeping when boot menu appears
              Registered:    Added support for Windows97 (Memphis)
                             Added support for booting up to 6 OSes

       2.2  - Both versions: Added support for IBM DOS
                             Added support for FreeBSD
                             On-the-fly FAT unhiding during booting if hidden
                             Loader routine now flushes keyboard buffer
                             Delay time can be up to 99 secs, or eternal
                             Nicer boot menu
                             Now DOS and all Windowses can be booted from
                               a slave HD, but in this case you MUST enable
                               FAT hiding. A big thanks goes to Marcel Remkes
                               for his helping idea
                             Added DynamicLoader utility
                             Keyboard input is redirected to standard input,
                               so all keystrokes can be fed from a file
              Shareware:     Windows95 support is now included (not Memphis)
              Registered:    MasterBooter now supports command line options

Ŀ
 REGISTRATION  11 


       Registration benefits the following:

       - Windows97 (Memphis) support
       - Unknown OS support
       - Programmable delay time
       - Programmable default system
       - Up to six choosable operation systems (not three)
       - Support for command line options (both MasterBooter and DynamicLoader)


        Registration fee:  20 USD           for private license

                           50 USD           for small site license, if the
                                            program is used on max 50 machines

                           1 USD / machine  for large site license, if the
                                            program is used on min 51 machines


        Print the registration form (the file REGISTER.FRM), fill it
        and send it to:
                         Nagy Daniel
                         2011 Budakalasz
                         Ciklamen u. 19.
                         HUNGARY

     !  Registration via E-mail is NOT accepted, since your signature
     !  is required!

        Upon registering you'll get the latest registered version,
        and the newer versions for free if needed.


        You can register in three ways:
        

           1) Send cheqe or money order to:   Nagy Daniel
              Use registered mail only.       2011 Budakalasz
              Don't send coins!               Ciklamen u. 19.
                                              HUNGARY

           2) Bank transfer from Hungary:
                                  Address:    Mezobank Rt.
                                              8200 Veszprem
                                              Egyetemi fiok 1.
                              Account No.:    10600546-71910019


           3) Via Albert's Ambry. Check out http://www.alberts.com for more
              information. There you can register on-line, and immediately
              download the registered version. It's probably the most
              comfortable way of registering.
              This method is available only for private and small site
              license!

        The preferred registration method is to send the cash together with
        the registration form in a registered envelope. This is the fastest,
        and we don't have to pay additional postal or bank transfer fee.


        Getting the software:
        

        You can order your copy on a 1.44Mb floppy diskette.
        In this case you have to pay additional 5 USD / 300 HUF for
        postage and package.
        You can also order via E-mail transfer (preferred). Then you'll
        get your copy uuencoded in an E-mail.


        Warning!
        

        You're not allowed to copy or distribute the registered version
        of this software. If you do so, please consider that my whole work
        (many weeks I can say...) will be almost wasted time.
        Please support shareware!

Ŀ
 CONTACT  12 


        If you have any problems, questions or suggestions you can
        contact me through mail or Internet E-mail.
        Bug reports, ideas also welcomed!

        Currently I'm a student at the University of Veszprem,
        department of Information Technology. I'm 23 (in 1997).

        Postal address:                      Internet E-mail address:
                               
        Nagy Daniel                          nagyd@almos.vein.hu
        2011 Budakalasz
        Ciklamen u. 19                       WWW homepage:
        HUNGARY                              
                                             http://www.vein.hu/~nagyd
        Fax: (36) 26 340-472
