Booting Into Safe Mode

Discussion in 'Acronis Disk Director Suite' started by CWBillow, Jul 6, 2007.

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  1. CWBillow

    CWBillow Registered Member

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    MC! I found it!

    On a whim, I went back to take one more look. This time, when I opened the boot.ini file, instead of using Textpad (my "notepad", which incidentally has stood by me well for over 7 years), I opened it with UltraEdit.

    It asked me whethyer I wanted to covert to plain DOS format. (?!)

    Stupid me, I'm not truly sure which way I answered, but I THINK I said yes.

    I found a "squiggly".

    I deleted it, and re-ran the startup.

    It ran fine.

    I'm not totally clear on what just happened, but I do know that it worked.

    What the "h---" happened?

    What format IS that file?

    What format should you (I, we) use as the "default?

    Damn I hate when stuff works, or not, and whichever, I don't know why!!

    CB
     
  2. CWBillow

    CWBillow Registered Member

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    MC: (!!!!!)

    I went back and looked again:

    If I pull the file (before my last correction) up in TextPad, it shows as an ANSI format file.

    If I pull the SAME file up in UltraEdit, it shows as a UNIX format!

    What the heh??!! What's the diff, and what made one see it and another not?

    And NOW the question is even more relevant: Which format are we supposed to nbe using for these files?

    CB
     
  3. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    The boot.ini files need to be correct when viewed in the WINDOWS NOTEPAD program (this is the standard Windows Text Editor so use it to check, not some other program). Notepad is a plain text editor. It uses the standard CF/LF line-breaks. Linux uses just the LF character for line-breaks. I showed the sample in Post #8 under Problem #2.

    It confuses the XP Bootloader when it finds only LF line-breaks in the boot.ini files. I don't know why OSS does this, but I do know that PASTING anything into the boot.ini file while editing from OSS WILL CAUSE THIS PROBLEM. That's why I said DON'T PASTE the text, type it in. There may be other things that can cause this, that's why the only way to make sure is to open each boot.ini file with Notepad and check.

    This is why I stressed checking all the boot.ini files by browsing to the BOOTWIZ folder and then into EACH of the OS sub-folders and opening each boot.ini file with Notepad and checking that they are correct. If they are correct in Notepad, they should boot properly.

    The file should be in a plain DOS format.

    ---

    So do you finally have your system booting how you want?
     
  4. CWBillow

    CWBillow Registered Member

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    MC:
    I DID read your notes, and DID try to adhere; I plead insanity due to circumstance.

    I IMMEDIATELY posted to the textpad site about this -- I had ALWAYS operated on the assumption that Textpad files were pures text as well.

    My bad... soryy for extending what really could have been a bit easier.

    I was a bit annoyed at the hassle getting the "internal" editor to save changes, but that can be gotten around.

    Yes, I do now not only have what I was after, but learned a bit in the process.

    Thank you, thank you for your time and patience with my follies.

    This process confirms for me why I wanted to do this to start with, for on top of all else, I can put different OS's all in one startup framework, which surely helps.

    Regards,
    Chuck Billow
     
  5. CWBillow

    CWBillow Registered Member

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    MC:

    What the heck do I do about the order of the items?

    I saw the file you noted... is there a way to avoid catastrophe when editing it?

    Regards,
    Chuck Billow
     
  6. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    I'm glad you finally got that figured out.

    Okay... to order the items it is necessary to edit the bootwiz.oss file. This file is located in the BOOTWIZ folder on the partition that OSS is installed to. If you need further instructions on locating it, let me know.

    Make a copy of the original bootwiz.oss file (just copy and paste in Windows Explorer is fine). That way you have a copy just in case.

    Here is an example with the different OS's color coded. All the OS's are listed in the <oses> section.

    Code:
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
    <bootwiz>
    	<disks>
    		<id4270860577 bios_num="128" crc="192104089" real_bios_num="128" serial="5555" size="488397167" />
    		<id374756078 bios_num="129" crc="156277446" real_bios_num="129" serial="19884" size="156301487" />
    	</disks>
    	<cds />
    	<partitions>
    		<id3220156886 begin="63" crc="54011" disk="4270860577" fs="ntfs" number="1" serial="803b8c08808c08bc" size="156280257" type="7" />
    		<id1440632162 begin="16128" crc="54011" disk="374756078" fs="ntfs" number="5" serial="3046f220891dfdcc" size="156280257" type="7" />
    		<id3854963268 begin="156280383" crc="54011" disk="4270860577" fs="ntfs" number="5" serial="8ac35884386b0f49" size="85546062" type="7" />
    		<id2525211810 begin="241826508" crc="11354" disk="4270860577" fs="fat32" number="6" serial="a37562cc" size="256977" type="11" />
    	</partitions>
    	[COLOR="red"][B]<oses>[/B][/COLOR]
    		[COLOR="DarkOrange"]<id4194816748 boot_as_ms71="0" boot_as_os2="0" boot_cd_entry="0" boot_partition="3220156886" bootname="bootsect.sys" icon="icon_sys_win" language="english" lba="1" multi="multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS" name_template="%n Professional%l %l(%ll%l)" nthide="0" os_type="ntxp" uninstall_info="1" use_manual_disks_order="0" write_boot="1">
    			<derived_oses>
    				<id2966959242 />
    				<id2048114777 />
    				<id1567436981 />
    			</derived_oses>
    			<partitions>
    				<id3220156886 active="1" />
    			</partitions>
    		</id4194816748>[/COLOR]
    		[COLOR="Olive"]<id1567436981 base_os="4194816748" boot_cd_entry="0" boot_partition="3220156886" bootname="bootsect.sys" icon="icon_sys_win" name_template="Windows XP Professional (menu)" />[/COLOR]
    		[COLOR="YellowGreen"]<id2966959242 base_os="4194816748" boot_cd_entry="0" boot_partition="3220156886" bootname="bootsect.sys" icon="icon_sys_win" name_template="Windows XP Professional  (Safe Mode)" />[/COLOR]
    		[COLOR="Magenta"]<id2048114777 base_os="4194816748" boot_cd_entry="0" boot_partition="3220156886" bootname="bootsect.sys" icon="icon_sys_win" name_template="Windows XP Professional (Console)" />[/COLOR]
    		[COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"]<id3468778367 boot_as_ms71="0" boot_as_os2="0" boot_cd_entry="0" boot_partition="2525211810" icon="icon_sys_acronis_secure_zone" language="" lba="1" name_template="Acronis Rescue Media" nthide="0" os_type="linux" uninstall_info="1" use_manual_disks_order="0" write_boot="0">
    			<partitions>
    				<id3220156886 active="1" />
    			</partitions>
    		</id3468778367>[/COLOR]
    		[COLOR="DarkOrchid"]<id2591228611 boot_as_ms71="1" boot_as_os2="0" boot_cd_entry="0" icon="icon_boot_floppy" language="" lba="1" letter="65" name_template="Boot from floppy %o" nthide="0" os_type="floppy" use_manual_disks_order="0" write_boot="0">
    			<partitions>
    				<id3220156886 active="1" />
    			</partitions>
    		</id2591228611>[/COLOR]
    	[COLOR="red"][B]</oses>[/B][/COLOR]
    	<checkfiles>
    		<checkfile crc="0" name="io.sys" partition="3220156886" size="0" />
    		<checkfile crc="3899" name="ntldr" partition="3220156886" size="250032" />
    		<checkfile crc="55365" name="boot.ini" partition="3220156886" size="396" />
    	</checkfiles>
    	<bootmgr default_os="4194816748" disks_order_feature="1" />
    </bootwiz>
    To chage the order, just move the OS entry "section" to the position you want. Notice that each menu entry has its own ID (<id2591228611>) for example. Make sure you move the entire section. It may be several lines or just one line, depending on the entry.

    The name of the menu entry is in the "name template=...." tag part of the entry. You can use that to tell which ones they are.

    For example: If you want the "Boot from floppy" entry listed before the "Acronis Rescue Media" entry, you would swap the positions like this:

    Code:
    		[COLOR="DarkOrchid"]<id2591228611 boot_as_ms71="1" boot_as_os2="0" boot_cd_entry="0" icon="icon_boot_floppy" language="" lba="1" letter="65" name_template="Boot from floppy %o" nthide="0" os_type="floppy" use_manual_disks_order="0" write_boot="0">
    			<partitions>
    				<id3220156886 active="1" />
    			</partitions>
    		</id2591228611>[/COLOR]
    		[COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"]<id3468778367 boot_as_ms71="0" boot_as_os2="0" boot_cd_entry="0" boot_partition="2525211810" icon="icon_sys_acronis_secure_zone" language="" lba="1" name_template="Acronis Rescue Media" nthide="0" os_type="linux" uninstall_info="1" use_manual_disks_order="0" write_boot="0">
    			<partitions>
    				<id3220156886 active="1" />
    			</partitions>
    		</id3468778367>[/COLOR]
    
    I would recommend you use the Windows NOTEPAD program to do the editing of this file. Just highlight the OS section, select "Cut" from the Edit menu, then postition the cursor where you want it and "Paste" it in. As long as you keep the "os id sections" together, there shouldn't be any problems. Your edited file should look the same when you're done except the entries will be in the order you want.
     
  7. CWBillow

    CWBillow Registered Member

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    MC:

    ME myself got all my shortcuts in order! Sooner or later I listen to instructions, dontcha know?

    Now, two (fairly tiny) details:

    I took all the ";" from in from of the timeouts in all the boot.ini files (for all the os's and the one in C:\), but still when I boot, it just comes to the menu and waits.

    How the heck do I get the timeout countdown back? and

    When I boot into Linux, and then exit, unlike the other os's, that justt exit, I am taken immediately into the next shortcut/os.

    How do I put a "total" exit there?

    Regardss,
    CB
     
  8. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    Good!

    Why do you want the time countdown back if there's only one OS to choose from? Wouldn't you want it to boot directly without showing the XP bootloader menu? What time value is set?

    Can you describe in more detail exactly what you mean? Are you saying that when you exit Linux (shutdown), OSS is booting into the NEXT OS menu entry automatically?

    What Linux are you running (Ubuntu, Gentoo, Xandros, etc.)?
    Is it using GRUB or LILO?
     
  9. CWBillow

    CWBillow Registered Member

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    When I started this oddyssey, when OSS started up, a countdown window showed up, and if I did nothing, it would start the (I guess) default. THAT'S what I want back, because I have 4 choices: XP, XP Safe, Recovery Console, and Linux, and most often I would just want it to go ahead into XP, but then sometimes....

    I'm set up with SUSE 10.2; and al;though the "XP" isn't *physically* the next on the list, when I exit Linux, it doesn't touch the menu system, but jumps right into starting XP.

    Returning to the OSS menu would be nice.

    Here's the <oss>:

    Code:
    	<oses>
    		<id1104561763 boot_as_ms71="0" boot_as_os2="0" boot_cd_entry="0" boot_partition="3837881503" bootname="bootsect.sys" icon="icon_sys_win" language="english" lba="1" multi="multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS" name_template="Win XP Pro" nthide="0" os_type="ntxp" uninstall_info="1" use_manual_disks_order="0" write_boot="1">
    			<derived_oses>
    				<id3989217059 />
    				<id3070468914 />
    			</derived_oses>
    			<partitions>
    				<id3837881503 active="1" />
    				<id4053154486 active="1" />
    			</partitions>
    		</id1104561763>
    		<id3989217059 base_os="1104561763" boot_cd_entry="0" boot_partition="3837881503" bootname="bootsect.sys" icon="icon_sys_win" name_template="Win XP Pro Safe Mode" />
    		<id3070468914 base_os="1104561763" boot_cd_entry="0" boot_partition="3837881503" bootname="bootsect.sys" icon="icon_sys_win" name_template="Recovery Console" />
    		<id2557918275 boot_as_ms71="0" boot_as_os2="0" boot_cd_entry="0" boot_partition="142634744" icon="icon_sys_linux" language="" lba="1" name_template="%n%l %l(%ll%l)" nthide="0" os_type="linux" uninstall_info="1" use_manual_disks_order="0" write_boot="0">
    			<partitions>
    				<id3837881503 active="1" />
    				<id4053154486 active="1" />
    			</partitions>
    		</id2557918275>
    		<id1429026814 boot_as_ms71="1" boot_as_os2="0" boot_cd_entry="0" icon="icon_boot_floppy" language="" lba="1" letter="65" name_template="Boot from floppy %o" nthide="0" os_type="floppy" use_manual_disks_order="0" write_boot="0">
    			<partitions>
    				<id3837881503 active="1" />
    				<id4053154486 active="1" />
    			</partitions>
    		</id1429026814>
    	</oses>
    
    
    I used the [CODE tag; hope it all formats right -- I cut/paste from bootwiz.oss.

    Regards,
    CB
     
  10. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    To set the Default OS: Start OSS, right-click on the OS you want to be the "default OS" and select the Set Default option.

    oss_defaultos.JPG

    To set the Countdown Timer to Boot the Default OS: Start OSS, then select the Tools->Options menu. Under the Startup Options section, select the With timeout option and set the number of seconds.

    oss_defaultboottime.JPG

    I have not experienced this problem. I assume it has something to do with how Suse was installed or its booting options. Do you know what bootloader it's using (GRUB or LILO) and where it was installed (to the MBR or to the bootsector of the Suse partition)?

    Does OSS menu entry for Suse boot directly into Suse or does it go into a GRUB or LILO menu that then boots Suse?

    It shouldn't act that way, but I can't say if it's a problem with OSS or if Suse is loading Windows. I haven't tried Suse, only Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Xubuntu and they all work normally. A reboot goes back to the OSS menu.

    When you exit Suse, does the XP loading screen show right up or do you see any other screens?
     
  11. CWBillow

    CWBillow Registered Member

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    One and two are now OK... thanks ever so...

    I believe that the (SUSE) install put the boot process into the MBR, 'cause they discussed that in the OSS install process... that you have to resore it after the (SUSE) install id=s complete.

    It's got to be GRUB as I recall... I don't think I've ever even seen LILO... the one time I was asked during install, I chose GRUB just to stay with the familiar.

    This happens to me on the opening SUSE menu, NOT after fully loading SUSE.

    I was just testing the "go to" process, so I did, and it goes to the startup menu, on which "Windows" is one of the choices (in the event that you have 2 OS's on your box, you can then choose) and it's when you (I) pick "Windows" that it does this... logically, when I say it like that... but then what the heck would you do to just go back to the OSS screen?

    CB
     
  12. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    So when you actually start Suse and then shutdown or restart Suse (by exiting Suse), it either turns off the computer or returns to the OSS menu depending on whether you selected to shutdown or restart. Correct?

    If you select Windows from the Suse Grub menu then it will boot directly to Windows. If you want to reboot to OSS from GRUB you'll have to reboot (Ctrl-Alt-Del) or possibly add a GRUB entry to boot back to the OSS hard drive (I haven't tried that so I don't even know if it's possible). I've always just rebooted in this situation.
     
  13. CWBillow

    CWBillow Registered Member

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    Yes, if I restart from within SUSE, it reboots the machine; if I Suspend, or log out, it returns to the SUSSE opeing menu, from which there isn't a "get out of jail card", and if I pick Windows from there, it's off to XP.

    Maybe I'll check with the SUSE board, or maybe, as you succinctly pointed out, just re-start. But I was so close to a "just right" situation..

    Oh well..

    Thanks again for all your help, MC...

    Maybe we both ought to head in for the night...

    I'm on your schedule, as I'm in Chula Vista (San Diego)...

    CB
     
  14. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    When you "suspend" or "log out" from Linux, I don't think it's going back to GRUB. Suse may be different though. If it gives the option to boot into Windows, you ought be to able to add the option to boot back to the OSS menu. It's just a matter of figuring out how.

    In what order where things ORIGINALLY installed on your computer?
    Windows XP->OSS->Suse ??

    Then you had to reactive OSS after the Suse install?

    Just trying to get it clear in my head the procedure you used.
     
  15. CWBillow

    CWBillow Registered Member

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    MC:

    >>
    In what order where things ORIGINALLY installed on your computer?
    Windows XP->OSS->Suse ??
    <<

    Yup and then you re-activate OSS.

    If you log out of SUSE, the screen you're then brought to is just a log in screen, not one with all the selections of the first screen.

    The "first screen" is what GRUB installs by default, which, like OSS, sees the various OS's on board and shows them as menu choices -- SUSE and some variants thereof (graphics mode, non-graphics etc.) , Windows, and any others.

    You can alter GRUB in SUSE, but that's not where you go back to at log out, and on re-start, it does just that, not like a VM that just closes that session.

    CB
     
  16. CWBillow

    CWBillow Registered Member

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    MC:

    I'm backtracking just a touch, but since it happened and ended up being an issue:

    What file format are the boot.ini files supposed to be in - DOS/PC or UNIX?

    I see that it's a diff in line endings; if I call it (them) up in Notepad and save it, they're going to be plain text/dos/PC aren't they?

    What's making them be seen as UNIX in both (now that I know what I'm looking for) Textpad and UltraEdit? How can they both be seeing file formats that aren't there (if the files ARE just text)?

    CB
     
  17. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    The boot.ini files should be Standard DOS text files using the DOS CR/LF characters for line-breaks (new lines, like when you press the ENTER key when editing).

    Linux seems to use ONLY the LF character to denote a line-break. This shows as a little "rectangle" in Windows Notepad. (See the example in Post #:cool:

    If you want to "fix" the file with Notepad, you have to delete the "rectangle" and press the ENTER key to make a Standard DOS line-break

    Shown in a file hex editor you can see the difference.

    Here is the CORRECT version, using both the CR (0x0D) and the LF (0x0A) characters for the line-break:
    linux_hex_crlf.JPG

    Here is the INCORRECT version, using only the LF (0x0A) character for the line-break:
    linux_hex_lf.JPG
     
  18. CWBillow

    CWBillow Registered Member

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    The UNIX/DOS part makes total sense...

    But what if you're offered a choice of PC/DOS or PC/ANSI?

    CB
     
  19. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    I would guess the PC/ANSI format would be what you want. However, I don't know the exact difference between the two. When I look in Windows Notepad, it is defaulting to the ANSI format. Opening a "bad" file and saving it does not correct the problem. If I open a "bad" file with Windows WordPad and then save it as a Text Document, it DOES fix the problem automatically.

    If you have an editor that gives you the option of those two formats, why don't you create a test text file and then save it to each format. Then open both files in Notepad and see if they both look correct or if one of them is wrong.
     
  20. CWBillow

    CWBillow Registered Member

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    I posted to the TextPad forum... I see no difference, but the program DOES offer the choice on saving...

    Regards,
    CB
     
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