bootos(HW)

bootos -- load and run an operating system from a partition

Syntax

bootos [ ? | partition_number | filesystem_name | id=filesystem_id ]

dos

win

Description

bootos is a standalone program that can be called from boot(HW). It loads and runs an operating system from a root disk partition other than the currently active partition.

If you enter bootos at the boot prompt without any arguments, it prints a usage message.

The command bootos ? displays the current partition table for the root disk. The following information is displayed for each partition:

the partition number (1-4)
the partition status (Active or blank for not active)
the operating system ID of the filesystem in the partition
the filesystem type (see fdisk(ADM) for details of the recognized types)
the start and end tracks of the partition
the size in tracks of the partition

bootos partition_number boots the operating system on the specified partition number.

bootos filesystem_name boots from the first partition containing a filesystem with the specified name. Valid filesystem_names, which can be specified in upper- or lowercase, are:

ccpm: concurrent CP/M filesystem
dos | win: matches any DOS Windows filesystem; bootos cannot distinguish between these
dos_12: DOS 12-bit FAT (file access table)
dos_16: DOS 16-bit FAT
dos_32: DOS 32-bit FAT
dos_ext: DOS extended partition
novell: Novell filesystem
nt | os2 | os2_hpfs: NT, OS/2, or OS/2 HPFS filesystem; bootos cannot distinguish between these
pcix: PCIX filesystem
unix: UNIX system filesystem
xenix: XENIX filesystem

bootos id=filesystem_id boots from the first partition containing a filesystem with the specified ID.

You can boot the system from a DOS partition by entering the command dos at the boot prompt. This is equivalent to entering bootos dos and boots the first DOS partition found on the disk.

dos is implemented as a link to bootos in the boot filesystem. When the system has booted, this filesystem is normally mounted on /stand in the root filesystem. To create an equivalent boot command for another filesystem type you can add an alias entry to /etc/default/boot. For example, to create an alias to boot an NT partition:

   nt=bootos nt

Alternatively, you can create a symbolic link to bootos in the /stand directory. The link must have the same name as a filesystem name that bootos recognizes. This example creates a command to boot a XENIX partition:

ln -s /stand/bootos /stand/xenix

Diagnostics

bootos: no filesystem on requested partition: The specified partition does not contain a filesystem.
bootos: requested filesystem partition not found: The specified filesystem cannot be found on the root disk.
command: no partition table: The root disk's masterboot partition table is missing or corrupt. (command is the name the bootos program was invoked with.)

Limitations

bootos cannot distinguish between NT, OS/2, and OS/2 HPFS filesystems; if necessary, you can specify a partition by its number.

bootos does not change the active partition on the root disk; to do this, use fdisk instead.

Files