Specifying a partition at the boot prompt

You can boot different operating systems or partitions at the boot prompt using the bootos(HW) command. This method allows you to launch an operating system without changing the currently active partition.

Specifically, you can use bootos(HW) to:

• Run the operating system in a specific partition by entering bootos partition_number at the boot prompt. For example, the following command loads the operating system installed in the third partition on the root disk:

     Boot
     : bootos 3
  

  Entering bootos ? displays the contents of the current partition table, including the operating system types installed in all partitions.

• Run a specific operating system by entering bootos os_type at the boot prompt. Some of the types you can specify for os_type include:

  
  dos | win

  Windows/DOS filesystems; bootos cannot distinguish between these types

  
  nt

  Windows NT filesystems

  
  unix

  UNIX system filesystems

  
  xenix

  XENIX filesystems

  For example, the following command boots the first Windows NT partition on the root disk:

     Boot
     : bootos nt
  

• Create a boot command for a specific operating system by adding the following line to the /etc/default/boot file:
  
  alias=bootos partition_number

  alias is the command that you want to type at the boot prompt and partition_number is the number of the partition where the operating system is installed. For example, to create a command for booting a Linux system in the second partition, you would add the following to /etc/default/boot:
  
  linux=bootos 2

  This would allow you to launch the Linux system by typing linux at the boot prompt.