Re: Determine current boot.ini partition booted into

From: siliconpi (siliconpiNOSPAM_at_hotpop.com)
Date: 09/03/04 

Date: 3 Sep 2004 07:06:14 -0700

Hi Billy,

I'm trying to build a program that will do this for me. The reason is
that within our company, we have a lot of test machines where people
have installed these OSes. Now, if someone else comes along and looks
at this startup screen - he's going to be confused as to which OS
containing the customization he needs...

I do need to write a program that can do this for me. By having this
in place, I can quickly rename the boot partition without worrying
about what boot.ini entry I selected at the time of bootup. Trust me,
when you've seen 14-15 machines, all like this, you'll have no clue as
to what entry you selected at boot up...

Thanks.

"Billy" <Noone@home.spamnet> wrote in message news:<LoUZc.1637$N4.462@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net>...
> I repeat.
> Use the hidden boot.ini file and edit with any text editor (notepad will
> do). You may change the part with in the parenthesis. See above post. No
> program needed.
>
> "siliconpi" <siliconpiNOSPAM@hotpop.com> wrote in message
> news:eb6ae965.0409022100.1ec5f595@posting.google.com...
> > Sorry for not being clear. Here's the background. In our testing we
> > have machines with several of the same OSes on them. So on boot up,
> > the user is presented with a screen like:
> >
> > Microsoft Windows XP Professional
> > Microsoft Windows XP Professional
> > Microsoft Windows XP Professional
> > Microsoft Windows XP Professional
> >
> > Which isn't very helpful.
> >
> > What i'm trying to achieve is that - when the user selects one of
> > these and boots into that OS.. he can then examine the system and see
> > "oh this is the Windows XP with Office in it" and then run a tool:
> >
> > RenameBootEntry "WinXP with office"
> >
> > Which renames the APPROPRIATE boot.ini entry with this text.
> >
> > I'm okay with writing a VBS/WBS script or some batch scripting... that
> > would be the simplest way of handling it. This tool will only be run
> > on Win2000*, WinXP* and Win2003 Server*
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> >
> > "Ricardo M. Urbano - W2K/NT4 MVP" <rmu1@columbiaSPAM.SUCKSedu> wrote
> in message news:<4137702C.6964CD57@columbiaSPAM.SUCKSedu>...
> > > siliconpi wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Hi,
> > > >
> > > > I need to determine which boot.ini setting the user chose when
> > > > selecting entries at the boot screen. My boot.ini reads as:
> > > >
> > > > [boot loader]
> > > > timeout=30
> > > > default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
> > > > [operating systems]
> > > > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
> > > > Professional" /fastdetect
> > > > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003,
> > > > Enterprise" /fastdetect
> > > >
> > > > If the user chooses Windows Server 2003, how do I determine that
> fact
> > > > exactly?
> > > >
> > > > I need to modify this entry (in boot.ini) later on. (I'm trying to
> > > > build a tool that renames the current systemdrive entry in
> boot.ini to
> > > > something more descriptive than the above - ie, what the user
> > > > chooses).
> > > >
> > > > Thanks!
> > >
> > > I'm not exactly sure I understand what you are trying to accomplish,
> but
> > > the environment variable, %SystemDrive%, contains the boot volume
> drive
> > > letter, IOW, the drive letter that NTx is installed to.
> > >
> > > hth

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