Re: 2 wondows versions detected on pc startup?

You got pretty much what I know about it, Tim. Check All Boot Paths reads
the boot.ini. How? I have no idea. I also have no idea how checking or
unchecking Boot Options adds or removes switches in the boot.ini. I do know
that it is safer to let msconfig edit the boot.ini, especially for first
timers, than directly editing it in Notepad.

As far as I know, there are only a couple of things that Windows even knows
about a machine's BIOS.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System
Value Name: SystemBiosVersion
Data Type: REG_MULTI_SZ
Value Data: This should show the BIOS version.

Value Name: SystemBiosDate
Data Type: REG_MULTI_SZ
Value Data: This should show the BIOS date.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Biosinfo
Value Name: InfName
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value Data: biosinfo.inf

Value Name: SystemBiosDate
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value Data: This should show the BIOS date.

Biosinfo.inf: Windows file that lists machines on the Autoenable APM list
and the Disable APM list, and also lists the BIOS detection sequences used
to match them.

Biosinfo vs. Machine-Specific Info. The results of machine-specific
detection versus Biosinfo.inf are stored in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\BIOSInfo\APM. If the
"Attributes" value is 1, the machine's APM BIOS is "known good" and the
machine is on the Autoenable APM list. If the value 2, the machine's APM
BIOS is "known bad" and the machine is on the Disable APM list. Otherwise,
the machine is neutral.

C:\WINDOWS\inf\biosinfo.inf

If this is any help to you. My boot.ini.

[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /sos

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1) appears in my registry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control
Value Name: SystemBootDevice
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value Data: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)

/noexecute=optin /fastdetect /sos also appear in that key.
Value Name: SystemStartOptions
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value Data: NOEXECUTE=OPTIN FASTDETECT SOS

FYI, NOEXECUTE=OPTIN Enables DEP for core system images and those specified
in the DEP configuration dialog. Added by SP2.

FASTDETECT Default boot option for Windows. Causes NTDETECT to skip
parallel and serial device enumeration, so that NTDETECT can support booting
Windows NT 4. Note that ntdetect.com detects installed hardware components
when XP boots.

SOS I added this. Causes Windows to list the device drivers marked to load
at boot time and then to display the system version number (including the
build number), amount of physical memory, and number of processors.

Maybe I should have just said, "You got pretty much what I know about it",
and left it at that, :-)

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In news:461036c4$0$19399$4c368faf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
Timothy Daniels <TDaniels@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> hunted and pecked:
"Wesley Vogel" wrote:
Timothy Daniels hunted and pecked:
"Wesley Vogel" wrote:
Check All Boot Paths

Start | Run | Type: msconfig | Click OK |
Boot.ini tab | Check All Boot Paths button |
A dialog box will open detailing the location of any invalid operating
system locations | Confirm you want to remove the entry and reboot

[[Check All Boot Paths - This button will check the boot paths for all
operating systems listed in the BOOT.INI to ensure they point to a
valid operating system. ]]


What happens if msconfig finds an OS that is not listed in boot.ini?
Will it automatically make a corresponding entry in boot.ini? I ask
this because many times people advise use of msconfig's "Check all Boot
Paths" to "fix" boot.ini if boot.ini doesn't enable multi-booting
despite the presence multiple Windows OSes.

*TimDaniels*

What happens if msconfig finds an OS that is not listed in boot.ini?

Read this....

[[Check All Boot Paths - This button will check the boot paths for all
operating systems listed in the BOOT.INI to ensure they point to a valid
operating system. ]]

How is it going to find anything NOT listed in the boot.ini?

Read this...

I have no idea. That's why I asked. But it is conceivable that
msconfig could read the BIOS's list of HDs just like ntldr does, and then
look at the partition tables in each HD like MBRs do, and then look at
the file structure in each partition like the Boot Sectors do, and find
Windows OSes. I doubt that it does that, but many times various posters
in this very NG advise using msconfig to build a multi-boot boot.ini
using msconfig's "Check All Boot Paths" button. I'd just like to see an
explicit affirmation or denial of that functionality,
perhaps from you - if you know.

*TimDaniels*

.