		      ͻ
		       MASTERBOOTER v2.0 DOCUMENTATION 
		          (C) Nagy Daniel 12-20-96     
		      ͼ
                               SHAREWARE VERSION

Ŀ
 CONTENTS 


		Disclaimer............................ 1

                Copyright............................. 2

		Introduction.......................... 3

                Files in package...................... 4

		Features.............................. 5

		Compatibility......................... 6

		Usage................................. 7

                A step-by-step example................ 8

		History............................... 9

		Registration......................... 10

		Contact.............................. 11


Ŀ
 DISCLAIMER  1 


        Using this program comes without any warranty. The author
        and distributors will not accept responsibility for any
        damage incurred directly or indirectly through use of this
        program.
        Use at your own risk!

Ŀ
 COPYRIGHT  2 


        This program is copyright (c) Nagy Daniel. This program is shareware.
        You are free to distribute it by electronic means and make as
        many copies as you want on electronic or magnetic media, as long
        as the files of this package remain unmodified, with copyright
        notices intact. Distributing parts separtely is not allowed!
        Selling for money is prohibited without the author's prior
        permission.

Ŀ
 INTRODUCTION  3 


        MasterBooter is a very powerful utility which enables your
        computer to use multiple operation systems without changing
        harddisks or messing with boot floppies.
        You can choose among up to three operating systems at boot time
        (four in the registered verison).
        MasterBooter is compatible with many operating systems.

Ŀ
 FILES IN PACKAGE  4 


        EFDISK.EXE     - Extended FDISK partitioning program
        EFDISK.DOC     - EFDISK documentation
        EFDHUN.DOC     - Hungarian EFDISK documentation
        FILE_ID.DIZ    - Description for BBS systems
        MRBOOTER.EXE   - MasterBooter executable
        MRBOOTER.DOC   - MasterBooter documentation
        MRBTHUN.DOC    - Hungarian MasterBooter documentation
        MRESCUE.COM    - Rescue disk maker utility
        REGISTER.FRM   - Registration form

Ŀ
 FEATURES  5 


        - Cabapility of booting from any disk's any primary partition

        - Compatibility with many operating systems:
             MS-DOS
             Novell DOS
             Linux
             OS/2
             Windows95  (*)
             Windows NT
             Unknown OS with 'standard' boot process (*)

        - Programmable delay time (*)

        - FAT partition hiding/unhiding

        - Password protecting a partition

        - Up to three operating systems on a single computer without
          the hassle of boot disks! (Registered version allows four!)

        - VERY small memory and harddisk space requirement for the setup
          program only. The loader doesn't use any memory or disk space!

        - Safety and easy-to-use user interface

(*) these features work in registered version only!

Ŀ
 COMPATIBILITY  6 


        Requirements:  - 80286 processor or newer
                       - MS-DOS or compatible operating system
                         (for installation only)
                       - At least one harddisk
                       - Keyboard
                       - VGA adapter
                       - If you have a harddisk with capacity more
                         than 540MB, then your mainboard MUST have
                         a new BIOS (EBIOS) which supports large drives,
                         else you won't be able to use MasterBooter.
                         Most 486 and all Pentium machines have such BIOS.

        This program souldn't conflict with any other programs which
        don't alter your disks Master Boot Record.

        Known programs which alter the MBR (and therefore can't be used
        with MasterBooter):

          - LILO (Linux's booter) if installed in MBR. Note that if LILO
            is installed in its partition's boot sector (the Linux partition
            superblock), then MasterBooter CAN coexist with LILO!
          - MicroHouse's EZ-Drive
          - OnTrack's Disk Manager
          - PC Vault

Ŀ
 USAGE  7 


        Introduction:
        

        Every time you turn on your computer, the BIOS executes a small
        program, which resides in the very first sector of your harddisk.
        This sector is the so-called Master Boot Record (MBR). This small
        program examines the partitions, and loads the operating system of
        the partition which has the 'active' flag. A harddisk can contain
        up to four primary partitions, but only one can be active at a time.
        This flexible technique enables many operating systems to be used
        on a PC. However, these systems often have their own unique loader
        code, and won't let you use other systems, unless you know tricky
        methods to get past this. MasterBooter works by replacing the program
        in the MBR with its own loader code that you can configure, so you
        can select from any installed operating system.


        Overview:
        

        If you have all operating systems installed, all you need to do is
        to run MRBOOTER.EXE, and configure your MBR. Before doing so you
        can use MRESCUE to create a backup copy of your partition tables.
        The Rescue utility from Norton Utilities is also a good choice to
        save all important areas of your harddisks.

        If you want to create a completely new system, follow the
        instructions below.
        Using EFDISK, partition the disk into as many primary partitions as
        you intend to have operating systems (up to a maximum of four per
        harddisk). Install DOS to them, and then use MRBOOTER to configure
        the MBR. Then install an operating system on each partition.
        When complete, you will be able to choose which system to boot each
        time you start your computer!


     1) Preparing To Partition Your Harddisk
        

        WARNING: Re-partitioning your harddisk will erase ALL data from it!
                 Make sure you have backed up any important files!

        Since most operating systems need to be started from a primary
        partition to boot reliably, you will need to use a disk partitioning
        utility that lets you make multiple primary partitions. FDISK, which
        is supplied as standard with DOS and Windows95, cannot create more
        than one primary partition, so the MasterBooter package includes
        EFDISK for this purpose.

        First, create a boot floppy and put copies of the following files
        onto it:
                    MRBOOTER.EXE (the MasterBooter utility)
                    EFDISK.EXE (disk-partitioning utility)
                    FDISK.EXE (disk-partitioning utility)
                    FORMAT.COM (to format DOS partitions)

        If you need to install any operating systems from a CD-ROM, you will
        also need CD-ROM driver files, plus properly configured AUTOEXEC.BAT
        and CONFIG.SYS files for this. Make sure it works before proceeding! 

        Reboot your machine with your boot floppy. From the relevant directory
        at the A: prompt, type EFDISK. This will start the EFDISK utility. 
        Note that this version of EFDISK handles only the first two harddisks!

        EFDISK will gather information about your disks and partitions. You
        will then be provided with a list of all partitions on all disks and
        their parameters. From this list you can choose the partition entry
        you want to change.

        When you select a partition, EFDISK will ask the following questions:
             - The hexadecimal type ID of the partition. EFDISK will show you
               the most common types and their IDs.
             - The starting cylinder of the partition (the minimum is 0).
               If the previous partition ends on cylinder 'x' then set this to
               'x+1'. This number is decimal.
             - The ending cylinder number of partition. EFDISK will show you
               the maximum cylinder number available for the actual harddisk.

        The number of heads and sectors per track are determined automatically
        for each disk, you don't have to mess with them.

        Pressing SPACE will activate the highlighted partition, pressing DEL
        will clear it.

        NOTE: EFDISK doesn't check for partition errors! It's not an
              'intelligent' program. You have total freedom to set all
              parameters, even if they are incorrect or redundant!
 
        When setting up partitions, bear the following in mind: Due to DOS
        file system limits, the larger the partition, the more space is wasted
        by "overhang." If you have a large drive (around 800MB or above) you
        may want to optimise your use of disk space by making each partition
        just below one of the "doubling points" (i.e. 255, 511, 1023
        megabytes, etc.).
        You can also have "extended" partitions, but EFDISK can only create
        primary partitions. You can, however, use the standard DOS FDISK
        utility to create an extended partition, and then create "logical
        drives" within that if you wish. Bear in mind that you can have a
        maximum of four primary and extended partitions on one drive, because
        each allocates one partition entry in the table.

        After preparing all partition entries, press F10 to save the new
        partition table to disk.


     2) Using MRBOOTER
        

        Now that you have successfully partitioned your harddisk, you can use
        the MRBOOTER utility to set up your system for booting multiple
        operating systems, then install the systems you wish to run. 

        How you now proceed depends on which operating systems you plan to
        install, but you will probably need to format and install DOS on at
        least one of them if you are planning to put DOS, Windows 3.x or
        Windows95 on any partition. Use FORMAT.EXE on your boot floppy with
        the /s switch to format and install the DOS kernel on the relevant
        partitions. 

        Now boot from your floppy and run MRBOOTER. You will be asked to name
        each boot partition. Here you can enable passwords and FAT partition
        hiding. When you have finished, you can then write this information
        to the MBR and MasterBooter has been installed! When you next reboot
        from the harddisk you will see a small menu asking you to type a
        number corresponding to the operating system you wish to boot.
        If you use password protecting, then you will be asked for a password.
        If you enter bad passwords 3 times, the computer will stop.

        If you enable partition hiding, then only the active FAT partition
        will be seen (as drive C:), the other primary FAT partitions on the
        master harddisk will be hidden.

        Now you can begin installing the operating systems.


     3) Important Notes
        

        - DOS based systems (therefore Windows 95) and Windows NT
          can only boot from a primary partition of the first harddisk!
          This means that the OS itself can reside on the slave disk,
          but it will tamper with the active partition of the master disk.
          For example Windows 95 and NT will install some garbage into
          the root directory of drive C:, and will replace the boot
          sector with its special one.
        - Before using this program be sure to disable the virus warning
          option in your system's BIOS (if it has this option), else the
          BIOS won't let MasterBooter to modify your harddisk's MBR!
        - If you want to add a partition later, don't hesitate, but
          after doing so you must re-run MasterBooter to update the
          new system.
        - Before running MasterBooter quit all multitasking environments
          (ie. Windows or OS/2 DOS box) and run plain DOS, because
          after the program writes the modifications to your harddisk,
          the system needs to be rebooted.
        - If you have two harddisks then I recommend the following:
          Put DOSes and Windowses (3.1, 95 and NT) on the master,
          OS/2 Warp and Linux on the slave disk. 
        - With DOS and Windows (not NT!) versions it's usually a good idea
          to create as small partitions as possible for the OSes itselves,
          and bigger logical drives for common data.
        - If you want to use common data partitions, create an extended
          partition with the original FDISK, then create logical drives
          in it. These logical drives are usable by nearly all OSes.
        - After installing Windows 95, MasterBooter menu will disappear,
          because the installer overwrites the Master Boot Record.
          Don't panic, just simply re-run MasterBooter, and everything will
          work fine.
        - If you install Linux on the slave disk, don't let LILO to modify
          the Master Boot Record, install it in the Linux partition's boot
          sector instead. Maybe you'll get a warning message saying you
          will not be able to boot Linux, but don't panic. Just run
          MasterBooter after the installation is done.
        - Bear in mind that the active partition is always called C:.
          Don't overwrite one system with another by choosing the wrong
          partition to install it on!

Ŀ
 A STEP-BY-STEP EXAMPLE  8 


         Let's suppose that we have a 1.6Gig master, and a 540Mb slave
         harddisk. We won't use FAT partition hiding here.
         Let's partition the harddisks in the following way:

         Master: 100Mb  - for DOS/Win3.1
                 300Mb  - for Windows 95 (note that Windows 95 is supported
                          in the registered version only!)
                 500Mb  - for programs and data  Ŀ These two partitions will
                 699Mb  - for games, archive area  be logical drives in an
                          for writing CD-ROMs     extended partition
                   1Mb  - for OS/2 Warp Boot Manager (it can be deleted after
                          OS/2 is fully installed)

         Slave:  240Mb  - for Linux
                 300Mb  - for OS/2 Warp

         Here's the recipee:

         1: Create a system diskette, and copy FORMAT, FDISK, EFDISK
            and MRBOOTER onto it.
         2: Run EFDISK and create the 100Mb and 300Mb partitions on the
            master harddisk (both are BIGDOS type)
         3: When the computer reboots, boot up with the system diskette and
            run FDISK. Create a 1199Mb extended partition, and crate the
            500Mb and 699Mb logical drives in it.
         4: After rebooting, use the diskette again. Format C: and F: with
            the '/s' command line option, D: and E: without it.
            Now you have two simple primary bootable partitions with plain
            DOS on them, and two logical drives (D: and E:).
         5: Run MasterBooter and select both DOSes. After rebooting, you
            should see a small bootmenu with the names you've entered in
            MasterBooter.
         6: Select the 100Mb partition, and install DOS and Windows 3.1 on C:.
            C: is always the partition you boot, F: will be the other
            primary partition, D: and E: will be the logical drives.
         7: Reboot the computer and select the 300Mb partition. Because now
            it becomes the C: drive, therfore it should be empty and F:
            should contain the installed DOS/Win3.1. Install Win95 to C:.
            When Win95 reboots the computer, the bootmenu will disappear.
            Just continue installing Win95, and if you're ready, re-install
            MasterBooter.
         8: Now the master harddisk is ready to go. Let's continue with
            Warp and Linux. Before installing Warp, do a 'fdisk /mbr' to
            uninstall MasterBooter.
         9: Install Warp. During installing, you can use Warp's FDISK to
            create the 300MB HPFS partition. Warp will call it D:.
        10: When all is done, install Linux, but don't let it to write LILO
            in the Master Boot Record. Install LILO in its own partition's
            boot sector (superblock) instead.
        11: Now install MasterBooter, and live a long and happy life with
            four OSes on a single PC!

            The numbers above are just for this example only. The only
            important thing is that you should leave 1Mb unpartitioned
            space on the master harddisk, because Warp needs it during
            installation.

Ŀ
 HISTORY  9 


       Version:

       1.0b - First official test release

       1.1  - Both versions: Added EFDISK partitioning program to package
                             Fixed typos in documentations
                             Removed 'by NagyD' string from loader
                             Improved 'string input' routine
                             Added Hungarian documentatiom
              Registered:    Minor bug fixes
                             Added support for unknown file system
                             Added infinite boot delay time
              Shareware:     Minor bug fixes

       1.2  - Both versions: Less useless MBR writes (better loader routine)
                             If an OS is not on the first harddisk, then
                               MasterBooter will examine that the 'physical
                               drive number' value in the boot sector is
                               correct. If not, it will be corrected.
                               For example OS/2 cannot boot if this value is
                               incorrect.
                             OS/2's Boot Manager doesn't patch the MBR (this
                               was an error in the documentation of
                               MasterBooter), so it can coexist with
                               MasterBooter (but unnecessary).

       1.3  - Both versions: Fixed a small bug in the Boot Sector patcher
                             Added LILO detection in the MBR
                             Loader now clears screen if necessary
                             System names can be up to 16 characters long

       1.4  - Both versions: Small improvements in loader routine

       1.5  - Both versions: Added support for Windows NT
                             Some documentation cosmetics and additions

                      A Big Thanks goes to Jonathan Baker-Bates, who helped
                      me to re-write and correct the documentation.

              Shareware:     Added support for Novell DOS

       2.0  - Both versions: Added support for password protecting a partition
                             Added support for hiding/unhiding FAT partitions
                             Better OS detection routine
                             Fixed documentation bug in the example section
                             DOC files are renamed to TXT

Ŀ
 REGISTRATION  10 


        The registration benefits the following:

        - Windows95 support
	- Unknown OS support
        - Programmable delay time
        - Programmable default system
        - Up to four choosable operation systems (not three)


        Registration fee:  20 USD           for private license

                           50 USD           for small site license if the
                                            program is used on max 50 machines

                           1 USD / machine  if the program is used on more
                                            than 50 machines


        Print the registration form (the file REGISTER.FRM), fill it
        and send it to:
                         Nagy Daniel
                         2011 Budakalsz
                         Ciklamen u. 19.
                         HUNGARY

     !  Registration via E-mail is NOT accepted, since your signature
     !  is required!

        Upon registering you'll get the latest registered version of
        MasterBooter and information about future releases when available.


        You can register in three ways:
        

           1) Send cheqe or money order to:   Nagy Daniel
              Use registered mail only.       2011 Budakalasz
              Don't send coins!               Ciklamen u. 19.
                                              HUNGARY

           2a) Bank transfer from Hungary:
                                  Address:    Mezobank Rt.
                                              8200 Veszprem
                                              Egyetemi fiok 1.
                              Account No.:    10600546-71910011

           2b) Bank transfer from other country:
                                  Address:    OTP Veszpremi Korzeti fiok
                                              8200 Veszprem
                              Account No.:    B114220

           3) Via Albert's Ambry. Check out http://www.alberts.com for more
              information. There you can register on-line, and immediately
              download the registered version. It's probably the most
              comfortable way of registering.
              This method is available only for private and small site
              license!

        The preferred registration method is to send the cash together with
        the registration form in a registered envelope. This is the fastest,
        and we don't have to pay additional postal or bank transfer fee.


        Getting the software:
        

        You can order your copy on a 1.44Mb floppy diskette.
        In this case you have to pay additional 5 USD / 300 HUF for
        postage and package.
        You can also order via E-mail transfer (preferred). Then you'll
        get your copy uuencoded in an E-mail.


        Warning!
        

        You're not allowed to copy or distribute the registered version
        of this software. If you do so, please consider that my whole work
        (many weeks I can say...) will be almost wasted time.
        Please support shareware!

Ŀ
 CONTACT  11 


        If you have any problems, questions or suggestions you can
        contact me through mail or Internet E-mail.
        Bug reports, ideas also welcomed!


        Postal address:                      Internet E-mail address:
                               
        Nagy Daniel                          nagyd@almos.vein.hu
        2011 Budakalasz
        Ciklamen u. 19                       WWW homepage:
        HUNGARY                              
                                             http://www.vein.hu/~nagyd
        Fax: (36) 26 340-472
