Tutorial:Operating Systems

Understanding Multiple-Booting
There are a number of reasons why you may wish to set up a PC to boot into a choice of operating systems, but many operating systems have foibles which make this a tricky task. We alert you to the main pitfalls, and outline the simplest methods to achieve what you require.
By Terence Green

ne common reason to set up a PC to run two operating systems is to facilitate migration from an older operating system, but sometimes it can be useful to run several operating systems on a single PC for other reasons. It isnt impossible to set up a multiboot system, but it is very tricky, thanks to the quirks and foibles of the PC BIOS and the partial file system compatibility of different operating systems - not to mention their individual boot requirements. The desire to run certain games is a common incentive for home users to run multiple operating systems, especially if the games are ones that like running on a real DOS. Windows 95 makes it easier to run DOS games, but isnt perfect. Playing DOS games under Windows 3.1 and Windows NT can be a real trial. On Windows NT the game probably wont work properly, but the operating system will protect your data. No such luck with Windows 3.1, where playing a DOS game can result in system crashes and trashed file systems. The safest option is to run tricky DOS games from a separately-booted system. Development systems are another common reason for running a multiboot setup, either because the target platform differs from the development platform or because applications are being developed to run on multiple platforms. A multi-boot system can also be very useful for testing Web pages and applications on different browsers, as it can often be cleaner to set each browser up in its own, separately-booted operating system.

Multi-boot systems also have their place in the IT department, where they are used to evaluate several operating systems, and on helpdesks which need to offer support for several platforms. Multi-boot systems are also useful for trainers, demonstrators and users who need to run multiple language versions of an operating system.

Setting Up
Simple multi-boot systems are most often created as a standard feature of Windows 95, Windows NT and OS/2 Warp. When the installation programs for these operating systems detect an existing operating system, they offer to install the new OS either as an additional bootable operating system or as an upgrade, over-writing the existing operating system. Retaining the original operating system enables a measured transition to the new platform if there are applications which wont run under the new operating system. Opting to install the new operating system to a separate directory or hard disk retains the existing operating system and con-

figures a basic multiple-boot system semi-automatically, with a minimum of fuss. Installing a Windows 95 upgrade in a separate subdirectory enables an earlier Windows 3.1 system to be retained and selected at boot time by pressing the F5 key when the Starting Windows 95... message appears. When a PC is rebooted after Windows NT has been installed in a new subdirectory, or on another partition, a Windows Boot Menu appears. Either Windows NT or the previous DOS/Windows or Windows 95 operating system can be selected for booting. OS/2 Warp can be installed over an existing DOS, DOS/Windows or Windows 95 system as a Dual Boot system. When in DOS, the command BOOT/OS2 will reboot the PC into OS/2 Warp. BOOT/DOS reboots the system into DOS. The BOOT program is stored in the \OS2 subdirectory. These setups are designed to ease the transition to the new operating system and are not really designed to support the ongoing use of both systems. A common problem arising in regular use of multiple operating systems is

The best way to set up multiple operating systems on a PC is to use each operating systems native file system, and to use a local FAT drive or a shared network drive for shared data. PC Support Advisor

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Development systems are a common reason for running a multi-boot setup, either because the target platform differs from the development platform or because applications are being developed to run on multiple platforms.
data storage and how to share it, since newer operating systems have enhanced file systems which are not supported by the older operating systems. The best way to set up multiple operating systems on a PC is to use each operating systems native file system, and to use a local FAT drive or a shared network drive for shared data. dows NT and OS/2 Warp you should create recovery diskettes with the provided system utilities. For Windows NT and OS/2 Warp you should also have copies of the original setup diskettes handy. There is, however, an alternative. Utilities such as PowerQuests PartitionMagic (www.powerquest.com) and V Communications System Commander (www.v-com.com) can do the job for you. PartitionMagic can create or re-size partitions on-the-fly while System Commander enables multiple operating systems to be installed and selected from a menu at boot time.

Depending on whether there is an existing IDE/EIDE drive in the system, the SCSI BIOS either replaces the IDE/EIDE BIOS routines or supplements them when IDE and SCSI drives are present.

Multiple Drives
The maximum number of physical drives which can be addressed by the original PC BIOS is 2 so, if IDE and SCSI drives are present, the first physical IDE drive and the first physical SCSI drive will be recognised as drives 0 and 1. Support for more than two physical drives can be added by the operating system, by the SCSI BIOS or by an enhanced PC BIOS. The EIDE interface which enables two drive channels, each able to support two physical drives, is an example. It first appeared on EIDE adapters, but since 1994 has been incorporated into most PC BIOSes. Older PC BIOSes may not support newer, large EIDE drives. There are several ways around this problem, all of which disguise the actual geometry of the drive. One of these solutions is to employ a special DOS device driver. This particular approach should be avoided in a multi-boot system, as should disk compression based on DOS device drivers. Finally, different operating systems have differing degrees of support for multiple hard drives, which acts as an additional constraint on multiple boot setups. And, since some multi-boot systems are more vulnerable than others, and corruption or loss of the MBR data can render the system unusable, it is always advisable to have a recovery system in place.

Multi-Boot Tools
To create a multi-boot system it is necessary to know each operating systems foibles and how they interact with the PC ROM BIOS routines which define hard disks and initiate the booting process. Youll need tools for partitioning hard disks - all operating systems provide these. To keep this discussion simple well steer clear of the Unix family and concentrate on DOS, Windows, and OS/2 Warp. For DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and OS/2 Warp the relevant utilities are FDISK for partitioning, and the self-explanatory FORMAT. Theyre found on the setup diskettes for the respective operating systems. Windows NT is slightly different in that it has a graphical Disk Administrator utility, which can be found in the Administrative Tools menu. Partitioning and formatting utilities are also embedded in the Windows NT Setup program on the setup diskettes. The golden rule with any work of this kind is to have backups of any vital data and to keep a set of emergency recovery disks handy. At the very least this means a bootable DOS diskette with the FDISK, FORMAT and SYS commands. For Windows 95, Win-

The Boot Process

When a PC-compatible system is powered up, the ROM BIOS bootstraps (runs) the master boot program from the Master Boot Record (MBR) located on the first physical disk drive. The master boot program reads the partition table to see where the operating system boot record is stored and hands over control to it, at which point the operating system starts to boot. All multi-boot systems manipulate the MBR in order to select a particular operating system to boot. The ROM BIOS knows how to find the MBR because the PC ROM BIOS also defines the drive interface. The basic interface is either the IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) or the EIDE (Enhanced IDE) interface. SCSI drives are attached to a SCSI host interface, which has its own BIOS which maps into a memory space that the PC BIOS reads during the initial bootstrap phase.

Disk Partitioning
All PC operating systems rely on a file system in order to store the operating system and user data. An operating system sets up its file system as it is being installed, and makes use of the partition table in the MBR to store the pointers to its own boot record. The Master Boot Record contains the master boot program, and a partition table which defines the partitions on the first physical hard disk. A disk

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Multiple-Booting
The Master Boot Record contains the master boot program, and a partition table which defines the partitions on the first physical hard disk.
drive may contain more than one partition, in which case each partition has its own partition table which is referenced by a pointer in the MBR. If there is more than one hard disk, each will have its own master partition table with a reference pointer in the MBR. There are some basic rules for partitions. In order to be bootable, a primary partition must exist on the first physical drive and be marked active in the MBR. A hard disk may contain up to four primary partitions, but only one can be active at any one time and only the active primary partition will be visible to the operating system. This leads into a simple way to create a manual multi-boot system. Create up to four primary partitions using DOS FDISK. Then mark each active in turn, format it with FORMAT and install a different operating system on each. To change to another operating system you would mark the required partition active and reboot. In this case only the partition from which it booted would be visible to each operating system. Not terribly useful, but often used to run a Unix partition on a PC that normally runs DOS, Windows or OS/2 Warp. As primary partitions are relatively inflexible the Extended Partition was devised. A hard disk is still limited to four partitions but the extended partition can now be divided into logical partitions. The use of an extended partition saves primary partitions for other uses such as the Compaq system utility partition. first physical drive. Some DOS and Windows 95 system files can be placed on a logical drive, but the critical boot files have to be on the active primary. Neither DOS nor Windows 95 can read the Windows NT NTFS and OS/2 Warp HPFS file systems. A few shareware DOS utilities can read HPFS and NTFS file systems, but they are not effective as a means of enabling day-today shared access to NTFS and HPFS files. If you already have a PC with Windows 95 installed, and you plan to add another operating system, first check the Windows 95 version number. Two different pre-load versions have been shipped by OEMs, the later version with a file system that better supports large hard drives. The snag with OEM Service Release 2 (or OSR2, as it is known) is that its (optional) FAT32 file system is unreadable by any other operating system. The Windows 95 version appears on the first page of the Control Panel/System screen. OSR2 reports version 400.950 B, where the B signifies OSR2. A Windows 95 OSR2 system will have the active primary partition formatted as FAT32, and no other operating system - DOS, Windows 3.1, the original Windows 95, Windows NT, or OS/2 Warp - will be able to install or boot from that partition. Nor is it possible to add Windows NT to a Windows 95 OSR2 system in a dual-boot configuration, as Windows NT stores its boot program on the active primary which, in this case, would be unreadable. OS/2 Warp can be set up as an additional operating system using the OS/2 Warp Boot Manager, but only after OSR2 has first been removed to enable the OS/2 Boot Manager to be installed. Dont install multiple copies of Windows 95 on a PC. Some Windows 95 system files are automatically copied into specific directories which cannot be altered by the user. If two or more copies of Windows 95 are installed on a single PC it is likely that the system will become inconsistent as a result. If you must install multiple copies of Windows 95 on a single PC, install each into a separate primary partition or use a utility such as System Commander to work around this problem. Windows NT Windows NT system files can be installed into any partition on any drive, including logical partitions, but the Windows NT boot program must reside on the active primary partition on the first physical drive. This is because Microsoft tinkers with the Master Boot Record in order to set up a multiple boot option for Windows NT and a pre-existing Microsoft operating system such as DOS or Windows 95. When installing Windows NT as an additional operating system on a PC it can be installed into the same partition as an existing Microsoft operating system, but it is better to install NT into its own partition and to use its native NTFS file system for best performance and reliability. Multiple copies of NT can be installed on the same PC, including different release versions, providing each is installed into a separate partition. However, do beware of a major file system reliability problem with Windows NT version 3.51. A bug in the Disk Manager code, which only affects drives with more than two logical partitions, can result in the partition table being overwritten, leading to catastrophic loss of data. After installing Windows NT 3.51, when the Disk Manager is run for the first time, it will ask permission to write a disk signature. It is important that you do not do this. Before running Disk Manager on a fresh Windows NT 3.51 installation you must install a Windows NT 3.51 Service Pack. Any Service Pack from SP1 will do. The most recent Windows NT 3.51 Service Pack is SP5. Another problem with Windows NT occurs if you install an earlier ver-

Rules For Partitions

DOS And Windows 95 DOS and Windows 95 can only boot from an active primary partition on the

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sion onto a system which already has Windows NT 4.0 or later installed. The boot loader program for Windows NT 3.51 (or earlier) cannot read the Windows NT 4.0 boot file, and you will be unable to boot Windows 4.0. If you must add an earlier version to a Windows NT 4.0 system, first prepare a recover diskette using the Windows NT 4.0 version of the RDISK.EXE utility. You will need the three original Windows NT 4.0 setup diskettes. After installing Windows NT 3.5x or earlier, boot the system from the setup diskettes and choose the REPAIR option. All versions of Windows can read and write to the FAT file system. No current version of Windows NT recognises the Windows 95 OSR2 FAT 32 file system. Versions of Windows NT up to 3.51 can read and write to the HPFS file system. Windows NT 4.0 cannot read or write the NTFS file system as delivered, but there is an unofficial workaround which involves copying a Windows 3.51 driver into the Windows NT 4.0 system directory and editing the registry file. Searching for PINBALL.SYS on one of the many unofficial OS/2 Warp Web sites should locate the instructions, which are not included here as the simplicity of the workaround disguises the ease with which a minor registry editing error could trash a working system. OS/2 Warp OS/2 provides two options for sustaining multiple operating systems on a PC. The Dual Boot option discussed earlier is primarily designed to support a transition to OS/2. By far the better option for multiple boot systems is the Boot Manager utility included with OS/2. This simple yet effective utility installs to a small active primary partition on the first physical drive and creates a menu from which multiple operating systems can be selected at boot time. OS/2 Boot Manager can be installed at any time, before or after other operating systems. The only pre-requisites are a megabyte or two of free space on the hard disk, and a free primary partition slot. If there are already four primary partitions on the hard disk, or three primaries and an extended parti-

tion, you will have to back up and re-partition. However, in this case the PartitionMagic utility could be used to re-partition on-the-fly. The OS/2 Boot Managers elegant approach to providing a multiple boot facility is in stark contrast to the approaches of Windows 95 and Windows NT, both of which tinker with the MBR in ways which assume that no operating systems other than those from Microsoft are worthy of consideration. OS/2 supports the FAT and HPFS file systems. It cannot read the Windows NT NTFS or Windows 95 OSR2 FAT32 file systems. Unix Most Unix systems need to boot from the first physical drive and will rewrite the MBR accordingly. Linux can boot from a logical drive. To run a Unix alongside other PC operating systems, first install a utility such as OS/2 Boot Manager or System Commander. After installing the Unix system, reset the OS/2 Boot Manager to be the active primary partition. NetWare A NetWare server can be set up in a multi-boot configuration. The only problem is in creating the NetWare partition. This requires free unallocated space on any drive. If the entire drive is occupied by primary and extended partitions, NetWare will not be able to create its partition. Using DOS FDISK to delete a logical drive within an extended partition will not enable NetWare to create a NetWare partition, since the space created is unused extended partition space rather than free space. Either the OS/2 Warp FDISK utility or the Windows NT Disk Administrator can be used to create free space by deleting a logical drive.

hardware, run diagnostics, or attempt recovery from a system or component failure.

Conclusion
There are a few simple rules which should be borne in mind when attempting to set up a multi-boot system: OS/2 and PartitionMagic include the OS/2 Boot Manager. Use it to set up multiple bootable partitions before installing any other operating system. q Its safest to start from scratch with FDISK if partitions need to be changed, but PartitionMagic can do it on-the-fly. q If you need more than four copies of operating systems which are dependant on primary partitions (DOS, Windows, Windows 95) buy a copy of System Commander. q Do not attempt to install Windows NT on a system running Windows 95 OSR2 with the FAT32 filing system.
q

Because there are so many different scenarios for setting up a multi-boot system they cannot all be explained in detail here. However, if you follow the guidelines in this article you should achieve what you desire, despite the OS foibles which can conspire to prevent you.

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Special File Systems

Just to complicate matters a little more, there are also a few special file systems provided by PC manufacturers such as Compaq, HP and IBM which are used to store system utilities on the hard disk. These file systems take up a primary partition slot and are invoked at boot time to configure the

The Author
Terence Green is a freelance IT writer and can be contacted as tgreen@cix.co.uk.

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