SUMMARY:

Windows utilize the Boot.ini file to find out the operating system options to show during the boot process. Boot.ini is flagged as a read-only system file by default and should not need any manual modification. To change the contents of this file simply, use the System tool in Control Panel.

MORE INFORMATION:

The following is a typical Boot.ini file:
[boot loader] timeout=30 default=scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\winnt

[operating systems] scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\winnt = "Windows NT" /NODEBUG C:\ = "Previous Operating System on C:\"

The following lists explain the data in the previous Boot.ini file:

1. "Timeout" identify the amount of time Windows stay before selecting the default operating system
2. "Default" identifies the default operating system.
3. "Scsi(0)" means that the primary controller generally the only one is responsible for the device. If there were two SCSI cards and the disk was execution off the second one, it would be named "scsi(1)".
4. "disk(0)" refers to physical disk 1.
5. The rdisk() constraint refers to which SCSI logical unit (LUN) to use, which could be a different disk, but the huge majority of SCSI setups have only one LUN for each SCSI ID.
6. "Partition(1)" in this example is the only partition on the first drive in the PC. If there were two partitions, C and D, C would be partition (one) and D would be partition (two).
7. Multi-boot will seem at the \Winnt folder to boot from one of identifies the SCSI card's disk and partition.
8. /NODEBUG identifies that there's no debugging information being monitored. Debugging information is only helpful for developers and does slow down Windows NT.
9. The /SOS control can be added to show driver names while they are being loaded during the Windows boot. By default, the OS Loader screen only echos progress dots.
10. The "Previous Operating System on C:\" parameters involve that it is MS-DOS, because "C:\" is an MS-DOS path.