For those who wish to run combinations of Win95, Win98, Win3.1, DOS, Linux, OS/2 ...etc., from the same (or more than one) hard disk. Not for the faint of heart – and we make no recommendations about these. Much thanks to Dev Teelucksingh, Alek Markiewicz, and Bjørn Simonsen for recommending many of these programs. Note: Partition utils are listed in Disk Utils - 2.

Especially see, in Disk Utils - 2: XFDisk, FDISK replacement with boot manager; and Partition Manager, Ranish's disk partition and boot manager for FAT16/32.

XOSL (Extended Operating System Loader) — VGA mode multi-OS boot manager.

unrated

[added 2000-02-27, updated 2004-09-18]

XOSL is a professional-looking, VGA mode OS loader which has received a good deal of public praise. Beneath the polished interface lies a program loaded with features, including:

• Can manage over 30 OSes on one disk.
• Full hiding / revealing support for partitions with Microsoft file systems.
• Not limited by 8GB barrier.
• Ability to activate partitions.
• Automatic booting (with timeout) of selected boot item.
• Auto boot last operating system.
• Password protection of boot items.
• Boot master boot record on second HD.
• Boot DOS/Windows 9x on second HD.
• Supports DOSes, Win9x, Win NT+, Linux, Solaris, more...
• Packages available for both Win9x/DOS and non-DOS systems.
• Coexists with other boot managers.
• Master boot record virus protection.
• Swap drives.
• Includes Ranish Partition Manager v2.38 beta 1.9 (installation optional).
• and not least, v. good documentation.

Requires 80386+, 4MB of RAM, VESA VBE 1.2 compliant display controller, and 300K free disk space.

Author: Geurt Vos, Netherlands (2000). Suggested by Bjørn Simonsen.

2001-12-23: v1.1.5. Free under GNU General Public License.

Download xosl115.zip (437K).

See the XOSL page at ranish.com, and the XOSL.org mirror site, for support software, source code, history & other info, screeenshots, more.

GAG (Gestor de Arranque Gráfico) — Graphical boot manager for multiple OSes.

unrated

[added 2001-04-22, updated 2006-08-21]

• Boots up to 9 different OSes.
• Boots OSes in primary and extended partitions on any available hard disk.
• Doesn't need its own partition – installs itself in the first track of the hard disk, which is reserved for these kinds of programs. It can also be installed on a floppy disk, without using the hard disk.
• It has a timer to boot a default operating system (selectable by the user).
• Hides the primary partitions, which allows the user to install more than one DOS and/or Windows in the same hard disk.
• Password protection of each operating system and configuration menu.
• Can exchange disk drives, booting from the second, third... disk, operating systems such as MS-DOS.
• SafeBoot system allows booting your hard disk, by reverting to last OS used, even if GAG is accidentally overwritten.
• Supports QWERTY, AZERTY and QWERTZ keyboards.
• Supports hard disks up to 4TB (4096GB).
• Installs from DOS, Windows, OS/2, Linux/Unix.
• Installation program starts in English, and then GAG can be set up to run in language of choice: Asturian, Castilian, Catalan, Czech, Danish, English, French, Galician, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (BR, PT), Russian, Swedish, Turkish.
• Distribution package includes source code.

Installation starts with writing a boot floppy or CD from image files, so have a blank disk ready.

Author: Sergio Costas Rodriguez / Raster Software Vigo, Spain (2006).

2006-03-05: v4.6. Free under GNU General Public License.

Get more info at GAG, THE GRAPHICAL BOOT MANAGER — GAG, EL GESTOR DE ARRANQUE GRAFICO.

SyMon — Small boot manager for multiple OSes.

unrated

[added 1999-10-11, updated 2005-12-09]

• Handles 36 partitions and up to 20 OSes, multiple hard drive support.
• Menu system to select between multiple OSes.
• Built-in FDISK.
• Support of drives larger than 8GB
• Disk Editor..."can optioanlly be used in combination with Partition Editor...useful in critical situations when a you are suddenly unable to boot a needed OS and have no other place to turn...
• Security service...limit which OSes can be accessed...will keep out casual snoopers, and will allow a user to regain access after forgetting password...
• Auto searching of partitions and OSes...For recovery, monitor has an auto search service which scans your disk to determine what partitions exist...
• All of these features fit into only 30KB and do not use partition space or file system space...
• Release 3 is available in Catalan, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish.
• Release II is available in Czech, English, German, Russian, Turkish.
• Two editions: Professional with built-in disk editor, and Lite, without disk editor. Also, Lite binaries are shorter, allowing installation on hard drives with fewer than 63 sectors/track.

SyMon does not work with partitions on file system level. Thus it cannot start several OSes from one file system. This means that it is not recommended to install it instead of System Commander or similar loader that is configured to boot several Microsoft systems from one file system. This is the only...limitation of using the SyMon.

Authors: Vladimir Dashevsky & Daniel Smelov. Russia (2005). Thanks to Dev Teelucksingh for the original link.

Download Symon II

Go to a SyMon home page in English, or in Russian, for more info & downloads.

BOOTMGR (multi-BOOT ManaGeR) — Small multi-OS boot manager with low resource requirements.

unrated

[added 2005-07-17, updated 2006-08-21]

BOOTMGR replaces the boot loader in a PC's Master Boot Record (MBR). On startup, it displays a text-graphic screen with a menu of installed OSes, and allows the user to select (with cursor keys) the OS to be loaded, from hard drive or diskette. If no key is pressed, the OS that is set up as the default gets loaded. In addition to the OS menu, the BOOTMGR screen shows detailed drive and partition data, and some other user options. Supports HDs larger than 8GB.

Advanced options include: Restoring old partition table; Editing partition identifiers; Reordering partition table entries (sometimes needed to allow booting DR-DOS); Clearing bytes reserved by WinNT/2K/XP for drive letter assignment info; 'Zap disk', clears initial two tracks.

Requires 8086+ or compatible CPU, 80 X 25 text display, HD with standard BIOS Int 13h interface (extended interface if booting from a partition beyond the 8th GB), DOS3.30+ for installation. Has a thorough, detailed manual.

Author: BTTR Software, Germany (2006).

2006-04-07 release. Free under 'Modified' BSD License.

Download bootmgrx.zip (17K).

Get more info & source at the BOOTMGR page.

More in these pages from BTTR Software.

Autocon — DOS boot manager.

* * * * *

[added 1998-10-05]

Reviewed by Howard Schwartz (10-3-98)

If you use DOS and Win3.x you may have up to 3 different boot managers to contend with:

1. A program that lets you select which OS to start.
2. If you choose, DOS in #1, a program to let you select which autoexec.bat and config.sys files to read and execute.
3. If you want to start windows from DOS, a program to let you select which system.ini and win.ini files to read and execute.

Most DOS boot managers accomplish task #2. However, they should really be called "reboot managers". They do not provide a menu of choices during bootup. Instead, you must first boot DOS, using a default config.sys and autoexec.bat. Then you can use the boot manager to quickly REboot to alternate autoexec.bat and config.sys files.

Autocon is different: It provides its own menu system so that you can choose one of up to 50 different sets of config.sys and autoexec.bat files to read and execute, during the bootup process itself. Alternately, autocon will work with the boot menu system that comes with MSDOS 6 and above. However, autocon's own menu system can be used with earlier versions of DOS, or with other kinds of DOS (e.g., OpenDOS, Free DOS).

Autocon also comes with a user-friendly, mouse-menu interface that lets you manage your alternate sets of config.sys and autoexec.bat files. (These alternate sets of files are stored in a small data-base.) Some of its options include:

1. Edit any stored config.sys or autoexec.bat file at any time, using an internal or external editor.
2. Choose to boot to a menu of configuration choice, or boot in "single mode" to a default config.sys and autoexec.bat file.
3. Update the stored configuration files with any files you want, including your current autoexec.bat or config.sys files.
4. Add or delete sets of autoexec.bat/config.sys files.
5. Compare any stored set of autoexec.bat/config.sys files to the ones in current use.
6. Choose type of boot (cold, warm, etc.)

Like the other boot managers, the command: "autocon name2 <RETURN>" allows you, at any time, to quickly reboot DOS to a configuration you have named, "name2".

Author: Larry Weaver (1993).

1993-11-07: v2.0x.

Download autoconx.zip (135K).

ONBOOT — Run programs only during warm, cold, or daily boot.

* * * *

ONBOOT is a simple utility designed for your AUTOEXEC.BAT. It allows you to have AUTOEXEC run selected programs only during a warm boot (Ctl-Alt-Del), a cold boot (power on), or the first boot of the day. For example, placing the command "ONBOOT DAILY CHKDSK" into AUTOEXEC will cause AUTOEXEC to run CHKDSK only once a day, the first time the PC is turned on.

Author: Christopher J. Dunford / The Cove Software Group (1989). Suggested by Marianna Van Erp.

While v1.0 is widely available on Simtel mirrors, the enhanced v1.10 available here is difficult to locate on the Net.

Download onboot11.zip (6K).

Reboot — Warm or cold boot PC, with cache flushing.

unrated

[added 1999-10-10, updated 2006-03-14]

There are multitudes of rebooters around that can warm/cold boot a system... this one does both and should be safe. Package includes MASM/OPTAsm source code.

Reboot /C   forces a Cold boot with RAM test.
Reboot /W   forces a Warm boot without RAM test.
Plain Reboot defaults to a warm boot.

It has special code to flush Norton NCACHE and PC Tools Cache quickly. It also handles any other cache, such as SuperPCKwik, and Smartdrv that correctly flush the cache on a disk reset. It is DESQview, QEMM stealth, OS/2 and Windows aware, mouse and cache friendly... Works under DOS, and DOS emulation in Windows 3.1 and Windows 95/98, OS/2 but not NT.

Author: Roedy Green / Canadian Mind Products, Canada (2006).

2006-02-05: v3.5 recompiled.

Download reboot35.zip (13K).

Canadian Mind Products, Downloadable Utilities Master Index.

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