Creating the boot.ini file

This section will show you how to create a boot.ini file for your computer if you have just one operating system installed and you do not already have a boot.ini file in your drive root. To get started, let's go over what the boot.ini file looks like.

The boot.ini file that disables the boot screen looks like the following:

[boot loader] timeout 0
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" /fastdetect /noguiboot

The above boot.ini file is pretty standard except for the addition of the /noguiboot to the last line of the file. That is the parameter that tells Windows to start up without using the graphical user interface boot screen. To get started, open up a copy of Notepad, found in the Accessories menu of the All Programs entry, in the Start Menu and follow these steps:

1. On the first line of the file, type in [boot loader].

2. On line 2 of the file, key in timeout 0 so Windows does not show the boot selection screen at all. You don't want this anyways because you only have one operating system installed on your computer.

3. On line 3 of the file, type in default multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS so that Windows knows where to look on your hard drive to start the operating system.

4. On line 4, type in [operating systems].

5. On line 5, type in multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS Microsoft
Windows XP Professional /fastdetect /noguiboot to start up Windows with the
/noguibootparameter to disable the boot screen.

If you upgraded your computer from Windows 2000 or any other NT-based product and your root Windows directory is not Windows, then you will have to make one change to the boot.ini file to correct where the path of the Windows files are located. On Lines 3 and 5, replace all references to \WINDOWS to \WINNT or the name of the directory to which you installed Windows. This will set your system to boot from the right folder.

6. Click the File menu bar item and select Save As.

7. Type Boot.ini in the File name box and change the Save as type to All Files.

8. Then, change the Save in directory to your drive root, which is usually Local Disk (C:).

9. Click the Save button and you are now finished.

You can now close Notepad. The next time you reboot your computer, you will not see the boot screen.

A sample BOOT.INI file can be found on the companion CD-ROM in the back of the book in the Chapter 8 folder.