Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 00:41:07 -0800 (PST) From: Annelise Anderson <andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu> To: Johnson David <djohnson@acuson.com> Cc: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD Boot Disk? Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.10.10201170014440.62446-100000@andrsn.stanford.edu> In-Reply-To: <20020116203101.D80C537B421@hub.freebsd.org>
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On Wed, 16 Jan 2002, Johnson David wrote: > Is there such a thing? Can one create a boot disk to boot into FreeBSD? I'm > not talking about the install disk, but an actual boot disk to boot into an > existing installation. > > I've installed FreeBSD at work on a second harddrive, with W2K on the first. > To avoid totally alienating IT, I don't want to install boot easy, and my > attempt to put FreeBSD on the NT boot loader were near disastrous. A simple > boot disk will meet my needs, but I don't know how to make one. > > I don't want technical answers, just a pointer to the right documentation or > port, or even if it can or cannot be done. Actually I'm booting FreeBSD from a second had drive with win2k on the first right now. I just haven't wanted to install a bootmanager. Make a fixit.flp from the image (just as you make kern.flp and mfsroot.flp. Reboot the computer with fixit.flp in the A drive; this is not a floppy that boots a kernel, but it asks where you want to boot from with: boot: (it gives a default) type 1:ad(0,a)/boot/loader at the prompt. To make it "permanent", once it boots (vary the parameters appropriately until it works), put a file with the name kernel.conf on the floppy with the text in it: boot: 1:ad(0,a)/boot/loader and it should work. ad of course is for IDE; replace with da for a scsi disk. The first number is the drive number as known to the BIOS. The second number is the partition. The floppy will not be "mounted" by this operation and you can just remove it so you can use the floppy drive, and so when you reboot it will boot into win2k. Annelise P.S. the only evidence of FreeBSD will be in the Control Panel under Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management, where it will show up as a "healthy" partition (Active) but without a letter. This approach is also good for a computer used by two people, with an owner who doesn't want any risk of a boot manager messing stuff up. I wrote this up in the book, which is now in a second edition; if you have the first edition, incidentally, you don't need the second-- just a few additions and corrections and a 4.4-CD-ROM instead of a 4.3. The fixit.flp is usually used as the third in the series of kern.flp, msfroot.flp, then fixit.flp to get a running kernel and some tools from floppies rather than the hard drive so you can repair a hard drive; with kernel.conf on the fixit.flp, it boots of course from the hard drive. Annelise -- Annelise Anderson Author of: FreeBSD: An Open-Source Operating System for Your PC Available from: BSDmall.com and amazon.com Book Website: http://www.bittreepress.com/FreeBSD/introbook/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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