"Smart Boot Manager" : How to make

[Sylvander]

1. Make a Windows boot floppy [not a startup floppy].
To do that put a floppy in the drive [not write protected], format it and copy the system files to it.

2. Go to http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/download.html and download version 3.7 release 1 [now Oct 25th 2005, download the latest when your doing this] of sbminst.exe & cwsdpmi.exe to the boot floppy.

3. Restart the PC, boot from the floppy and run:
A:\>sbminst

4. Read the displayed screen for guidance and run the following command:
A:\>sbminst -t us -d 0 [make sure to put a space before -t, us, -d, 0][- is a dash, 0 is a zero]
Enter Y when asked to confirm.
The above command converts the floppy into a standalone boot manager.

[Genie]

1. Make a Windows boot floppy [not a startup floppy].
To do that put a floppy in the drive [not write protected], format it and copy the system files to it.

2. Go to http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/download.html and download version 3.7 release 1 [now Oct 25th 2005, download the latest when your doing this] of sbminst.exe & cwsdpmi.exe to the boot floppy.

3. Restart the PC, boot from the floppy and run:
A:\>sbminst

4. Read the displayed screen for guidance and run the following command:
A:\>sbminst -t us -d 0 [make sure to put a space before -t, us, -d, 0][- is a dash, 0 is a zero]
Enter Y when asked to confirm.
The above command converts the floppy into a standalone boot manager.

This sounds like a good thing to do when my computer is up and running again. I have no idea how to copy the system files to a floppy from within dos :(

[Sylvander]

"I have no idea how to copy the system files to a floppy from within dos"
To get to a c:\> prompt, at startup hit F8 to bring up the Startup Menu, and choose "Command Prompt Only".
Then:
c:\>format a: [format the floppy in the a: drive]
c:\>sys c: a: [copy the system files from c: to a:]
c:\>format a: /s [format the floppy in a: and add the system files]
c:\>diskcopy a: a: [copy the contents of a floppy to another]

Hope I got them right. :)

[dr137@aol.com]

ok i will try this but then what do I do with this bootable floppy? please walk me through all steps as my system continues to be on the blink...thanks

Ps i am in the process of chaning my e mail address it is devans73 AT cox.net

Edited per request...

[Budfred]

dr137 AT aol.com,

Posting your email address in a public forum is a guaranteed way to increase your SPAM count... Unless you really like SPAM, you need to disguise it to something like devans73 AT cox.net... Even that won't guarantee you won't be added to lists, but it reduces the probability... If there is no reason to give your email address publicly, it is best to avoid it completely...

Let me know if you want me to edit the address you just posted and I will either remove it or change it to what I have above per your choice....

[Sylvander]

"what do I do with this bootable floppy?"
Do you mean the plain boot floppy, or the "Standalone Boot Manager"?
What you do with the Boot Manager [if making it has been successful] is to boot the FDD with that floppy in place.
The program on the floppy will run, detect all the connected drives, and you should then be presented with a list of detected drives.
Use the keyboard arrows to highlight a drive to boot and hit the "Enter" key.
The PC will then [attempt to] boot from the disk in that drive.

You might, for example, boot from the following bootable CD's:
EBCD = http://ebcd.pcministry.com/ [nice utilities on bootable, customizable CD (great, includes "Image")]
Ultimate Boot CD = www.ultimatebootcd.com [diagnostic utilities etc]
Knoppix = www.knoppix.org/ [OS on bootable CD!]

See a list of URL's here for other good free programs http://tinyurl.com/9v2qy

[king_koopa]

how do u copy over system files in windows???

[Paul Komski]

how do u copy over system files in windows???
It depends on the version of windows but generally you need one that runs real ms-dos such as Win98 if you use c:\>sys c: a: [copy the system files from c: to a:] but under WinXP you can format an ms-dos floppy by RClisking on the A drive and choosing the box to "Start an MS-DOS Startup Disk".

WinME and Win2K are more problematic and it might be easier to download a floppy image from Bootdisk.com (http://www.bootdisk.com/).

If you want to make the SBM floppy simply then download the self-extractor (or the iso if you want it on a CD) from here (http://www.iol.ie/~krakowangus/sbm/sbm.htm).