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Search helps.

start -> search

You're welcome.

Nate.


"Mike Collins" <its@TheBottomOfThePost.com> wrote in message 
news:44606967@newsgroups.borland.com...
> Hi all, just a quickie, ive search MSDN and MS newsgroups to no avail so I 
> thought I'd ask the real experts :)
>
> I need to load and read some information from boot.ini but I'm faced with 
> the problem of locating it.  I can't seem to find any information on if it 
> is always stored on c:\... or if it can reside on other drive letters. 
> Also, I can't find if it's possible to have multiple boot.ini files 
> residing on a machine.  Finally does anyone know if there is a particular 
> reg key or apis that specifics / returns the current boot.ini location for 
> the active windows version?
>
> Many thanks in advance,
>
> Mike C
> 

"Nathaniel L. Walker" <NathanielWalker@DontThinkAboutIt.net> wrote:

>Search helps.
>
>start -> search
>
>You're welcome.

Could you explain how a program uses that?

Alan Bellingham
-- 
ACCU Conference 2007 - venue to be determined.

There may not be such a file.  For example, I have no boot.ini on my Windows 
XP machine.  Might boot.ini be only for used the Windows 95/98/ME branch?

To find a file on the disk use the FindFirstFile/FindNextFile/FindClose set 
of Windows functions.  That set of functions works on a given directory so 
to search a while drive, start at the root and for every directory you find 
then search in it, and so on down the chain.  You can get a list of the 
drives with either of the Windows functions GetLogicalDrives or 
GetLogicalDriveStrings.

.  Ed

> Mike Collins wrote in message
> news:44606967@newsgroups.borland.com...
>
> Hi all, just a quickie, ive search MSDN and MS newsgroups to no avail so I 
> thought I'd ask the real experts :)
>
> I need to load and read some information from boot.ini but I'm faced with 
> the problem of locating it.  I can't seem to find any information on if it 
> is always stored on c:\... or if it can reside on other drive letters. 
> Also, I can't find if it's possible to have multiple boot.ini files 
> residing on a machine.  Finally does anyone know if there is a particular 
> reg key or apis that specifics / returns the current boot.ini location for 
> the active windows version?

"Ed Mulroy" <dont_email_me@bitbuc.ket> wrote:

>There may not be such a file.  For example, I have no boot.ini on my Windows 
>XP machine.  Might boot.ini be only for used the Windows 95/98/ME branch?

Have you checked in c:\? It's not immediately obvious:

-------------------------------------------------
  C:\>dir boot.ini
   Volume in drive C is Win2K
   Volume Serial Number is 84ED-4755

   Directory of C:\

  File Not Found

  C:\>attrib boot.ini
  A  SH      C:\boot.ini

  C:\>
-------------------------------------------------

>To find a file on the disk use the FindFirstFile/FindNextFile/FindClose set 
>of Windows functions.  That set of functions works on a given directory so 
>to search a while drive, start at the root and for every directory you find 
>then search in it, and so on down the chain.  You can get a list of the 
>drives with either of the Windows functions GetLogicalDrives or 
>GetLogicalDriveStrings.

I don't think any recursive option is required - if it's not in the root
directory, I don't expect ntldr (or is it ntdetect.com) to bother doing
a full scan through all directories. It's reasonable for an OS loader to
require vital files to be easily accessible.

However, it might possibly be on a volume that's not actually visible to
the OS, so I suspect it's not going to be an easy 

Alan Bellingham
-- 
ACCU Conference 2007 - venue to be determined.

Hi guys,

thanks for the replies, sorry if I haven't made my self very clear...

I know how to programmable search for a file and how to get the logical 
drives that are available.  What I was primarily wondering was if there was 
an api like GetSystemDirectory() that I could use to locate the ware abouts 
of boot.ini.  As has been pointed out here, boot.ini does not always exists 
and it is a hidden file, but it also does not HAVE to exist on c: either. 
Depending on how this system was set up, it may appear in other drives and I 
believe that it is possible to have more than one boot.ini on the system.  I 
need to check this file for just that reason i.e. to see if there are any 
other, working OS's installed.

I know that I can recurs through each drive and find this file but I wanted 
to know if there was any other method.

Particular thanks to Nate for that purl...



"Mike Collins" <its@TheBottomOfThePost.com> wrote in message 
news:44606967@newsgroups.borland.com...
> Hi all, just a quickie, ive search MSDN and MS newsgroups to no avail so I 
> thought I'd ask the real experts :)
>
> I need to load and read some information from boot.ini but I'm faced with 
> the problem of locating it.  I can't seem to find any information on if it 
> is always stored on c:\... or if it can reside on other drive letters. 
> Also, I can't find if it's possible to have multiple boot.ini files 
> residing on a machine.  Finally does anyone know if there is a particular 
> reg key or apis that specifics / returns the current boot.ini location for 
> the active windows version?
>
> Many thanks in advance,
>
> Mike C
> 

"Mike Collins" <its@TheBottomOfThePost.com> wrote:

>Depending on how this system was set up, it may appear in other drives and I 
>believe that it is possible to have more than one boot.ini on the system.

Ah, good point. In fact, my home machine does have more than one, a
which gets executed depends on which drive is currently the boot drive.
And more, they have different contents.

No, I'm not aware of any API.

I suspect you'll need to know which partition is the bootable one, and
then you go look at that. I'd expect Andrue Cope to know most about
this.

Alan Bellingham
-- 
ACCU Conference 2007 - venue to be determined.

You are correct.  It is hidden and system.  When I did a DIR /S with /as and 
with /ah it did not show.  After seeing your reply I did it without the /S 
and it shows.

----------------------------------------
C:\
>ver

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

C:\
>dir boot.ini
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is FC8D-A209

 Directory of C:\

File Not Found

C:\
>dir /ah boot.ini
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is FC8D-A209

 Directory of C:\

06/06/2005  05:27 PM               211 BOOT.INI
               1 File(s)            211 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  35,302,158,336 bytes free

C:\
>dir /as boot.ini
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is FC8D-A209

 Directory of C:\

06/06/2005  05:27 PM               211 BOOT.INI
               1 File(s)            211 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  35,302,158,336 bytes free

C:\
>type boot.ini
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP 
Professional"
/noexecute=optin /fastdetect 
C:\ 
 >
----------------------------------------

> Alan Bellingham wrote in message
> news:m7516298em23gpnb2j9449af89a3csg9gq@4ax.com...
>
>>There may not be such a file.  For example, I have no boot.ini
>>on my Windows XP machine.  Might boot.ini be only for used
> the Windows 95/98/ME branch?
>
> Have you checked in c:\? It's not immediately obvious:
>
> -------------------------------------------------
>  C:\>dir boot.ini
>   Volume in drive C is Win2K
>   Volume Serial Number is 84ED-4755
>
>   Directory of C:\
>
>  File Not Found
>
>  C:\>attrib boot.ini
>  A  SH      C:\boot.ini
>
>  C:\>
> -------------------------------------------------
>
>>To find a file on the disk ...
>
> I don't think any recursive option is required - if it's not in the root
> directory, I don't expect ntldr (or is it ntdetect.com) to bother doing
> a full scan through all directories. It's reasonable for an OS loader
> to require vital files to be easily accessible.
>
> However, it might possibly be on a volume that's not actually visible
> to the OS, so I suspect it's not going to be an easy

"Ed Mulroy" <dont_email_me@bitbuc.ket> wrote in message
news:446086a1$1@newsgroups.borland.com...

> I have no boot.ini on my Windows XP machine.

boot.ini is a hidden file.  Did you account for that?  boot.ini tells
bootloader where XP is installed.  If the file doesn't exist, bootloader may
be using a default value that you just happen to also be using.

> Might boot.ini be only for used the Windows 95/98/ME branch?

I don't have any boot.ini file on my Win98 SE machine.


Gambit

"Mike Collins" <its@TheBottomOfThePost.com> wrote in message
news:44606967@newsgroups.borland.com...

> I need to load and read some information from boot.ini but I'm faced
> with the problem of locating it.  I can't seem to find any information on
> if it is always stored on c:\... or if it can reside on other drive
letters.
> Also, I can't find if it's possible to have multiple boot.ini files
residing
> on a machine.  Finally does anyone know if there is a particular reg
> key or apis that specifics / returns the current boot.ini location for the
> active windows version?

boot.ini is located at "%homedrive%\boot.ini", where "%homedrive%" is an
environment variable that is set to a drive specification, ie "C:", "D:",
etc.


Gambit

"Mike Collins" <its@TheBottomOfThePost.com> wrote in message
news:446098c1@newsgroups.borland.com...

> What I was primarily wondering was if there was an api like
> GetSystemDirectory() that I could use to locate the ware abouts
> of boot.ini.

There is nothing specific for that.  However, since bootini is located at
"%homedrive%\boot.ini", you can try using GetEnvironmentVariable() to
resolve "%homedrive%" into a physical path.

> As has been pointed out here, boot.ini does not always exists and it
> is a hidden file, but it also does not HAVE to exist on c: either.
Depending
> on how this system was set up, it may appear in other drives and I believe
> that it is possible to have more than one boot.ini on the system.  I need
> to check this file for just that reason i.e. to see if there are any
other,
> working OS's installed.

Typically, boot.ini would reside at the root C:\ folder so that the machine
can find it before loading any OS, and then the contents of boot.ini tells
bootloader which OSes are installed so that bootloader can display a
dual-boot menu to the user.


Gambit

thanks remy - %homedrive% - i think that is what i'm looking for, will need 
to experiment a bit first.

Thanks again

"Remy Lebeau (TeamB)" <no.spam@no.spam.com> wrote in message 
news:4460c836$3@newsgroups.borland.com...
>
> "Mike Collins" <its@TheBottomOfThePost.com> wrote in message
> news:44606967@newsgroups.borland.com...
>
>> I need to load and read some information from boot.ini but I'm faced
>> with the problem of locating it.  I can't seem to find any information on
>> if it is always stored on c:\... or if it can reside on other drive