IF01072

boot.ini

NTLDR allows the user to choose which operating system to boot from at the menu; for NT and NT-based operating systems, it also allows the user to pass preconfigured options to the kernel. The menu options are stored in boot.ini, which itself is located in the root of the same disk as NTLDR.

For NT-based OSs, the location of the operating system is written as an Advanced RISC Computing (ARC) path.

boot.ini is protected from user configuration by having the following file attributes: system, hidden, read-only. To make it editable, you must first unlock it with the following command under a console attrib -s -h -r boot.ini. A more secure fashion to edit the file is to use the bootcfg command from a console. bootcfg will also relock the file (setting the file back to system, hidden and read-only). Additionally, the file can be edited within Windows using a text editor if the folder options "Show hidden files and folders" and "Hide protected operating system files" are selected, and if "Read-only" is unchecked under file properties.

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