Bootable CD Utilities by reanimatolog - Bootable CD Wizard - Freeware Multiple-Image Bootable CD Manager
Index
 Bootable CD Wizard v1.50Z - Freeware Multiple-Image Bootable CD Manager
 What's this?
BCDW is a boot manager for CD-ROM.
  • It creates multiboot CDs for computers that normally do not have the ability to start a bootmenu from the CD.
  • It creates a hierarchical bootmenu interface with customized apperarance.
  • It supports the extended formats of boot images (example).
 What's in the zip?
bcdwboot.bin   The boot image file for the CD
BCDW\bcdw.bin   The bootmanager
BCDW\bcdw*.ini   Sample configuration files for the bootmanager
BCDW\FONTS\   The folder with localized fonts
BCDW\CHARSETS\   Descriptions of localized Charsets
BCDW\logo.gif   Example of the graphic prompt
Boot*.Ini   Examples of settings for the bootmenu
initest.com   The program to test a configuration before burning the CD
DOS4BCDW\   The folder with the files necessary to create the special boot image dos4bcdw.ima (how to do this?)
 How to create a multiboot CD with BCDW?
  • Create a folder on your harddisk for the files of your multiboot CD (e.g. C:\MyBootCD\)
  • Unpack the ZIP-archive with BCDW to this folder
  • Add your files to this folder (boot images etc.)
  • Using Windows Notepad open the file C:\MyBootCD\BootCat.Ini
  • Edit the boot choices according to your files (add/remove the necessary entries)
  • Start your CD writing program
  • Choose the project for bootable and use the following settings:
    Boot image: C:\MyBootCD\bcdwboot.bin
    Emulation type: No emulation
    Loading address: 07c0
    Number of sectors to load: 4
    (how to do it using Nero, CDRWin, Easy CD Creator, Instant CD+DVD, WinOnCD, CDImage or mkisofs)
  • Add the contents of the folder C:\MyBootCD\ to the project
  • Burn the disk
 Customize BCDW
  • BCDW can be customized through two files (create or edit existing):
    • \BCDW\bcdw.ini contains the start parameters for BCDW
    • \BootCat.Ini contains the boot options and the appearance settings
  • Both files are text files and can be created using Windows Notepad or any similar editor.
  • The configuration files can be text files DOS/Windows or *NIX/Linux.
  • The configuration files have a structure similar to the *.ini/*.inf-files of Windows:
    • The files are divided into sections with the name of the section in square brackets at the beginning of each section
    • The lines are of the type "keyword = value", that is the way different options can be set
    • Empty lines and lines beginning with ';' (semicolon) will be ignored
  • Remarks:
    1. The current version of BCDW only uses one section [Options], all other sections (if present) will be ignored. Unknown keywords in section [Options] will be ignored.
    2. In the configuration file \BootCat.Ini the space between the beginnig of the file and the first section is used for the boot options (see description of \BootCat.Ini)
 The configuration file \BCDW\bcdw.ini
The configuration file \BCDW\bcdw.ini can contain a section [Options] in which four keywords can be used to customize. This section [Options] is optional, i.e. the simple \BCDW\bcdw.ini would be empty.
 Example of \BCDW\bcdw.ini.
[Options]
Password = secret
Logo     = \BCDW\logo.gif
Font     = \BCDW\FONTS\russian.fnt
CharSet  = \BCDW\CHARSETS\cp1251r.cpf
RootMenu = \BootCat.Ini
 Keywords in \BCDW\bcdw.ini
Password (or PasswordMD5Hash)   Sets the password (or MD5 Hash of password) to be entered on start of BCDW.
Logo   BCDW can display a graphic prompt on startup.
The keyword Logo tells BCDW the location of a *.gif file to load and display as graphic prompt.
This file can be an animated *.gif file.
The gif must not be larger than ~500Kb.
BCDW supports the following video modes for the prompt: 320x200x256, 640x480x256, 800x600x256, 1024x768x256, 1280x1024x256 ? 1600x1200x256 (nearest will be used).
If the picture does not fit on the screen it will be aligned and truncated.
If the keyword Logo is left out, there will be no graphic prompt.

Font   At the start of a computer, a standard english font (cp437) 8x16 is loaded in the video adapter memory .
BCDW allows another font to be loaded in the video adapter on startup (e.g. a font with Russian characters) and a font with a different size (the number of lines depends on the heigth of the symbol).
The keyword Font tells BCDW name and location of a different font file to be used on startup.
The size of the font file can be anything from 1024 bytes (font 8x4 - 100 lines on the screen) to 8192 bytes (font 8x32 - 12 lines on the screen).
If the keyword Font is left out, BCDW will use the standard font of the video adapter.

The following fonts are included with BCDW:
\BCDW\FONTS\russian.fnt   Russian font 8x16 (25 lines on the screen)
\BCDW\FONTS\russian.f32   Russian font 8x32 (12 lines on the screen)
\BCDW\FONTS\russian.f19   Russian font 8x19 (21 lines on the screen)
\BCDW\FONTS\russian.f14   Russian font 8x14 (28 lines on the screen)
\BCDW\FONTS\russian.f12   Russian font 8x12 (33 lines on the screen)
\BCDW\FONTS\russian.f11   Russian font 8x11 (36 lines on the screen)
\BCDW\FONTS\russian.f08   Russian font 8x8 (50 lines on the screen)
\BCDW\FONTS\russian.f06   Russian font 8x6 (66 lines on the screen)
\BCDW\FONTS\russian.f04   Russian font 8x4 (100 lines on the screen)
\BCDW\FONTS\cyrillic.fnt   Cyrillic font 8x16
\BCDW\FONTS\cyrillic.f14   Cyrillic font 8x14
\BCDW\FONTS\cyrillic.f08   Cyrillic font 8x8
\BCDW\FONTS\latin1.fnt   Latin1 font 8x16
\BCDW\FONTS\latin1.f14   Latin1 font 8x14
\BCDW\FONTS\latin1.f08   Latin1 font 8x8
\BCDW\FONTS\latin2.fnt   Latin2 font 8x16
\BCDW\FONTS\latin2.f14   Latin2 font 8x14
\BCDW\FONTS\latin2.f08   Latin2 font 8x8
\BCDW\FONTS\baltic.fnt   Baltic font 8x16
\BCDW\FONTS\baltic.f14   Baltic font 8x14
\BCDW\FONTS\baltic.f08   Baltic font 8x8
\BCDW\FONTS\turkish.fnt   Turkish font 8x16
\BCDW\FONTS\turkish.f14   Turkish font 8x14
\BCDW\FONTS\turkish.f08   Turkish font 8x8
\BCDW\FONTS\arabic.fnt   Arabic font 8x16
\BCDW\FONTS\arabic.f14   Arabic font 8x14
\BCDW\FONTS\arabic.f08   Arabic font 8x8
\BCDW\FONTS\hebrew.fnt   Hebrew font 8x16
\BCDW\FONTS\hebrew.f14   Hebrew font 8x14
\BCDW\FONTS\hebrew.f08   Hebrew font 8x8
\BCDW\FONTS\ibmpc.fnt   Standard (cp437) font IBM PC 8x16
\BCDW\FONTS\ibmpc.f14   Standard (cp437) font IBM PC 8x14
\BCDW\FONTS\ibmpc.f08   Standard (cp347) font IBM PC 8x8

CharSet   In the configuration file \BootCat.Ini you can use filenames and texts not only in English, but also some other languages (e.g. Russian).
For texts in other languages than English different codings are used by different operation systems
(e.g. the following codings are generally used for Russian: in DOS - cp866, in Windows - cp1251, in *NIX/Linux - KOI8-R).
To be able to correctly interpret filenames and texts (for screen resolution, file search on CD etc.) BCDW needs to know which coding you used for the configuration file \BootCat.Ini.
The keyword CharSet tells BCDW name and location of the used codefile.
If the keyword CharSet is left out, BCDW considers all texts and names in the file \BootCat.Ini to be only in English.

The following codefiles are included with BCDW:
\BCDW\CHARSETS\cp1251r.cpf   Russian coding Windows
\BCDW\CHARSETS\cp866.cpf   Russian coding DOS
\BCDW\CHARSETS\koi8r.cpf   Russian coding *NIX/Linux
\BCDW\CHARSETS\cp1251c.cpf   Cyrillic coding Windows
\BCDW\CHARSETS\cp855.cpf   Cyrillic coding DOS
\BCDW\CHARSETS\iso88595.cpf   Cyrillic coding as in ISO8859-5
\BCDW\CHARSETS\cp1252.cpf   Latin1 coding Windows
\BCDW\CHARSETS\cp850.cpf   Latin1 coding DOS
\BCDW\CHARSETS\iso88591.cpf   Latin1 coding ?? ISO8859-1
\BCDW\CHARSETS\cp1250.cpf   Latin2 coding Windows
\BCDW\CHARSETS\cp852.cpf   Latin2 coding DOS
\BCDW\CHARSETS\iso88592.cpf   Latin2 coding as in ISO8859-2
\BCDW\CHARSETS\cp1257.cpf   Baltic coding Windows
\BCDW\CHARSETS\cp775.cpf   Baltic coding DOS
\BCDW\CHARSETS\iso885913.cpf   Baltic coding as in ISO8859-13
\BCDW\CHARSETS\cp1254.cpf   Turkish ????????? Windows
\BCDW\CHARSETS\cp857.cpf   Turkish coding DOS
\BCDW\CHARSETS\iso88599.cpf   Turkish coding as in ISO8859-9
\BCDW\CHARSETS\cp1256.cpf   Arabic coding Windows
\BCDW\CHARSETS\cp864.cpf   Arabic coding DOS
\BCDW\CHARSETS\iso88596.cpf   Arabic coding as in ISO8859-6
\BCDW\CHARSETS\cp1255.cpf   Hebrew coding Windows
\BCDW\CHARSETS\cp862.cpf   Hebrew coding DOS
\BCDW\CHARSETS\iso88598.cpf   Hebrew coding as in ISO8859-8
\BCDW\CHARSETS\cp437.cpf   Standard (cp437) coding IBM PC

RootMenu   By default, BCDW is looking for the settings of the bootloader in a file \BootCat.Ini.
You can change the name and location of this file (e.g. to \BCDW\BootCat.Ini).
The keyword RootMenu tells BCDW name and location of this file.
 The configuration file \BootCat.Ini
The file \BootCat.Ini (and any other bootloader description files) has two parts:
 Example of \BootCat.Ini
 
; *** The list of bootoptions
 
C:\                 ; Boot drive C:   ; Boot harddisk.^
A:\                 ; Boot drive A:   ; Boot floppy drive.^
\BootCat2.Ini       ; Submenu               ; Another BootCat.Ini^
\floppy.ima         ; Boot with *.IMA from a floppy image (WinImage)
\logical.ima        ; Boot with *.IMA from an image of a logical drive (WinImage)
\hdd.img            ; Boot an image of a harddisk (DskRead)
\acronis.wbt        ; Boot an image with *.WBT (WinISO)
\nt5boot.bin        ; Boot the bootsector of Windows XP/2000/NT
\i386\setupldr.bin  ; Start a setup routine of Windows XP/2000/NT
\dos4bcdw.ima       ; Volkov Commander      ; note1 ; \vc\vc.com
\dos4bcdw.ima       ; Setup Windows 9x  ; note1 ; \win9x\setup.exe
/isolinux.bin       ; Load Linux kernel    ; note2 ; /linux/kernel
/isolinux.bin       ; Start memdisk        ; note2 ; /memdisk /test.img
/cdsh/loader.bin    ; CD Shell script    ; note2 ; script /test.scr
/bscript/loader.bin ; BootScriptor script ; note2 ; script /test.ini
/diskem1x.bin       ; diskem1x.bin script ; note2 ; batch test.cmd
:return             ; Return from a submenu    ; note3
:reboot             ; Reboot PC          ; note3
:restart            ; Switch to English     ; note4 ; \BCDW\bcdw_eng.ini
 
; *** Appearance settings
 
[Options]
 
; *** Background settings
 
BGColors          = 00, 80, 80, 80
BGSymbol          = 32
TopText           =
BottomText        =
 
; *** Settings of the window "Boot options"
 
MenuPosition      = 02, 05, 76, 13
MenuColors        = f9, 9f, 1f, f0, 0f, fd, f9
MenuBorderStyle   = 5
MenuShadowStyle   = 2
MenuTitle         = Boot options
MenuDefault       = 0
MenuTimerLabel    = Remaining time:
MenuTimer         = 30
 
; *** Settings of the window "About a boot option"
 
HelpPosition      = 02, 19, 76, 05
HelpColors        = e0, 9f, 1f, e0, 0f, e0
HelpBorderStyle   = 5
HelpShadowStyle   = 2
HelpTabSkip       = 0
HelpTitle         = About this boot option
 
; *** Settings of the window "About this CD"
 
AboutPosition     = 02, 01, 76, 03
AboutColors       = e0, 9f, 1f, e0, 0f, e0
AboutBorderStyle  = 5
AboutShadowStyle  = 2
AboutTabSkip      = 0
AboutTitle        = About this CD
AboutText         = ~
Emergency rescue bootdisk
~
 
; *** Settings of the window "Running line"
 
ScrollPosition    = 00, 00, 80, 01
ScrollColors      = 87, 87, 87, 87, 0f, 87
ScrollBorderStyle = 0
ScrollShadowStyle = 0
ScrollTabSkip     = 1
ScrollMode        = 0
ScrollTitle       =
ScrollText        = ~
Text of a running line
~
 
; *** Comments to the list of boot options
 
note1             = ~
BCDW permits to start a DOS program from CD
(special boot image dos4bcdw.ima is required)
~
note2             = ~
BCDW can start ISOLinux, CD Shell, BootScriptor,
diskem1x.bin and transfer command options to them for performance
~
note3             = ~
BCDW uses some internal commands to operate
~
note4             = ~
The command :restart makes it possible to restart BCDW with different settings
(e.g. to switch interface language)
~
 The list of bootoptions in \BootCat.Ini
The list of boot options consists of a set of lines, each of one representing one boot option. Each line has several parts (in current version of BCDW four parts) separated by ';' (semicolon):

part 1 ; part 2 ; part 3 ; part 4

  1. Name of a submenu configuration file or name of a boot image file or internal operating command BCDW
  2. Title of the bootoption
  3. Comment of the bootoption ( ^ - line divider) or a keyword from [Options] with the comment text
  4. Parameter for the boot image or internal command BCDW
All descriptions, except for the bootoption title, are optional.
 Format of entries that lead to a submenu
Files with a submenu configuration can have any name on *.ini. Their format is identical to the one of \BootCat.Ini.
Format of entries for bootoptions
Bootimages can have any name but must not end on *.ini.
BCDW supports the following formats of boot images:
  • Images of floppies or logical disk of any size (up to 8Gb) with the file system FAT(12/16/32), e.g. *.ima files created by WinImage. (example)
  • Floppy images with capacity of 160Kb, 180Kb, 320Kb, 360Kb, 720Kb, 820Kb, 1.2Mb, 1.44Mb, 1.68Mb, 1.72Mb, 2.88Mb with a file system different of FAT
  • Images of harddisks with any number of sectors (example)
  • Programs with the loading address 07c0:0000 (e.g. bootsector of the Microsoft Windows XP/2000/NT floppies nt5boot.bin, nt4boot.bin, w2ksect.bin, xpboot.bin etc.)
  • Programs with the loading address 07c0:0000 and the "Boot Info Table" (e.g.  isolinux.bin)
  • Bootsector files of Microsoft Windows XP/2000/NT (files \i386\setupldr.bin)
 Internal operating commands BCDW
Instead of a boot image file you can pass internal operating commands to BCDW. The current version of BCDW accepts the following commands:

A:\   Start from physical floppy drive. Command does not require options.
C:\   Start from physical harddisk. Command does not require options.
:Reboot   Reboot the computer. Command does not require options.
:Restart   Restart BCDW with different setting. Command requires option -a name of a configuration file (name of another \BCDW\bcdw.ini).
:Return   Return from submenu. Command does not require options.
:Nop   Do nothing. Command does not require options.
:   Similar to :nop, but makes this line inaccessible (item cannot be chosen). Command does not require options.
Parameters for bootimages
Bootimages usually do  not support receiving parameters, but BCDW enables you to pass options to some bootimage files, namely:
  1. The special boot image dos4bcdw.ima (how to create this image?) - the DOS-program to start from the CD
  2. ISOLinux - performance parameter (details)
  3. CD Shell - performance parameter (details)
  4. BootScriptor - performance parameter (details)
  5. diskem1x.bin - performance parameter (details)
 Appearance settings of the interface windows in \BootCat.Ini
The BCDW interface consitis of four windows, the "Boot options" window in which the different boot options can be chosen, the "About this boot option" window that displays information about the selected boot option, "About this CD" window that gives information about the Bootdisk and the "Running line" in which any text can be displayed. All windows except the "Boot options" window are optional. The settings for the windows is adjusted with the help of keywords in the section [Options]:
    *** Background colour below the windows
     
BGColors   Colour of the background below the windows

= C1, C2, C3, C4

C1 - Screen border colour
C2 - Background colour
C3 - Top line colour
C4 - Bottom line colour

BGSymbol   Decimal code of a symbol filled background.
The most common symbols: 32, 176, 177, 178
Transparent background: 0

TopText   Text of the top line

BottomText   Text of the bottom line

    *** Window "Boot options"
     
MenuPosition   Location and size of the window

= X, Y, W, H

X - From the left border
Y - From the top border
W - Width
H - Heigth

MenuColors   Colour of window elements

= C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7

C1 - Frame colour
C2 - Window active colour
C3 - Window inactive colour
C4 - Colour of menu items
C5 - Colour of currently selected item when window active
C6 - Colour of currently selected item when window inactive
C7 - Colour of inaccessible items

MenuBorderStyle   Style of window frame: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (0 - no frame)

MenuShadowStyle   Style of window shadow: 0, 1, 2 (0 - no shadow)

MenuTitle   Text of window title
MenuDefault   Default menuitem index: 0-255

MenuTimerLabel   Text of timer entry

MenuTimer   Delay in seconds before automatic load

    *** Window "About this boot option"
     
HelpPosition   Location and size of the window

= X, Y, W, H

X - From the left border
Y - From the top border
W - Width
H - Height

HelpColors   Colours of the window elements

= C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6

C1 - Frame colour
C2 - Window active colour
C3 - Window inactive colour
C4 - Lines colour
C5 - Colour of current line when window active
C6 - Colour of current line when window inactive

HelpBorderStyle   Style of window frame: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (0 - no frame)

HelpShadowStyle   Style of window shadow: 0, 1, 2 (0 - no shadow)

HelpTabSkip   Skip help window when switching with Tab: 0 - off., 1 - on.

HelpTitle   Text of window title

    *** Window "About this CD"
     
AboutPosition   Location and size of the window

= X, Y, W, H

X - From the left border
Y - From the top border
W - Width
H - Height

AboutColors   Colours of the window elements

= C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6

C1 - Frame colour
C2 - Window active colour
C3 - Window inactive colour
C4 - Lines colour
C5 - Colour of current line when window active
C6 - Colour of current line when window inactive

AboutBorderStyle   Style of window frame: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (0 - no frame)

AboutShadowStyle   Style of window shadow: 0, 1, 2 (0 - no shadow)

AboutTabSkip   Skip about window when switching with Tab: 0 - off., 1 - on.

AboutTitle   Text of window tilte
AboutText   Contents of this window

    *** Window "Running line"
     
ScrollPosition   Location and size of the window

= X, Y, W, H

X - From the left border
Y - From the top border
W - Width
H - Height

ScrollColors   Colours of the window elements

= C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6

C1 - Frame colour
C2 - Window active colour
C3 - Window inactive colour
C4 - Lines colour
C5 - Colour of current line when window active
C6 - Colour of current line when window inactive

ScrollBorderStyle   Style of window frame: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (0 - no frame)

ScrollShadowStyle   Style of window shadow: 0, 1, 2 (0 - no shadow)

ScrollTabSkip   Skip running line window when switching with Tab: 0 - off., 1 - on.

ScrollMode   Window mode: 0 - Running line, 1 - window with the text

ScrollTitle   Text of window title

ScrollText   Contents of the window

    *** Colours
     
C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7   The colours are set by a combination of two placeholders. First placeholder - background colour, second placeholder - foreground colour. The values of the placeholders as follows:
0 - Black
1 - Blue
2 - Green
3 - Cyan
4 - Red
5 - Magenta
6 - Brown
7 - LGrey
8 - DGrey
9 - LBlue
A - LGreen
B - LCyan
C - LRed
D - LMagenta
E - Yellow
F - White
 How to add a program from a bootable CD to a CD with BCDW?
Some programs are able to create a bootable CD (e.g. the Acronis programs).
To add such programs to a CD with BCDW do the following:
  1. Copy all the files and folders of the bootable CD to your CD with BCDW (the Acronis BootCDs put everything in the bootsector, so no need to copy anything)
  2. Using WinISO create an *.iso image of the bootbale CD (select "Make ISO from CDROM" from the menu "Actions")
  3. Open the just created *.iso image (select "Open" from the menu "File")
  4. Save the boot information to a *.wbt file (select "Save boot information to file..." from the menu "Bootable CD")
  5. Put the *.wbt file on your CD with BCDW
  6. Add an entry in \BootCat.ini for this boot option similar to the following:

    \acronis.wbt ; Program Acronis

Detailed description with screenshots see here
 How to add a program from a bootable floopy to a CD with BCDW?
Some programs can create a bootable floppy (e.g. Ontrack EasyRecovery, Norton Ghost etc.).
To add such programs to a CD with BCDW do the following:
  1. Create an *.ima image of the boot floppy (how to do this?)
  2. Put this *.ima image on your CD with BCDW
  3. Add an entry in \BootCat.ini for this boot option similar to the following:

    \er.ima ; Easy Recovery
    \ghost.ima ; Norton Ghost

 How to add a program from two bootable floppies to a CD with BCDW?
Some programs create two bootable floppies 1.44mb (e.g. PowerQuest Partition Magic).
To add such programs to a CD with BCDW do the following:
  1. Insert the first floppy in your floppy drive
  2. Using WinImage read the floppy (select "Read disk" from the menu "Disk")
  3. Change the format of the disk image to 2.88Mb (select "Change format..." from the menu "Image")
  4. Insert the second floppy in the floppy drive
  5. Drag and drop all the files of the second floppy to the window of WinImage
  6. Save the image of the floppies to a *.ima file (select "Save as..." from menu "File")
  7. Put the *.ima image to your CD with BCDW
  8. Add an entry in \BootCat.ini for this boot option similar to the following:

    \pmagic.ima ; PowerQuest Partition Magic

 How to add a setup routine of Microsoft Windows XP/2000/NT to a CD with BCDW?
  1. Copy all the files and folders of your original Microsoft Windows XP/2000/NT CD to your CD with BCDW.
  2. Add an entry in \BootCat.ini for this boot option similar to the following:

    \I386\setupldr.bin ; Setup Microsoft Windows XP/2000/NT

You do not have to copy all files and folders of your Microsoft Windows XP/2000/NT CD.
For the needed files, see here
How to add more than one setup routines of Microsoft Windows XP/2000/NT see here
 How to add Microsoft Windows PE to a CD with BCDW?
  1. Copy all files and folders of your Microsoft Windows PE CD to your CD with BCDW
  2. Rename the folder \I386 to \WNPE
  3. Using a HEX-editor (e.g. WinHex) open \WNPE\setupldr.bin and replace all occurrences of I386 to WNPE;
  4. Add an entry in \BootCat.ini for this boot option similar to the following:

    \WNPE\setupldr.bin ; Microsoft Windows PE
 How to add ERD Commamder to a CD with BCDW?
  1. Copy all files and folders of your ERD Commander CD to your CD with BCDW
  2. Rename the folder \I386 to \ERDC
  3. Using a HEX-editor (e.g. WinHex) open \ERDC\setupldr.bin and replace all occurrences of I386 to ERDC;
  4. Add an entry in \BootCat.ini for this boot option similar to the following:

    \ERDC\setupldr.bin ; ERD Commander
 How to add O&O BlueCon to a CD with BCDW?
  1. Copy all files and folders of your O&O BlueCon CD to your CD with BCDW
  2. Rename the folder \I386 to \OOBC
  3. Using a HEX-editor (e.g. WinHex) open \OOBC\setupldr.bin and replace all occurrences of I386 to OOBC;
  4. Add an entry in \BootCat.ini for this boot option similar to the following:

    \OOBC\setupldr.bin ; O&O BlueCon
 How to add the Acronis programs to a CD with BCDW?
  1. Create a bootable CD of your Acronis program
  2. Copy the program from this bootable CD to your CD with BCDW (how to do this?)
 How to add a DOS-program to a CD with BCDW?
See the two following items...
 How to add the setup routine of Microsoft Windows 9x/Me to a CD with BCDW?
  1. Copy the files and folders from your Microsoft Windows 9x/Me CD to a folder \Win9x to your CD with BCDW
  2. Place the special boot image dos4bcdw.ima in the root of the CD (how to create this image?)
  3. Add an entry in \BootCat.ini for this boot option similar to the following:

    \dos4bcdw.ima ; Setup Microsoft Windows 9x/Me ; ; \Win9x\setup.exe

 How to add Volkov Commander to a CD with BCDW?
  1. Copy the files of Volkov Commander to a folder \VC on your BCDW CD
  2. Place the special boot image dos4bcdw.ima in the root of the CD (how to create this image?)
  3. Add an entry in \BootCat.ini for this boot option similar to the following:

    \dos4bcdw.ima ; Volkov Commander ; ; \VC\vc.com

 How to create the special boot image dos4bcdw.ima?
  1. Create the emergeny rescue floppy Microsoft Windows 98SE (My Computer - Contol Panel - Add/remove programs - Startdisk)
  2. Copy the files bcdw_cl.com, autoexec.bat and config.sys from the BCDW archive to this floppy
  3. Create an image of this floppy with the name dos4bcdw.ima (how to do this?)
If you want to use a different DOS version (PC-DOS, DR-DOS, FreeDOS ? ?.?.), copy only the file bcdw_cl.com to your floppy and add the following lines to the autoexec.bat on your DOS floppy:
echo Looking for bootable CD...
BCDW_CL.COM
if errorlevel 1 goto NO_BCDW_CL
echo Loading DOS-program...
%BCDW_CDROM%:
call %BCDW_CL%
:NO_BCDW_CL
 How to create an image of a floppy or a logical disk?
  1. Start WinImage
  2. Choose floppy or logical disk from the menu "Disk"
  3. Read a floppy or logical disk selecting "Read Disk" from the menu "Disk"
  4. Save a *.ima image of the disk selecting "Save as..." from the menu "File"
For a detailed description with screenshots see here.
 How to create an image of custom size (e.g. more than 2.88Mb)?
  1. Create a logical volume of the desired size on your harddisk with filesystem FAT16 (e.g. with the help of Acronis PartitionExpert or PowerQuest Partition Magic)
  2. Transfer the system files to this logical volume
  3. Copy any other files to this volume
  4. Create a *.ima image of this volume (how to do this?)
Example of bootable images of various sizes ~700mb, ~650mb, ~300mb, ~100mb, ~50mb, 11.52mb (8x1.44mb), 5.76mb (4x1.44mb) see here
Is it possible to use ISOLinux with BCDW?
It is. Do the following:
  1. Place all the ISOLinux files in a folder on your CD (e.g. /isolinux)
  2. Make sure that none of the following files are on your CD (if they are, remove them):

    /boot/isolinux/isolinux.cfg
    /boot/isolinux/linux
    /isolinux/isolinux.cfg
    /isolinux/linux
    /isolinux.cfg

  3. Add entries  similar to the following to /BootCat.Ini:

    /isolinux/isolinux.bin ; Command line ISOLinux
    /isolinux/isolinux.bin ; Linux   ;; /kernel initrd=/rescue.gz
    /isolinux/isolinux.bin ; Memdisk ;; /isolinux/memdisk initrd=/fd.img
 Is it possible to use CD Shell with BCDW?
It is. Do the following:
  1. Put the CD Shell files to your CD in the folder /cdsh (must have this name)
  2. Make sure that none of the following files are on your CD (if they are, remove them):

    /cdsh/cdshell.ini
    /cdsh/cdsh.csi
    /cdsh/cdsh.bmp

  3. Add entries  similar to the following to /BootCat.Ini:

    /cdsh/loader.bin ; Command line CD Shell
    /cdsh/loader.bin ; Keyinput sample ;; script /cdsh/samples/keyinput.scr
    /cdsh/loader.bin ; Variable sample ;; script /cdsh/samples/variable.scr
 Is it possible to use BootScriptor with BCDW?
It is. Do the following:
  1. Put the BootScriptor files to your CD in the folder /bscript (must have this name)
  2. Make sure that none of the following files are on your CD (if they are, remove them):

    /bscript/bscript.ini
    /bscript/bscript.bsi
    /bscript/bscript.bmp

  3. Add entries  similar to the following to /BootCat.Ini:

    /bscript/loader.bin ; Command line BootScriptor
    /bscript/loader.bin ; 911 Rescue CD    ;; script /bscript/911cd.ini
    /bscript/loader.bin ; Win2K Pro PockeR ;; script /bscript/pocker.ini
    /bscript/loader.bin ; J.Spitzner's CD  ;; script /bscript/cdmenue.ini
 Is it possible to use diskem1x.bin with BCDW?
It is. Do the following:
  1. Put the file diskem1x.bin in any folder on your CD (e.g. /)
  2. Make sure that none of the following files are on your CD (if they are, remove them):

    /diskemu.cmd

  3. Add entries  similar to the following to /BootCat.Ini:

    /diskem1x.bin ; Command line diskem1x.bin
    /diskem1x.bin ; Sample script ;; batch diskem1x.cmd
 "Press any key to boot from CD..."
If you want the message "Press any key to boot from CD..." to appear before BCDW is starting copy the file bootfix.bin from Microsoft Windows XP/2000 to the BCDW folder on your CD.
 How to skip BCDW on startup
BCDW listens at startup for the left ALT key. If it is pressed, the PC starts from harddisk without any messages or prompts.
 
Copyright (c)2004 by reanimatolog. http://bootcd.narod.ru
English translation by Wolfgang Brinkmann
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