Plop Boot Manager

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Plop Boot Manager is a small program to boot different operating systems. The boot manager has a built-in ide cdrom and usb driver to access that hardware without the help/need of a bios. You can boot the operating systems from hard disk, floppy, CD/DVD or from USB. You can start the boot manager from floppy, CD, network and there are many more ways to start the boot manager. You can install the boot manager on your hard disk. There is no extra partition required for the boot manager.

Programming language: Assembler
Software developer: Elmar Hanlhofer

The current version is plpbt-5.0.15.zip.

Overview of install/start modes

Features

• USB boot without BIOS support (UHCI, OHCI and EHCI)
• CD/DVD boot without BIOS support (IDE)
• PCMCIA CardBus support to enable boot from USB PC-Cards
• Floppy boot
• Different profiles for operating systems
• Define up to 16 partitions
• No extra partition for the boot manager
• Hidden boot, maybe you have a rescue system installed and the user should not see that there is another system installed
• Boot countdown
• Hide partitions
• Password protection for the computer and the boot manager setup
• Backup of partition table data
• Text mode user interface 80x50
• Graphical user interface 640x480, 800x600, 1024x786, 1280x1024
• MBR partition table edit
• Start of the boot manager from hard disk, floppy, USB, CD, DVD
• Starting from Windows boot menu
• Starting from LILO, GRUB, Syslinux, Isolinux, Pxelinux (network)
• It can be used as PCI option ROM in your BIOS
• Access the whole USB hard disk (up to 2TB) even when the bios has a 128 GiB limit
• You can run the boot manager over the network
• Start the network card bootrom from the boot manager to boot from the network

Screenshots

Main menu zoom	Main menu (text mode) zoom
Profile partitions zoom	MBR partition edit zoom
MBR Install Program zoom

Licence

The Plop Boot Manager licence conditions:

This licence conditions are also used for the boot manager tools that are written by Elmar Hanlhofer and not released under the GPL.

• The programs are free to use for personal and commercial use.
• The programs may not be sold¹.
• The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be appreciated but is not required.
• This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty. In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages arising from the use of this software.

¹ You can add the tools to non-profit products for free.
Example: You sell a CD and charge only the price for the blank CD without the work to create the final CD (and so on).

Download

The Boot Manager

1. Hotkeys - Global keys

Cursor up/down	Move the bar
Enter	Choose selection
ESC	Close window
CTRL - ESC	Switch to text mode
CTRL - PAGE UP	Switch to higher screen resolution
CTRL - PAGE DOWN	Switch to lower screen resolution
z	Enable/Disable window zoom animation

2. Main menu

In the main menu you see all visible profiles to boot an operating system. You can start an operating system from floppy, cd/dvd, usb or network. You can go to the setup of the boot manager, partitions and profiles. If your bios supports APM, you can shut down your computer.

2.1. Main menu hotkeys

1-9	Boot profile
q	Quick boot, open a list of all possible hardcoded partitions to boot
w	Write MBR with the profile settings, but do not boot
f	Boot floppy
c	Boot CD/DVD
u	Boot USB
n	Network boot

Special additional keys for USB boot:

• Press SHIFT-u to force USB 1.1

• Press CTRL-u to wait for a key press before starting the operating system. When a drive was found, then you can press "s" to skip the device or you can boot from the drive.

• Press ALT-u to wait for a key press before detecting the usb device type. When a device was found, then you can press "s" to skip the device or you can boot from the device when it's as mass storage device.

Difference CTRL-u and ALT-u:

When you use CTRL-u and the boot manager finds an usb device, then the boot manager identifies it. Because of the stripped down usb implementation, it's possible that the boot manager sometimes hangs on some computers. With ALT-u, the identification of the usb drives happens when you press enter. When you press "s", then the boot manager skips the device and it should not hang.

3. Setup

3.1. Partitions

You can manage your partitions here. The install program creates an entry for all primary partitions it finds. The names are from HDA1 up to HDD4. HD means hard disk. HDA stands for hard disk A and is the first hard disk. The numbers 1-4 are the numbers of the primary partitions.

Notice for linux users: HDA has nothing to do with the devices in linux like /dev/hda.

Edit label

You can change the label for the partition. This label is used in the boot manager. The maximum length is 16 chars.

Select Device

Here, you choose the hard disk of the partition.

HDA = Hard disk 1
HDB = Hard disk 2
HDC = Hard disk 3
HDD = Hard disk 4

Partition ID

There are 2 ways to set the ID of a partition.

1. Enter partition ID

You can enter the hexadecimal value for the partition.

2. Select ID from list

This list has the mostly used partition ID's. If the requested ID is not in the list, then use Enter partition ID.

Edit MBR/Import data

This is used to change the values of partitions in the MBR.

BP means boot manager partition. This values are stored in the boot manager.

P1-P4 this are the current values of the primary partitions in the MBR.

You can edit the hexadecimal values in the partition table. You can select a row with s (select) and paste the values to the row where the cursor is with p. With this function, you can import partition values to the boot manager or change values in the MBR. This can be very useful in emergency cases.

Clear partition data

Clearing the data means clearing of the partition data in the boot manager. The data on the partition itself is unchanged.

Reset changes

Use it if you changed something and you want to restore the whole values of the partition in the boot manager. This is possible until you close the partition edit window.

3.2. Profiles

Profiles are used to start different operating systems from different hard disks and partitions. It's also possible to detect changes in the MBR made by other software and import or forget the changes.

If you have an operating system installed and you install the boot manager, the installer creates a profile to boot the current operating system.

Edit label

You can edit the label of the profile. This label is shown in the main menu. It's useful to use a label to see what operating system is going to boot. The maximum length is 16 chars.

Show in main menu

With this option you select if the profile is shown in the main menu or not. Only visible profiles can be booted. It also has effects on the default profile in the boot manager setup.

Linked partitions

You select from which hard disk, partition and bios device number you want to boot with this profile. You can also select what partitions or cleared partitions should be used for the MBR.

Configure partition entries

There are 3 states for a partition entry

1. a selected partition

Press enter to choose a partition from a list with all partition of this hard disk available from Partitions.

If another software changes this entry in the MBR, the boot manager detects this change at the next startup. You can choose if you want to import the new values or forget them.

2. don't touch

The partition entry in the MBR will not be changed from the boot manager. That is the default setting.

If a software changes this entry in the MBR the boot manager cannot detect this change.

3. cleared

The boot manager set's this entry to 0 in the MBR. An operating system cannot detect that there is/was a partition.

WARNING: if the boot manager has not stored the values of the partition in "Partitions" then you lose the partition values in the MBR and you cannot access the data on the partition. It's possible to restore those values, but it's better, easier and safe to store the values in Partitions.

Partition programs will say this is unallocated space! Do not partition this space! You can lose data if you do it wrong.

Linked partitions - hotkeys

b set boot partition. You select, what partition you want to boot with this profile. The boot manager set a bios drive number automatically. It's possible to change it with another key.

c clear partition. You set this entry to "cleared" and the boot manager clears this entry in the MBR when you boot this profile.

d don't touch. You set the entry to don't touch and the boot manager does not change this entry when you boot this profile.

e edit boot flag. The boot flag has the bios drive number used by the boot sector routine. In some cases it's required to change this value.

r remove boot flag. Here, you remove the boot flag from the profile.

l set logical partition. You can set to boot from a logical partition 1-4 of an extended partition. Change the logical number by pressing "l". L1 = first logical, L2 = second, ...

Clear profile data

You can clear the profile data in the boot manager. The data in Partitions are not changed.

Reset changes

Use it if you changed something and want to restore the whole values of the profile in the boot manager. This is possible until you close the profile edit window.

3.3. Boot manager

Startmode

The boot manager has two modes to start. With the user interface menu and hidden.

For the hidden mode, you have to set the boot countdown and you have to select a default profile. The default profile boots after the countdown. The user cannot see that there is a boot manager in the background. If you want to go into the boot manager, then press ESC.

Boot countdown

You can enable and disable the countdown.

If the boot countdown is enabled, the boot manager waits the given time and starts after the countdown the last used profile or the default profile, depending on your settings.

Edit boot countdown

Choose between 1 and 99 seconds.

Select at start

At start, the boot manager set the bar to the selected option. This works for the hidden start mode too.

You have the following options

1. Last booted profile

2. Default profile

3. Floppy

4. CDROM

5. USB

Default profile

You can select the default profile from a list of all visible profiles.

Show floppy boot

Show the floppy boot option in the main menu.

Show cdrom boot

Show the cdrom boot option in the main menu.

Show usb boot

Show the USB boot option in the main menu.

Force USB 1.1

Use USB 1.1 controller even if there is a USB 2.0 controller.

Mode 1: Ignore the EHCI Controller
Mode 2: Setup EHCI Controller and set all ports to the companion host. Some controllers need this option to force usb 1.1.

Use Mass Stor Dev

Use Mass Storage Device. Boot the X mass storage device that was found. Other devices are ignored.

Text mode after boot

You can select the text mode during the startup of an operating system. Choose between "don't change" and 80x50.

Graphicmode

Select the screen resolution in the boot manager. Choose between text mode 80x50 and graphic mode 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024.

Zoom animation

Enable and disable the window animation.

Font

Select the boot manager font or the bios font.

Starfield

Enable and disable the starfield animation.

Master password

Setup the master password. Disable the boot manager password protection with an empty password.

Setup password

Setup the setup password. Disable the boot manager setup password protection with an empty password.

Install to the hard disk MBR (Master Boot Record)

You can install the boot manager to the MBR of your hard disk. When you do that, then the boot manager is the first program that is started when you boot from the hard disk. That means the boot manager is started before any operating system has been started. This installation has many benefits. Some features are only available when the boot manager is installed to the MBR.

As simple alternative to the MBR installation, it's easy to add the boot manager to an existing boot manager. See here.

Warning Linux users: Install LILO or GRUB to the boot sector of your Linux instead of the Master Boot Record (MBR). The Plop Boot Manager is not a Linux loader and cannot start Linux without LILO, GRUB, Syslinux and similar! See Linux Boot Managers.

1. The install program

There are 2 versions of the install program. Basically both versions do the same. The only difference is that plpinst.com creates a backup file plpback.bin to restore hard disk sectors for a complete boot manager uninstall. The second version plpinstc.com skips the backup part. You have to use the second version for installation from write protected media like CD's or when you install from network or any other boot manager.

zoom

1.1 Program functions

1. Full boot manager install

With this option you install the boot manager to your hard disk. If you have an installed operating system, then the install program creates a profile for you to boot this operating system.

With the installation from floppy, the install program makes a backup of the sectors where the boot manager will be installed. The install program writes the backup to the floppy disk. With this backup it's possible to remove the boot manager completely from your hard disk. If you use the CD installation, then it's not possible to restore the sectors. In this case the uninstall routine creates a new MBR to boot the current operating system. The partition table data won't be changed.

2. Rewrite loader

A small program (the loader) is required in the MBR to start the boot manager. Operating systems like Windows XP are writing during the installation their own small program into the MBR. If you install Windows XP after the boot manager, then Windows XP will start instead of the boot manager, because the loader is overwritten with the program from Windows XP. To setup that the boot manager starts before Windows XP you have to use Rewrite loader.

3. Boot Manager update

With this, you can update the boot manager. But only updates with boot manager v5 are working.

4. Complete uninstall

Warning, this option is only available with the installation from floppy.

The install program takes the backup that was saved on the floppy disk and writes it back to the hard disk.

Warning, if you changed anything with the partition table, then don't use this option!

5. Short uninstall

With this option, the program writes a new MBR to start the current operating system. The partition table will be unchanged.

6. Set Boot Manager screen to text mode

Configures the Boot Manager to start in text mode.

7. Change destination hard disk

Set destination hard disk to install the boot manager.

8. Boot Manager hotkeys

See Hotkeys.

9. Reboot

The computer will be restarted.

2. Uninstall

When you installed the boot manager to the MBR, then you can remove the boot manager in the same way that you used to install the boot manager, but you have to use the option 4 or 5 in the install program. The option 4 is only available when you install from floppy.

zoom

When you don't want to use the install program to remove the boot manager, then you can use any other program that writes a new program to the MBR. Example FIXMBR, or "fdisk /mbr" and so on. Or you install another boot manager to the MBR.

3. Methods to start the install program

3.1. Floppy

You create the install floppy with a floppy disk image. A floppy disk image is a file that contains every sector of the floppy disk. You cannot copy the image file on a floppy disk like a common file. It's required to use a special program that writes sector per sector of the image file to the floppy disk sectors. There are many programs available to do this.

Download the current boot manager plpbt-5.0.15.zip. Extract it to get the floppy disk image. You find the disk image in the install directory. The name of the file is plpbtin.img

How to create the floppy:

DOS: You can use diskimg.com with diskimg -d a -w plpbtin.img

Windows: Write the disk image with the program rawwritewin to the floppy disk

Linux: dd if=plpbtin.img of=/dev/fd0

3.2. CD

Download the current boot manager plpbt-5.0.15.zip. Extract it to get the iso file. You find the iso file in the install directory. The name of the file is plpbtin.iso

Notice: The CD installer makes no backup for a complete uninstall. See The install program.

Windows:

You can use Nero, or the free program CDBurnerXP, or any other program that can burn ISO images.

Use the option like burn ISO on CD or burn ISO Image. Then choose the boot manager ISO and burn it.

Linux:

cdrecord is the linux program to burn ISO images to a CD.

Burn the ISO with cdrecord: cdrecord -v dev=<devicename> <iso image>

Example:
If you access your CD burner with /dev/hdd
cdrecord -v dev=/dev/hdd plpbtin.iso

3.3. DOS

Download the current boot manager plpbt-5.0.15.zip. Extract it to get the install program. In the install directory there are 2 install programs (plpinst.com and plpinstc.com) for using under DOS.

plpinst.com creates a backup file plpback.bin for a complete boot manager uninstall. plpinstc.bin makes no backup. Use plpinstc.com for write protected media like CD's.

3.4. Windows boot menu (NT, 2K, XP, VISTA, Win7)

Hint: When you don't want to install the boot manager to the MBR then see plpbt.bin - LiveCD and ....

Download the current boot manager plpbt-5.0.15.zip. Extract the zip file. Open the folder Windows. You will find the batch program InstallToMBR. Run it as administrator in VISTA/WIN7 (right mouse click on the file and choose "Run as administrator"). The batch creates an entry in your windows boot menu called "Install the Plop Boot Manager to the MBR". When you reboot, then use the entry to install the Plop Boot Manager to the mbr.

Note: plpgenbtldr and contig are no longer required.

3.5 Syslinux, Isolinux, Extlinux

Download the current boot manager plpbt-5.0.15.zip. Extract it to get the boot manager install program. You find the install program plpinstc in the install directory.

Add plpinstc.com to the config file

• for Syslinux it's syslinux.cfg
• for Isolinux it's isolinux.cfg
• for Extlinux it's extlinux.conf

Add the following lines to the config file

label plpinst
linux plpinstc.com

Copy plpinstc to the same directory where the config file is.

You start the install program when you select it from the menu or you enter plpinst at the Syslinux command prompt.

3.6. LILO

Download the current boot manager plpbt-5.0.15.zip. Extract it to get the boot manager install program. You find the install program plpinstc.com in the install directory.

Copy plpinstc.com to /boot.

Add to your /etc/lilo.conf the following

image=/boot/plpinstc.com
label=plop-install

Run lilo to update lilo.

3.7. GRUB / grub4dos

Download the current boot manager plpbt-5.0.15.zip. Extract it to get the boot manager install program. You find the install program plpinstc.com in the install directory.

Copy plpinstc.com to /boot.

Add to your /boot/grub/menu.lst the following

title Install Plop Boot Manager
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/plpinstc.com

When you reboot, you should be able to choose the install program from your grub menu.

Info: You have to choose the correct root settings in your configuration or you get a "Error: file not found". See also this Forum entry.

3.8. GRUB2

Download the current boot manager plpbt-5.0.15.zip. Extract it to get the boot manager install program. You find the install program plpinstc.com in the install directory.

Copy plpinstc.com to /boot.

Example file /etc/grub.d/40_custom

#!/bin/sh
exec tail -n +3 $0

menuentry "Install Plop Boot Manager" {
    set root='(hd0,1)'
    linux16 /boot/plpinstc.com
}

When you reboot, you should be able to choose the install program from your grub menu.

Info: You have to choose the correct root settings in your configuration or you get a "Error: file not found". See also this Forum entry.

3.9. From network

A better documentation comes when I have more time. Meanwhile use the documentation of Plop Linux.

You need for booting over network a DHCP, TFTP server and the program pxelinux.

For Linux click here, for Windows click here

3.10. Native from a FAT file system

Download the current boot manager plpbt-5.0.15.zip. Extract it to get the boot manager install program. You find the install program plpinstc.com in the install directory.

Copy plpinstc.com to the FAT formatted drive and rename it to plpbt.bin.

Then use the program plpmkboot to make the drive bootable to start plpbt.bin.

• Linux example: plpmkboot /dev/sdb1

• Windows example: plpmkboot F:

Hint: Do not use the other install program plpinst.com except on FAT12 formatted drives.

plpbt.bin - LiveCD and other ways to start the Boot Manager

When you don't want to install the boot manager to the MBR, then you have to use plpbt.bin. You can start plpbt.bin in many different ways. You cannot save boot manager settings when you use plpbt.bin. But you can use plpcfgbt to configure plpbt.bin.

1. Floppy

A floppy disk image is a file that contains every sector of the floppy disk. You cannot copy the image file on a floppy disk like a common file. It's required to use a special program that writes sector per sector of the image file to the floppy disk sectors. There are many programs available to do this.

Download the current boot manager plpbt-5.0.15.zip. Extract it to get the floppy disk image plpbt.img.

How to create the floppy:

DOS: You can use diskimg.com with diskimg -d a -w plpbt.img

Windows: Write the disk image with the program rawwritewin to the floppy disk

Linux: dd if=plpbt.img of=/dev/fd0

You can configure the plpbt.bin on the floppy with plpcfgbt.

2. CD (LiveCD)

Download the current boot manager plpbt-5.0.15.zip. Extract it to get the iso file plpbt.iso.

Customize ISO: See Create your own ISO ...

Windows:

You can use Nero, or the free program CDBurnerXP, or any other program that can burn ISO images.

Use the option like burn ISO on CD or burn ISO Image. Then choose the boot manager ISO and burn it.

Linux:

cdrecord is the linux program to burn ISO images to a CD.

Burn the ISO with cdrecord: cdrecord -v dev=<devicename> <iso image>

Example:
If you access your CD burner with /dev/hdd
cdrecord -v dev=/dev/hdd plpbt.iso

3. Windows boot menu (NT, 2K, XP, VISTA and Win7)

Download the current boot manager plpbt-5.0.15.zip. Extract the zip file. Open the folder Windows. You will find the batch program InstallToBootMenu. Run it as administrator in VISTA/WIN7 (right mouse click on the file and choose "Run as administrator"). The batch creates an entry in your windows boot menu called "Plop Boot Manager". When you reboot, then use the entry to start the Plop Boot Manager.

To remove the entry from the windows boot menu run the program c:\plop\plpbt4win. Use "l" (small "L") to list all entries. Remove the entry with "r ID". ID is the number you have seen with "l". See here for more info's to plpbt4win.

Note: plpgenbtldr and contig are no longer required.

4. Syslinux, Isolinux, Extlinux

Download the current boot manager plpbt-5.0.15.zip. Extract it to get the boot manager binary program plpbt.bin.

Add plpbt to the config file

• for Syslinux it's syslinux.cfg
• for Isolinux it's isolinux.cfg
• for Extlinux it's extlinux.conf

Add the following lines to your config file

label plp
linux plpbt.bin

Copy plpbt.bin to the same directory where the config file is.

You start the boot manager when you enter plp at the Syslinux command prompt.

You can configure the file plpbt.bin with plpcfgbt.

5. LILO

Download the current boot manager plpbt-5.0.15.zip. Extract it to get the boot manager binary program plpbt.bin.

Copy the plpbt.bin file to /boot.

Add to your /etc/lilo.conf the following

image=/boot/plpbt.bin
label=Plop

Run lilo to update lilo.

You can configure the file plpbt.bin with plpcfgbt.

6. GRUB / grub4dos

Download the current boot manager plpbt-5.0.15.zip. Extract it to get the boot manager binary program plpbt.bin.

Copy the plpbt.bin file to /boot.

Add to your menu.lst

title Plop Boot Manager
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/plpbt.bin

Info: You have to choose the correct root settings in your configuration or you get a "Error: file not found". See also this Forum entry.

You can configure the file plpbt.bin with plpcfgbt.

7. GRUB2

Download the current boot manager plpbt-5.0.15.zip. Extract it to get the boot manager binary program plpbt.bin.

Copy the plpbt.bin file to /boot.

Example file /etc/grub.d/40_custom

#!/bin/sh
exec tail -n +3 $0

menuentry "Plop Boot Manager" {
    set root=(hd0,1)
    linux16 /boot/plpbt.bin
}

Then run update-grub2 or update-grub.

When you reboot, you should be able to start the boot manager from your grub menu.

Info: You have to choose the correct root settings in your configuration or you get a "Error: file not found". See also this Forum entry.

You can configure the file plpbt.bin with plpcfgbt.

8. From network

A better documentation comes when I have more time. Meanwhile use the documentation of Plop Linux.

You need for booting over network a DHCP, TFTP server and the program pxelinux.

For Linux click here, for Windows click here

9. Native from a FAT file system

Download the current boot manager plpbt-5.0.15.zip. Extract it to get the boot manager binary program plpbt.bin.

Copy plpbt.bin to the FAT formatted drive.

Then use the program plpmkboot to make the drive bootable to start plpbt.bin.

• Linux example: plpmkboot /dev/sdb1

• Windows example: plpmkboot F:

Uninstall the boot manager

Uninstalling the Plop Boot Manager depends on where it is installed.

1. MBR

Restart the install program and choose the option 5 to write a fresh MBR program and remove the Plop Boot Manager start routine.

When you don't want to use the install program to remove the boot manager, then you can use any other program that writes a new program to the MBR. Example FIXMBR, or "fdisk /mbr" and so on. Or you install another boot manager to the MBR.

2. Windows Boot Menu

To remove the entry from the windows boot menu run the program c:\plop\plpbt4win. Use "l" (small "L") to list all entries. Remove the entry with "r ID". ID is the number you have seen with "l". See here for more info's to plpbt4win.

3. LiLo, Grub and other boot managers

Just remove the boot manager entry and update the configuration when its required for the program.

Create your own ISO file with your modified plpbt.bin

plpbt-createiso.zip is a simple script to create a custom plop boot manager iso by Elmar Hanlhofer. There is one script for Windows and one script for Linux in the zip file. The scripts are using mkisofs from cdrtools.

How to use with Windows

The windows binaries of cdrtools are from http://smithii.com/cdrtools and included in the zip file. plpbt.bin and create-iso.bat must be in the same directory. You have to run create-iso.bat to create the iso file. You get a file called plpbtmycd.iso. That's your new boot manager iso file.

How to use with Linux

You must have installed mkisofs. plpbt.bin and create-iso.sh must be in the same directory. You have to run sh create-iso.sh to create the iso file. You get a file called plpbtmycd.iso. That's your new boot manager iso file.

plpcfgbt - configure plpbt.bin

plpcfgbt-0.11.zip is a tool to configure plpbt.bin. This program is available as source code for Linux and Windows. You start the program from a command shell. If you run the program without parameters then you will see the help information.

Usage: plpcfgbt [OPTIONS] file

Options:
========

 parameter    meaning
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 vm           setup video mode
              values: text, 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024

 stm          start mode of the boot manager
              values: menu or hidden, hidden requires cnt=on and dbt not off

 cnt          activate countdown, values: on or off

 cntval       countdown in seconds between 1 and 99

 dbt          default boot, values: off, profile, floppy, cdrom, usb

 dprf         use default profile value between 1 and 16

 stf          starfield, values: on or off

 zan          windows zoom animation, values: on or off

 fnt          set font, values: bt or bios

 usb1         force usb 1.1
              values:   off
                        1 = Mode 1 = skip ehci
                        2 = Mode 2 = force ehci to companion

 usbmdev      use usb massdev 1-99 (obsolete)

 int19h       do not boot the os and use int19h, values: on or off

 hotkey       startup hotkey, values: yes or no

 prf          set profile, value: 1-16

 prfname      set profilename 16 chars, 'prf' must be set

 btdrv        boot drive, 80h-89h, 'prf' must be set

 btprt        boot partition 1-4, 'prf' must be set

 btlog        boot log partition, 1-4, 'prf' must be set

 skippcmcia   skip pcmcia check, values: yes or no

 fastpcmcia   skip pcmcia check after usb card was found, values: yes or no

 ignoreusbdev ignore number of usb devices 0-99

 showextended show extended partitions in the main menu, values: yes or no
 
 
 hiddenusb    automatic usb boot without showing the boot manager
 hiddencdrom  automatic cdrom boot without showing the boot manager

Infos about int19h see here.
The hotkey option is useful with CD's or ROM's. You get the info to press CTRL-A to start the boot manager. If you don't press it, the booting continues without the boot manager.

Examples

Print current settings:

plpcfgbt plpbt.bin

Configure hidden boot and boot the usb drive:

plpcfgbt stm=hidden cnt=on cntval=1 dbt=usb plpbt.bin
or
plpcfgbt hiddenusb plpbt.bin

plpbt.bin parameters

When you use a Linux boot manager, then you can pass some parameters with "append" to plpbt.bin.

List of supported parameters

Parameter	Meaning
hiddenusb	is the short version of "stm=hidden cnt=on cntval=1 dbt=usb"
hiddencdrom	is the short version of "stm=hidden cnt=on cntval=1 dbt=cdrom"
usb1=1	Force USB 1.1 Mode 1 (ignore the EHCI controller)
usb1=2	Force USB 1.1 Mode 2 (force EHCI ports to usb 1.1)
vm=text	Switch to text mode
fnt=bios	Switch font to bios font
int19h=on	Use INT19h instead of booting usb
showextended=yes	Show extended partitions in the main menu

Example syslinux.cfg:

# configure the boot manager to start in text mode

label plp
    linux plpbt.bin
    append vm=text

# configure the boot manager to start in hidden mode and 
# boot usb with forcing usb 1.1 mode 1

label plp2
    linux plpbt.bin
    append "hiddenusb usb1=1"

Create a PCI boot manager option ROM (save in bios)

You can create a pci option rom file with plpbtrom-0.6.zip. You can store the option rom in your bios or to the rom of a network card and run it from there.

Usage: plpbtrom [OPTIONS] input-file output-file

Options:
========
 -h               this help
 -vendorid        id hex value of the card vendor
 -deviceid        id hex value of device
 -grabid          grab vendor/device id from PCI ROM file
 -hidden          disable option rom text output
 -nodisable       do not allow option rom disable
 -forceINT        force hook interrupt
 -INT18           hook int 18h
 -compress        compress option rom
 -size  set rom to a size. examples: 64k, 128k, 1m, ...

 input-file   boot manager file (ex. plpbtrom.bin)
 output-file  ROM file name  

Examples

• plpbtrom plpbtrom.bin plpbt.rom
• plpbtrom -vendorid 0x10ec -deviceid 0x8139 plpbtrom.bin plpbt.rom
• plpbtrom -grabid netcard.rom plpbtrom.bin plpbt.rom
• plpbtrom -grabid netcard.rom -size 64k plpbtrom.bin plpbt.rom

Special parameters

• -forceINT: This forces the boot manager to hook the INT 19h/INT 18h. If you have a PNP bios, then the boot manager does not use the PNP bios feature of the boot device sequence. The boot manager will be started before any boot device is tried (when INT 19h mode is used) or the boot manager is the last program that is started when all boot devices failed to boot (when INT 18h mode is used).

• -INT18: Hook INT18h instead of INT19h. INT19h is the default mode.

Files

plpbtrom - Linux executable
plpbtrom.exe - Windows executable
plpbtrom.bin - Boot Manager

Difference plpbtrom.bin and plpbt.bin

plpbtrom.bin gives the control of the boot process back to the bios with a far return if you press esc. plpbt.bin makes a reboot with int 19h.

Passing parameters to the boot manager with the linux kernel command line is not supported by plpbtrom.bin

You can configure plpbtrom.bin like plpbt.bin with plpcfgbt. You can enable/disable a hotkey to start the boot manager.

How to test a ROM

You can test your rom file with the free virtual machine qemu.

qemu -hda harddisk.img -option-rom plpbt.rom

If you have no hard disk image file then take one from the qemu download page or use a floppy image.

qemu -fda floppy.img -option-rom plpbt.rom

How to flash an AMI bios

Do this at your own risk! This can damage your pc.

• Download the Ami bios flash utility and save your current bios. AMI Homepage

  It's a DOS program, run the following command from a DOS floppy to save your bios
  

  afudos /obios.rom

• Use the Windows tool MMTools to replace the network rom with the plpbt.rom.

• Load the file bios.rom

• Find the network option rom. It has the id 20, the name PCI Option ROM and the RunLoc number VendorID:DeviceID of your network card. Maybe there are other option roms in your bios. Take care that you choose the network option rom.

• Click on it that it's marked.

• Click at the Replace Tab

• Load as Module file the plpbt.rom file.

• Press the Replace button

• Press the Save ROM as and give it the name mybios.rom

• Now comes the dangerous part. Flashing the bios.
  I suggest setting the bios to the default settings and save it. Then boot from a dos floppy and run

  afudos /imybios.rom

  Do not turn off the pc during flash. After the flash has completed, go to the bios and do again a reset to the default settings.

• If all is ok, you should be able to configure the bios and start the boot manager during the boot process.

How to flash an AWARD bios

Do this at your own risk! This can damage your pc.

• Download the Award bios flash utility aflash. You should find it at your Motherboard homepage in the bios section.

• Run it from a DOS floppy and save your current bios to a file. Give it the name bios.rom.

• Search the file cbrom in the web. There are different versions, not all will work with your bios file, so you have to test it with different versions.

• Run cbrom bios.rom /d

• This should list all parts of the bios rom. I cannot give you the command to replace the rom. None of the cbrom programs where able to display the content of my bios rom file. You have to test it by yourself.

• When you updated the bios rom file, then flash it. I suggest setting the bios to the default settings and save it. Then boot from a dos floppy and run with awdflash.

• If all is ok, you should be able to configure the bios and start the boot manager during the boot process.

plpbt4win

plpbt4win makes it easy to add/remove the boot manager from the windows boot menu. The program can work with the boot.ini and with bcdedit. It automatically detects the required method. You can use it as batch file or run it with an built-in command line. You find plpbt4win in the Windows directory of plpbt-5.0.15.zip.

Feature list

• Command line interface, ideal for batch programs and a gui frontend.

• Built-in command line.

• Works with boot.ini and bcdedit.

• Can list, add and remove windows boot menu entries.

• You can easy use different boot manager binary files. For example, one windows boot menu entry is the default boot manager file and another entry is configured to auto boot usb.

• 2 batch files are included. InstallToBootMenu.bat and InstallToMBR.bat. The windows user must only start the batch file and everything is done by the batch file. The user must only reboot to see the new boot menu entries. Those batch files can also be used as example how to use plpbt4win.

Help for batch mode

plpbt4win [/?] [/B] [/C [FILE]] [/L] [/A [NAME]] [/R <ID>] [/BIN <FILE>] [/D]

 /?          Help
 /B          Batch mode
 /BIN <FILE> Set the program filename. Default is "c:\plop\plpbt.bin"
 /C [FILE]   Create the plop boot manager loader program. Set the output
             filename. The default filename is "c:\plop\plpbt4win.ldr"
 /L          List windows boot menu entries
 /A [NAME]   Add to the windows boot menu a new entry. The default name is
             "Plop Boot Manager"
 /R <ID>     Remove the menu entry from the windows boot menu. ID is the
             number of the menu entry
 /D          Debug mode

Batch mode examples

• List boot menu entries: plpbt4win /B /L

• Create loader: plpbt4win /B /C

• Create custom named loader: plpbt4win /B /C c:\plop\plp.ldr

• Add an entry: plpbt4win /B /A "The Plop Boot Manager is here"

• Remove an entry, first use /L to get the ID and then: plpbt4win /B /R 3

• Create loader and add entry at once: plpbt4win /B /C /A

Help for built in command line

Start plpbt4win without parameter.

Command (? for help):  
 ?          Help
 bin <FILE> Set the program filename. Default is "c:\plop\plpbt.bin"
 c [FILE]   Create the plop boot manager loader program. Set the output
            filename. The default filename is "c:\plop\plpbt4win.ldr"
 l          List windows boot menu entries
 a [NAME]   Add to the windows boot menu a new entry. The default name is
            "Plop Boot Manager"
 r <ID>     Remove the menu entry from the windows boot menu. ID is the
            number of the menu entry
 d          Activate/disable debug mode 
 v          Show current values
 q          Quit

Note for Windows XP error

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\system32\hal.dll

Solution: Rename the file 'plpbt4win.ldr' to 'plpwin.ldr'. Set the new file name in the 'boot.ini'.

plpgenbtldr

plpgenbtldr is outdated and no longer supported. Use plpbt4win.

To remove entries from the windows boot menu use either plpbt4win or

Open a command prompt as administrator.
Run "bcdedit /v" to list all entries.
Run "bcdedit /delete {id}" to remove the entry. {id} is the number with { } beside the listed entry.

PCMCIA CardBus driver - USB PC-Card

Many old laptops are having one or two CardBus slots. The boot manager can act as USB PC-Card enabler and the boot manager makes it possible to boot from the USB PC-Card. When your laptop has only USB 1.1, then you can speed up the boot process with an USB 2.0 PC-Card. When your laptop has only one USB port, then you are able to get more USB ports with an USB PC-Card.

You find the boot manager with the CardBus driver in the pcmcia directory of plpbt-5.0.15.zip.

The boot manager initializes the CardBus during the boot manager startup. This means, the PC-Card must be plugged in during the boot manager start! I do this during the program start, because then you have an initialized and ready to use PC-Card regardless if you boot from usb or not. When you have a DOS USB driver (for OHCI and EHCI) then you are able to use it with the PC-Card and you don't need a extra CardBus driver.

During the boot manager startup you will see some infos about the CardBus init process. When you want to read it, then press the CTRL key during the boot manager start.

Notes:

• My CardBus driver works on many machines, but it does not work on all.

• Because of the additional CardBus driver size, I had to remove the IDE Cdrom driver (only) from the pcmcia hard disk boot manager version.
  plpbt.bin has all drivers included.

USB info

• Only USB mass storage devices are supported. The USB support allows booting from USB hard disk, USB thumb drives and USB card readers. USB floppies and CD/DVD drives are not working.
• There is no USB HUB implementation. It's required to connect your USB drive directly to the USB port of your computer.
• Current status see Boot Manager News.

DOS and the USB driver

1. The Boot Manager as USB hard disk driver for DOS

I know this is very special. Maybe it's useful for some people. You have to configure the plpbt.bin with plpcfgbt to use int19h instead of booting the operating system.

plpcfgbt int19h=on plpbt.bin

Now you have to start plpbt.bin with a boot manager like grub, syslinux or whatever during boot time (supported boot managers see here). Choose USB and the boot manager will install the usb driver and go back to your boot manager. If you start DOS you will have access to your usb drive as last hard disk. But remember, the usb drive is only as "read only" device available.

If it works for you then use plpcfgbt int19h=on stm=hidden cnt=on cntval=1 dbt=usb plpbt.bin

2. Disable the USB driver

If you run DOS and the Plop USB driver is loaded, then you can disable the USB driver with plpdisd-0.2.zip. When you disable the driver, then you are able to load other DOS usb drivers.

You can run plpdisd from config.sys

DEVICE=c:\tools\plpdisd.exe

It's also possible to run it from the autoexec.bat or command line.

3. Detect the USB driver under DOS

See here

Detect the USB driver

1. Detect the USB driver with Syslinux

Icecube wrote the module ifplop.c32 for syslinux to detect the plop usb driver

Example syslinux.cfg:

default plopcheck

# Check for the presence of plop (run by default)
#   When plop INT13 hook is found, run the first label
#   When plop INT13 hook isn't found, run the second label

label plopcheck
    com32 ifplop.c32
    append plop_detected -- plop_not_detected
	
# When plop INT13 hook was found, boot the menu system.
# plop can have added USB2.0 speed, so the entries we want to boot
# will be read from disk much faster (supposing that we have a BIOS
# that only supports USB1.1 speed).

label plop_detected
    com32 menu.c32
    append syslinux.cfg
		
# plop INT13 hook wasn't found, so we boot plop

label plop_not_detected
    linux plpbt.bin

ifplop.c32 is part of syslinux since version 4.01.
ifplop.c32 module page: http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/Ifplop.c32

You find some driver detection info's here.

2. Detect the USB driver under DOS

With the program plpchk-0.1.zip you are able to detect the plop usb driver. You can use it in the config.sys, in a batch program or from the command line. The program is able to create a file when the driver is installed, or delete a file when the driver was not detected. According to the existence of the file you can do some actions. For batch files you can use the return value of the error level. The program makes no screen output when you use the /h parameter.

plpchk [/?] [/h] [file]

  /?      help
  /h      hide text output
  file    create this file when the driver was detected or remove it when the
          driver was not detected
		
config.sys example: DEVICE=c:\tools\plpchk.exe c:\tmp\plpusb
		
For batch processing: ERRORLEVEL 0 = no driver detected
                                 1 = driver detected

You find some driver detection info's here.

Hidden partition / Cleared partition

Hidden partition / Cleared partition

There is a important difference between "hidden" and "cleared" partitions.

• Hidden Partition: Operating systems, backup solutions and so on can see them but they ignore them. I would say, this is a pseudo hidden partition.

• Cleared Partition: No program (except the boot manager) knows that there is/was a partition defined in the MBR. This is really hidden. It looks like unallocated space for every program. That means no other program can access the data on that partition (with some work and searching the hard disk there are still ways to access the data). There is a risk, if you repartition the hard disk, you will overwrite your invisible partition and all data on it if you do it wrong.

Example: Hide a partition

This is an example: A partition should be visible in one profile and hidden (and not cleared) in another profile

Let's say you want to have the second partition on HDA (HDA2) on one profile visible and on another hidden (and not cleared).

• Use an empty entry in partitions. Give it the label "hidden hda2".

• Select the device HDA.

• Go to "Edit MBR/Import data".

• Move the cursor to P2 and press "s". Now move up to "BP" and press "p".

• Press ESC and go to "Partition ID". Choose "Select from list". Choose the hidden version of your partition.

• Press ESC and save your changes.

• Go to "profiles".
  Now you can assign the "visible" version of your partition to one profile and the "hidden" to another profile.

Linux Boot Managers to the boot sector

Examples

1. Video dual boot install Windows XP and Windows XP

Download demoinstall.wmv (demoinstall.zip). The quality is not the best but you see all required steps. I hope it's useful.

2. Windows XP and Windows Vista dual boot with hidden (cleared) partitions

The goal is to install Windows XP on the first partition and Windows Vista on the second partition. I want that no windows has access to the partition of the other Windows. There should be a third partition that will be used as shared partition. Both Windows have access to this partition.

There are many ways to do this. I will describe one way.

It works only with the MBR installation!

What should be the result

• Windows XP on partition 1
• Windows Vista on partition 2
• A shared partition for both Windows as partition 3
• No Windows has access to the other Windows partition
• Realized with the Plop Boot Manager (hard disk installation)

Basic conditions

• The hard disk is not partitioned
• No boot manager is installed

The description

Install Windows XP

At first install Windows XP. Create with the Windows installer a partition with the size you want. I use a 10GB partition. Install Windows XP on this partition.

Setup Partitions

When you installed your Windows, go to the Disk Management and create a second primary partition for Vista and a third primary partition for the shared data.

Install the boot manager

Now comes the boot manager part. Boot from the boot manager install floppy or CD. Install the boot manager to the hard disk and then reboot.

Configure the Windows XP profile

The boot manager created a profile called "os harddisk 1" to boot Windows XP. It also imported the 3 primary partitions. The names are HDA1, HDA2 and HDA3.

Now go to setup and profiles. Select os harddisk 1. Give it the new label windows xp.

Select linked partitions. Press enter at the first slot of HDA and select HDA1. At the second slot press c to set it to cleared. You can leave the third slot as don't touch or select HDA3. See the difference at configure partition entries.

Configure the Windows Vista profile

Now leave the configuration of Windows XP and go to an empty profile in Profiles. Give it the label windows vista. Set show in main menu to yes. Now select linked partitions. Press at the first slot c to set it to cleared. At the second slot press b to set the boot flag. Press enter and select HDA2. On the third slot choose the same as for windows xp (don't touch or HDA3).

Install Window Vista

Go back to the main menu. Now you see windows xp and windows vista. Move to windows vista and press Enter. This writes the profile settings to the hard disk. The booting will fail, because Vista is not installed. Now boot the Windows Vista install DVD. In the installer you should see at the partitions screen at first an unallocated space (there is xp installed) and 2 primary partitions. Select the first primary partition to install Windows Vista. when the Windows Vista installation has been finished, it's possible, that Vista is booting immediately and the Plop Boot Manager does not come. In this case use Rewrite loader from the Plop Boot Manager install floppy or CD.

Now you should have two bootable Windows on your hard disk and they don't know from each other. You can share data between both with the shared partition.

Windows Vista on the second hard disk

It's similar to the previous description, if you want to install Windows XP on the first hard disk and Windows Vista on the second hard disk. The second hard disk is HDB in the boot manager. So install Windows Vista to the first partition of the second hard disk. Set in the vista profile/linked partitions the first slot of HDB to HDB1 and press b. The boot manager will set the boot flag to 81h. This should be ok for your installation.

3. Dualboot Windows XP and Windows 7

Here are short instructions for a complete new installation of your pc with dualbooting WinXP and Win7. It doesn't matter if you use 32 or 64 bit versions. Take care, all data on your pc will be deleted!

Boot the Win7 install DVD. Remove all partitions from the hard disk. Create a partition for Win7. The install program will create 2 partitions. One with about 80MB for the Win7 boot files and a second partition with the Win7 files. Create an additional partition for WinXP. Now you see 3 partitions. Install Win7 to the second partition. After the Win7 installation is complete, install the Plop Boot Manager. After the Boot Manager installation go to the Boot Manager Setup, then Profiles, then "OS HARDDISK 1". Change the name to "Win7". Go to linked partitions and press enter on the first position of HDA and select HDA1, on the second select HDA2 and on the third press "c" for cleared. Now leave the profile settings for Win7. Use now an empty profile to create the WinXP profile. Give it the name WinXP, visible in main menu "yes". In linked partitions select for HDA on the first position HDA3, press "b" to set the boot flag on the first position. On the second press "c" to set it cleared. On the third press "c" to set it to cleared too. Go to the main menu and press enter on WinXP. You will be not able to boot this partition because XP is not installed currently. If you get the message about invalid boot signature, then press "n" to abort. Now boot the WinXP install CD. You should see now only one partition. Install WinXP there. After the installation completed then start the Plop Boot Manager install CD and use "Rewrite loader". Reboot, the boot manager will tell you about partition changes. Press "y" to import the new values. Now you should be able to boot both systems.

NOD32 Virus report

NOD32 reports a MBR virus after the Boot Manager MBR installation. It's a false report. This problem was fixed but with the new NOD32 versions it's back.

FAQ - Frequently asked questions

1. I booted DOS from USB and I cannot write on the drive

2. Are there plans to add write support in the future

3. The boot manager detect's my usb cdrom, but booting hangs

4. My USB keyboard does not work when I booted from USB

5. Can I use my USB PC-Card (PCMCIA CardBus) to boot from USB

6. I want to install the boot manager from my USB device, but I cannot choose my internal hard disk

7. I use plpbt.bin and it forgets my settings

8. I cannot boot from my SATA CD/DVD drive

9. I was reading VIEW/EDIT/COPY data in the forum, where is this menu

10. Main menu network boot: !PXE structure was not found in UNDI

11. My USB DVD drive is detected, but I cannot boot

12. Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
    \system32\hal.dll

1. I booted DOS from USB and I cannot write on the drive

   My drivers have no write routines implemented. You want to know why? My intention was to have USB drivers for UHCI, OHCI and EHCI controllers in my tiny boot manager. The space to install the boot manager without the need of a partition is very limited. So there was no space left for write routines.

2. Are there plans to add write support in the future

   It's in my mind, but there are no fix plans.

3. The boot manager detect's my usb cdrom, but booting hangs

   USB CD/DVD drives are not supported.

4. My USB keyboard does not work when I booted from USB

   USB keyboards are not supported by my drivers. When you boot Linux or Windows, then your keyboard will work again when those operating systems are taking control over the USB hardware.

5. Can I use my USB PC-Card (PCMCIA CardBus) to boot from USB

   Yes, with the pcmcai version of the boot manager

6. I want to install the boot manager from my USB device, but I cannot choose my internal hard disk

   The problem with installing on the internal (in this case the second) hard disk with the installer is, that the installer imports the partitions from the usb device and thinks this are the partitions of the first hard disk. When the boot manager boot's later from the real hard disk then the imported partitions are not correct. You see the problem? Sure it would be possible to add an option to handle this situation, but there are so many other ways to install the boot manager, that there are no plans to add this feature to the installer (except, many people request this feature).

7. I use plpbt.bin and it forgets my settings

   You have to configure plpbt.bin with plpcfgbt. All changes you make within the boot manager menu are only valid until you reboot. The changes are not saved.

8. I cannot boot from my SATA CD/DVD drive

   SATA CD/DVD drives are not supported. Only IDE CD/DVD drives are working.

9. I was reading VIEW/EDIT/COPY data in the forum, where is this menu

   'VIEW/EDIT/COPY' data has been renamed to 'Edit MBR/Import data' (setup/partitions/partition edit).

10. Main menu network boot: !PXE structure was not found in UNDI

    Your network rom is a 'PXE Split ROM'. Currently only 'Monolithic' roms are supported

11. My USB DVD drive is detected, but I cannot boot

    Booting from USB CD/DVD drives is not supported by the current usb driver

12. Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
    \system32\hal.dll

    Rename the file 'plpbt4win.ldr' to 'plpwin.ldr'. Set the new file name in the 'boot.ini'.

© 2024 by Elmar Hanlhofer
This page was last modified on 07/Feb/2012.