DISKLESS ANGEL Client Configurator Tools – MBR/BS Manager

11.1

DISKLESS ANGEL Client Configurator’s MBR/BS Manager is able to manage standard MBR and Standard FAT12/16/32 Boot Sectors. It has been tested to work with FreeDOS, FreeBSD and Microsoft MBR and BS for FAT12/16/32 filesystems. One may wish to test it with boot codes for other operating system that is able to work with disks with FAT12/16/32 filesystems.

Valid MBR and BS boot codes should be first read into .CUR files for use by the MBR/BS Manager. These valid MBR and BS boot codes within .CUR can then be used for writing on hard disk or partition image file or disk image files.

Bootable disk image files are useful for booting under emulators such as QEMU or bootloaders such as GRUB. One can use the following steps to prepare bootable disk image files:

1. Use Partition Image File Creator to create a blank partition image file and put the operating system files into it;

2. Use MBR/BS Manager to put valid BS codes into the partition image file so prepared in step a above;

3. Use Disk Image Builder to build a disk image file [suitable for booting under the respective emulators or bootloaders, please see Chapter 10.2.7] from the partition image file so prepared in step b above; and

4. Use MBR/BS Manager to put valid MBR codes into the disk image file so prepared in step c above.

MBR/BS Manager is available under Tools Menu:

11.2

The above Window Dialog is used to manage, including reading and writing, Master Boot Record [MBR] and Boot Sector [BS] from and to local hard disk(s) and disk image file for MBR and partition image file for BS. This is useful for making bootable partition image file(s) and bootable disk image file(s).

To make an image file bootable, one needs to include a valid MBR in a disk image file and a valid BS for a partition image file. These boot codes can be obtained from a hard disk running under the computer system, or another image file on a hard disk.

By choosing the “Choose Object” combo box, one can either work with MBR as shown in the screenshot above or with BS as shown in the screenshot below:

11.2.1

General Panel

MBR/BS12, BS16, BS32

Under the Choose Object box, MBR: or BS12: or BS16: or BS32: shows the current state of the Master Boot Record or Boot Sectors. “Custom” means it has been changed or configured and the MBR/BS manager will use the relevant Custom files for read and write operations. “Default” means it will use default MBR/BS files under the folder or directory that DISKLESS ANGEL is installed.

The default files are MBR.DEF, BS12.DEF, BS16.DEF and BS32.DEF. These files are empty and do not include boot codes. The Custom files are MBR.CUR, BS12.CUR, BS16.CUR and BS32.CUR under the same folder or directory. If one has read valid boot codes from either a hard disk or an image file, the boot codes so contained will be read and written into these .CUR files for use. IF .CUR files are present, .DEF files will not be used. One can repeat the operations of reading and writing boot codes into .CUR files, if relevant .CUR files are found, the old versions of .CUR files will be preserved for backup purpose [please see 11.2.4 below] and their names changed into .000, .001, .002, etc. in sequence subsequent to repeated read and write operations. The new boot codes will become the relevant .CUR files.

11.2.2

Read MBR/Boot Sector

Read MBR/BS from hard disk or image file. First choose the source, and then click “Go”.

11.2.3

Write MBR/Boot Sector

Write the current MBR/BS .CUR to hard disk or image file. The MBR/BS Manager will determine the appropriate BS for the filesystem under concern. Choose the target, then “Go”.

11.2.4

Restore MBR/Boot Sector

When you perform the write operation to hard disk, the original MBR/BS would be saved, so that they can be restored later. The procedure is as follows. First, choose a backup copy from “Backup” [these backup copies are the relevant MBR.000 or MBR.001 or BS.000, BS.001 or so on files found within the folder or directory that DISKLESS ANGEL is installed], then the target hard disk from “Disk”, and finally “Go”.

11.3

For the above read and write operations, one should ensure that valid boot codes are available on a hard disk or image file. For reading and writing boot codes from or to image files, one should use valid disk image files for reading or writing MBR boot codes and valid partition image files for reading or writing BS boot codes. So one should take care not to use/misuse disk image file for BS operations or use/misuse partition image files for MBR operations.

© Copyrighted by Windrive International Limited