MKBT, Make Bootable Create any boot- floppy/image from any win32 platform with any media size...

Version 2.0 Last updated on Jan 7, 2003 - What is MKBT? [#what] - Download [#download] - On what platforms can MKBT be run? [#platforms] - What is the command line syntax? [#syntax] - What is so unique about MKBT? [#aboutmkbt] - Are there any other bootsector installers? [#others] - Where can I find the latest version? [#latestversion] - How to build a bootable floppy [#build] - How to build a bootable 2.88MB floppy image file (without the drive) [#build288] - How does MKBT work? (technical) [#howitworks] - Bootsector installation [#install] - Bootsector copy (-c) [#copy] - Change log [#changes] > What is MKBT? [#what] MKBT is used for installing bootsectors. It supports FAT, NTFS [/fixnt4/] and RAW bootsectors. > Download [#download] To download MKBT use this link: MKBT v2.0 > On what platforms can MKBT be run? [#platforms] MKBT is compiled as a win32 executable and runs on: * Windows 95/98/ME (FAT) * Windows NT4/2000/XP (FAT and NTFS) > What is the command line syntax? [#syntax] MKBT usage Usage: mkbt [switches] <source> <target> <source> The source file/drive which contains the bootsector to install <target> The target file/drive to install the bootsector on Switches: -v -c Verbose mode Copy mode (no install) used for copying the bootsector(s) -x Expert mode (do not check drive A or B only) USE WITH CAUTION! -l=<xxx> Set Volume Label to <xxx>

Returns errorlevel 0 when OK, 1 when some error occurred.

Examples: To install bootsector from file "bootsect.bin" onto drive A: -> mkbt c:\os\dos622\bootsect.bin a: To install bootsector from file "bootsect.bin" onto floppy image "288.img" -> mkbt c:\os\dos622\bootsect.bin c:\tmp\288.img To copy bootsector from a bootable floppy in drive A: to a file called "bootsect.bin" -> mkbt -c a: c:\os\dos622\bootsect.bin > What is so unique about MKBT? [#aboutmkbt] Unique things about MKBT are: * It supports transferring a bootsector to floppy images. This allows you to create a bootable 2.88MB floppy image without needing a 2.88MB floppy drive. See How to build a bootable floppy image file [#buildimage] * It is a win32 executable (not Dos) > Are there any other bootsector installers? [#others] Yes, I've found one other bootsector installer, "bootable.exe" [http://alexfru.chat.ru/programming/bootprog.zip]written by Alexei A. Frounze [http://alexfru.chat.ru/eindex.html]. It is a Dos executable and only supports transferring a bootsector from file to floppy drive (A: or B:). > Where can I find the latest version? [#latestversion] The latest version can be found on http://www.nu2.nu/mkbt/ > How to build a bootable floppy [#build] You can use any Dos version, any Dos supported floppy disk size to build your bootable floppy. For each Dos version you must have the following 4 boot files: * The bootsector in a file called "bootsect.bin" You can capture the bootsector to a file using: mkbt -c a: bootsect.bin * IO.SYS (or IBMBIO.COM for Novell Dos) * MSDOS.SYS (or IBMDOS.COM for Novell Dos) * COMMAND.COM For this example we will use MS-Windows 98 (version 4.10.1998), therefor we put the files in a folder called "4101998". They must have "normal" attributes (not hidden/system/readonly!). You can now use makeboot.bat (which is include with the MKBT download zipfile). makeboot.bat takes one parameter, that is the directory where the Dos bootfiles can be found. Example: makeboot c:\os\4101998 or when your in the "c:\os" folder, just makeboot 4101998 > How to build a bootable 2.88MB floppy image file (without the drive)

[#build288] Use bfi - Build Floppy Image [/bfi/]. > How does MKBT work? (technical) [#howitworks] MKBT copies parts of the bootsector. The bootsector, the very first sector of a floppy disk, is 512 bytes long and looks like this: FAT Boot sector Offset Length Meaning 0x0 3 bytes Jump instruction 0x3 8 bytes OEM Name 0xB 25 bytes BIOS parameter block 0x24 26 bytes Extended BIOS parameter block 0x3E 448 bytes Bootstrap code 0x1FE 2 bytes End of sector marker The BIOS parameter block and extended BIOS parameter block contains the information: BIOS parameter block for FAT volumes Offset Length Meaning 0xB 2 bytes Bytes per sector 0xD 1 byte Sectors per cluster 0x0E 2 bytes Reserved sectors 0x10 1 byte Number of FATs 0x11 2 bytes Root entries 0x13 2 bytes Small sectors 0x15 1 byte Media type 0x16 2 bytes Sectors per FAT 0x18 2 bytes Sectors per track 0x1A 2 bytes Number of heads 0x1C 4 bytes Hidden sectors 0x20 4 bytes Large sectors Extended BIOS parameter block for FAT volumes Offset Length Meaning 0x24 1 byte Physical disk number 0x25 1 byte Dos: Current head NT: Dirty flag 0x26 1 byte Signature 0x27 4 bytes Volume serial number 0x2B 11 bytes Volume label 0x36 8 bytes Filesystem ID > Bootsector installation [#install] Below are the steps MKBT takes to install a bootsector: Steps for bootsector installation Step Source sector Buffer 1 Buffer 2 Target sector 1. Read source sector in buffer 1 2. Read target sector in buffer 2 3. Transfer bootsector parts from buffer 1 to buffer 2 4. Write buffer 2 to target sector > Bootsector copy (-c) [#copy] MKBT v1.3 (and higher) copy bootsector option copies the complete bootsector! (previous versions only copied those sections that where needed to

install it) > Change log [#changes] Change log for MKBT [changes.txt] _________________________________________________________________ Do you want to use information from this site elsewhere? That is OK, but please read our disclaimer: http://www.nu2.nu/disclaimer/ Our license agreement can be found here: http://www.nu2.nu/license/ To contact the author look here: http://www.nu2.nu/contact/bart/ Copyright (c) 2000-2003 by Bart Lagerweij. All rights reserved.