A Layman's Guide - Freeloader boot options

I have created this page just to document all the boot options that are currently available in freeloader by selecting F8. (How useful it is, I don't know, but it is in real need of much more text to explain what to do in each option's input in the different windows and how they work in relation to booting an OS.)

Boot options screen

Please select the operating system to start:

  ReactOS
  ReactOS (Debug)
  ReactOS (RosDbg)
  ReactOS (Screen)
  ReactOS (Log file)
  ReactOS (RAM Disk)
  ReactOS (Emergency Management Services)

Use ↑ and ↓ to move the highlight to your choice.
Press ENTER to choose.



For troubleshooting and advanced startup options for ReactOS, press F8.

If you press F8 you will come to the options screen.

select an option:


Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt
-------------------------------------------||
Enable Boot Logging
Enable VGA Mode
Last Known Good Configuration
Directory Services Restore Mode
Debugging Mode
FreeLdr debugging
-------------------------------------------||
Start ReactOS normally
Edit Boot Command Line (F10)
Custom Boot
Reboot

Use ↑ and ↓ to move the highlight to your choice.
Press ENTER to choose.

The boot options screen.

They all do what they say, but the ones with blue text in the list below, have option screens, so click on that item to see what they are.

Safe Mode

Safe Mode with Networking

Safe Mode with Command Prompt

---

Enable Boot Logging

Enable VGA Mode

Last Known Good Configuration

Directory Services Restore Mode

Debugging Mode

FreeLdr debugging

---

Start ReactOS normally

Edit Boot Command Line (F10)

Custom Boot

Reboot

FreeLdr debugging

Enable FreeLdr debug channels
Acceptable syntax: [level1]#channel1[,[level2]channel2]
level one can be one of: trace, warn, fixme, error
    if the level is omitted all levels
    are enabled for the specified channels
    # can be either + or -
channel can be one of the following:
   all, warning, memory, filesystem, inifile, ui, disk, cache, registry,
   reactos, linux, hwdetect, windows, peloader, scsiport, heap
Examples:
    trace+windows, trace+reactos
    +hwdetect, err-disk
    +peloader
NOTE: all letters must be in lowercase, no spaces allowed.

    _---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The [ ] square brackets mean the enclosed argument is optional.

Edit Boot Command Line (F10)

With ReactOS highlighted in the Boot options screen then select ' Edit Boot Command Line (F10) ' in the next window, displays the next screen.

Enter the path to your ReactOS system directory.

Examples:

\REACTOS

\ROS

 multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\ReactOS        

The last line of text is an input box.

When you press enter it will display the next screen.

Enter the options you want passed to the kernel.

Examples:
/DEBUG /DEBUGPORT=COM1 /BAUDRATE=115200
/FASTDETECT /SOS /NOGUIBOOT
/BASEVIDEO /MAXMEM=64
/KERNEL=NTKRNLPM.EXE /HAL=HALMPS.DLL

  _/DEBUG /DEBUGPORT=COM1 /BAUDRATE=115200 /

This is No1 ReactOS. The last line of text is an input box and is blank.

These are the different default options in the input box when you highlight one of the menu items at the Boot options screen:

1. ReactOS

Blank input as shown above.

2. ReactOS (Debug)

/DEBUG /DEBUGPORT=COM1 /BAUDRATE=115200 /SOS

3. ReactOS (RosDbg)

/DEBUG /DEBUGPORT=COM1 /BAUDRATE=115200 /SOS /KDSERIAL

4. ReactOS (Screen)

/DEBUG /DEBUGPORT=SCREEN /SOS

5. ReactOS (Log file)

/DEBUG /DEBUGPORT=FILE /SOS

6. ReactOS (RAM Disk)

/DEBUG /DEBUGPORT=COM1 /BAUDRATE=115200 /SOS /RDPATH=reactos.img /RDIMAGEOFFSET=32256

7. ReactOS (Emergency Management Services)

/DEBUG /DEBUGPORT=COM1 /BAUDRATE=115200 /SOS /redirect=com2 /redirectbaudrate=115200

Pressing enter will bring you back to the Boot options screen.

Custom Boot

  
Please choose a boot method:
  Disk
  Partition
  Boot Sector
  Linux
  ReactOS  
  ReactOS Setup

Use ↑ and ↓ to move the highlight to your choice.
Press ENTER to choose.

Click on one of these menu items • Disk, • Partition, • Boot Sector, • Linux, • ReactOS, • ReactOS Setup, to see what widows will be shown.

Disk

Enter the boot drive.

Examples:
fd0 - first floppy drive
hd0 - first hard drive
hd1 - second hard drive
cd0 - first CD-ROM drive.

BIOS drive numbers may also be used:
0 - first floppy drive
0x80 - first hard drive
0x81 - second hard drive

  _This is justto pad out the input box .

next screen

Enter the boot ARC path.

Examples:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)
multi(0)disk(0)fdisk(0)

  _This isjusttopadout theinputbox

Return

Partition

Enter the boot drive.

Examples:
fd0 - first floppy drive
hd0 - first hard drive
hd1 - second hard drive
cd0 - first CD-ROM drive.

BIOS drive numbers may also be used:
0 - first floppy drive
0x80 - first hard drive
0x81 - second hard drive

  _This is just to pad out the input box *

Next screen.

Enter the boot ARC path.

Examples:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)
multi(0)disk(0)fdisk(0)

  _This is justto padout the inputbox

Return

Boot Sector

Enter the boot drive.

Examples:
fd0 - first floppy drive
hd0 - first hard drive
hd1 - second hard drive
cd0 - first CD-ROM drive.

BIOS drive numbers may also be used:
0 - first floppy drive
0x80 - first hard drive
0x81 - second hard drive

  _* This is justto pad out the inputbox *

Next Screen.

Enter the boot ARC path.

Examples:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)
multi(0)disk(0)fdisk(0)

  _This is justto padout the inputbox

Next Screen.

Enter the boot sector file path.

Examples:
\BOOTSECT.DOS
/boot/bootsect.dos

  _This isjusttopadoutthe inputbox

Return

Linux

Enter the boot drive.

Examples:
fd0 - first floppy drive
hd0 - first hard drive
hd1 - second hard drive
cd0 - first CD-ROM drive.

BIOS drive numbers may also be used:
0 - first floppy drive
0x80 - first hard drive
0x81 - second hard drive

  _* This is just to padout the input box*

Next screen.

Enter the boot ARC path.

Examples:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)
multi(0)disk(0)fdisk(0)

  _This isjustto padout the input box

Next Screen.

Enter the Linux kernel image path.

Examples:
/vmlinuz
/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18

  _This isjustto padouttheinputbox

Next Screen.

Enter the initrd image path.

Examples:
/initrd.gz
/boot/root.img.gz

Leave blank for no initial ram disk.

  _This isjustto padouttheinputbox

Next screen.

Enter the Linux kernel command line.

Examples:
root=/dev/hda1
root=/dev/fd0 read-only
root=/dev/sdb1 init-/sbin/init-/sbin/init

  _This is justto padout the input box

Return

ReactOS

Enter the boot drive.

Examples:
fd0 - first floppy drive
hd0 - first hard drive
hd1 - second hard drive
cd0 - first CD-ROM drive.

BIOS drive numbers may also be used:
0 - first floppy drive
0x80 - first hard drive
0x81 - second hard drive

  _* This is just to pad out the input box*

Next screen.

Enter the boot partition.

Enter 0 for the active (bootable) partition.

  _*This is justto pad * out the input *box*

Next Screen.

Enter the path to your ReactOS system directory.

Examples:
\REACTOS
\ROS

  _*This * is * justto * pad * out * the * input * box*

Return

ReactOS Setup

Enter the boot drive.

Examples:
fd0 - first floppy drive
hd0 - first hard drive
hd1 - second hard drive
cd0 - first CD-ROM drive.

BIOS drive numbers may also be used:
0 - first floppy drive
0x80 - first hard drive
0x81 - second hard drive

  _* This is just to pad out the input box*

Next screen.

Enter the boot partition.

Enter 0 for the active (bootable) partition.

  _* This is just to pad out the input box *

Next screen.

Enter the path to your ReactOS system directory.

Examples:
\REACTOS
\ROS

  _*This is * just * to * pad * out * the * input box*

Next screen.

Enter the options you want passed to the kernel.

Examples:
/DEBUG /DEBUGPORT=COM1 /BAUDRATE=115200
/FASTDETECT /SOS /NOGUIBOOT
/BASEVIDEO MAXMEM=64
/KERNEL=NTKRNLPM.EXE /HAL=HALMPS.DLL

  _ * This is * just * to * pad * * * * out * the * input box *

Return

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