dosboot(8) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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DOSBOOT(8)            NetBSD/x86 System Manager's Manual            DOSBOOT(8)


NAME

     dosboot -- boot NetBSD/x86 from DOS


SYNOPSIS

     dosboot [-u] [-c command] [-i] [path [-adqsv]]


DESCRIPTION

     dosboot is an MS-DOS program.  It is a boot loader for NetBSD/x86
     designed to permit NetBSD to be booted directly from MS-DOS.  By default,
     it boots a file with name NETBSD in the current MS-DOS directory.
     dosboot shares common code with the standard boot loader, x86/boot(8).

     The recognized options are:

         -c      Execute command (see below).

         -i      Enter interactive mode.  dosboot will present a prompt,
                 allowing input of commands (see below).

         -u      Boot from a UFS file system instead of an MS-DOS file system.

         path    Specifies the kernel file.  In MS-DOS mode (default) a normal
                 MS-DOS filename (with or without drive specification) is
                 accepted.  In UFS mode (after -u or after a mode ufs com-
                 mand), a path in a NetBSD file system is expected.  By
                 default, the file is looked up in partition `a' of the first
                 hard disk.  Another device or partition can be specified by
                 prepending a block device name in terms of NetBSD, followed
                 by a colon (see x86/boot(8) and examples).

         -adqsv  Flags passed to the kernel, see x86/boot(8).

     The commands accepted after the -c flag or in interactive mode are:

         boot [device:][filename] [-1234abcdmqsvxz]
               Boot NetBSD.  See boot in x86/boot(8) for full details.

         dev [device]
               Set the default device and partition for subsequent file system
               operations.  Without an operand, print the current setting.
               This setting doesn't apply to MS-DOS mode.

         help  Print an overview about commands and arguments.

         ls [path]
               Print a directory listing of path, containing inode number,
               filename and file type.  This command works in UFS mode only.
               path can contain a device specification.

         mode fstype
               Switch file system type; fstype should be one of dos or ufs.

         quit  Leave the dosboot program and exit to MS-DOS.

     dosboot is also installed in the release(7) hierarchy, under
     installation/misc/dosboot.com.


FILES

     /usr/mdec/dosboot.com


EXAMPLES

     To boot a NetBSD kernel located on MS-DOS drive D, one would issue:

           dosboot D:\NODOS\NETBSD

     To boot from a NetBSD floppy into single user mode, type e.g.:

           dosboot -u fd0a:netbsd -s


SEE ALSO

     release(7), x86/boot(8)


HISTORY

     The NetBSD/x86 dosboot command first appeared in NetBSD 1.3.


BUGS

     dosboot assumes that the processor is in real mode at startup.  It does
     not work well in the presence of MS-DOS extenders and memory managers.

     dosboot does not run directly under Windows 95.

     In UFS mode, files can only be loaded from devices known to the BIOS.
     The device names do not necessarily comply with the names later used by
     the booted NetBSD kernel.

     In MS-DOS mode, no useful boot device specification is passed to NetBSD.
     It is necessary to have the root device hardwired into the kernel config-
     uration or to enter it manually.

NetBSD 8.3                     February 17, 2017                    NetBSD 8.3