Tag Archives: easybcd

EasyLDR and EasyBCD 2.0’s New XP Support

Posted on by Mahmoud Al-Qudsi
6

At NeoSmart Technologies, we’re not just about making cool software that makes your life easier – we also like to share the how and why behind our work, to make things all the more beneficial for one and all. While the EasyBCD documentation has been out of date for a while now (we’ve been too busy working on the code and support), we’re making a real effort to bring things up to date.

We’d previously finished the tutorials for dual-booting Windows 7 with Windows XP and with Ubuntu 10 (complete with picture-by-picture steps!), but now we’re getting started on the real meat: the technical details of just what exactly is going on behind the scenes. The normal OS boot process is one of the most complicated parts of an operating system with just one OS in the mix – with multiple operating systems, each that works in its own way, things get that much more complicated, and it’s always good to have a nice, illustrated guide to refer to.

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Welcome to EasyBCD 2.0!

Posted on by Mahmoud Al-Qudsi
27

Hello and welcome to EasyBCD 2.0!

It’s rather hard to believe, but EasyBCD 1.7.2 has been out for over 2 years now, and we’ve been working on Version 2.0 ever since. In that time, a lot has happened. Windows 7 has shipped, ext4fs is the new cool kid on the Linux block, GRUB2 is finally seeing some adoption, VHDs are the new wow, and everyone and their grandmother want a dual-boot between Windows 7 and Windows XP.

Worry not, we haven’t been sitting on our (not-so-proverbial) behinds this whole time. In fact, the entire NeoSmart team – developers, supporters, testers, and all – have been working around the clock to make EasyBCD 2.0 the biggest, coolest, greatest, and awesomest thing ever since the invention of the MBR. And now, over a 150 beta builds later and 2 years in the making, we’re super-pleased to introduce you to EasyBCD 2.0. It’s so incredibly overhauled and improved, so stuffed-to-the-brim with features, so much of a true one-click dual-boot experince, so customizable, so powerful, and so EASY that it took a lot of self-restraint to keep from calling it EasyBCD 10.0!

What’s new, you ask? We’ll get to it. But let’s just first give you the download link, because we know you just can’t wait to get your grubby, geeky paws on it ASAP:

Download EasyBCD 2.0.1 (1337 KiB)

(Yes, it really is 1337 kibibytes in size. And, no, we didn’t do it on purpose. We’re just übercool that way!)

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EasyBCD 2.0 RC1

Posted on by Mahmoud Al-Qudsi
12

EasyBCD Logo

I’m pleased to announce that the EasyBCD 2.0 beta program, years in progress, has now reached a release candidate build with EasyBCD 2.0 RC1 Build 100.

Please help us make the 2.0 gold release a perfect build by downloading and testing EasyBCD 2.0 RC1. There’s a very long list of changes, you can view the build-by-build changelogs in the link above.

If all goes well, we can expect a 2.0 RTM release in the very near future, God willing.

Thanks!

PCWizKid’s EasyBCD Video Tutorial

Posted on by Mahmoud Al-Qudsi
6

PCWizKid of PCWizKid’s Tech Talk has been kind enough to create an über-cool EasyBCD video tutorial that covers the basics of bootloader configuration and manipulation via EasyBCD. The video’s been an instant-hit on YouTube, and we’ve embedded a copy of it below.

Note that in the video, PCWizKid is using EasyBCD 1.7.2, which is the latest stable version of EasyBCD… But there’s a secret 2.0 version out currently in beta — we recommend you download yourself a copy and be the coolest kid on the block. It’s been rewritten for stability and reliability, and will feature a ton of new Windows 7-only features for your itching, tweaking fingers. :-)



Follow us on twitter @neosmart to keep up with the latest NST news, developments, and releases!

Don’t Forget About the Dual-Booters!

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
5

InfoWorld has an article out today wherein Randall Kenney of the “Windows Sentinel” team (a program used to monitor system settings and performance to provide aggregate data for analysis) trashes end-user uptake of Windows Vista by revealing that 35% of surveyed PCs that ship with Vista have downgraded to Windows XP.

While that’s a stunning number of Vista-only OEM machines running Windows XP, Mr. Kenney seems to have forgotten about those of us that dual-boot. As champions of dual-booters everywhere, we’ve got to put our two cents in here.

If you keep in mind the type of people who would install the Windows Sentinel tool and take part in such a geeky program you’ll realize that it’s not too out there for a good number of these people to be the kind that run multiple operating systems on their machines.

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EasyBCD 1.7.2 Released

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
1

EasyBCD 1.7.2 has just been released, and is available from download from the official EasyBCD download page.

EasyBCD 1.7.2 has only two minor changes, both of which involve the installer. The more important of the two involves the installer UI: Windows Vista SP1 broke the EasyBCD installer (buttons’ text was no longer legible), making it rather difficult to get on with using EasyBCD if you didn’t already have it installed.

Development of EasyBCD 2.0 is going well, betas should be available in the next month or so.

If you already have EasyBCD installed, you don’t really have to update.

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Hectuple is Not a Real Word

Posted on by Mahmoud Al-Qudsi
Reply

Repeat after me: “Hectuple is not a real word. There is no such thing as a hectuple.”

NeoSmart user David Q. wrote in to let us know that our usage of the word “hectuple” on the EasyBCD download page to refer to a 7-entry multi-boot environment is, quite frankly, wrong:

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How to Repair the Windows Vista Bootloader

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
8

There’s a section of the EasyBCD documentation/user manual/wiki that contains more than just information on how to use the program. If you’ve corrupted your bootloader, run into one or more bootmgr-related errors, installed Windows XP or Linux after installing Vista, or otherwise managed to fry, crack, melt, or break the Vista bootloader, then here’s how you fix it.

We’ve compiled information from over twos-years’ worth of experience with fixing broken bootloaders into a single guide, broken up into subsections for varying levels of damage to the bootloader. If you can get into Windows, we advise that you download & install EasyBCD, then follow the instructions in this section of the guide to repair the Vista bootloader from within Windows.

If your bootloader is so damaged that you cannot get into a Windows operating system, then get your Windows Vista DVD out and boot from it. If you don’t have a Windows Vista DVD, grab a copy of our Windows Vista Recovery DVD instead, stick it in your CD-ROM drive, and prepare to boot from it.

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January 2008 Update

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
1

There’s been a lot going on so far at NeoSmart Technologies, and 2008 is shaping up to be an exciting year… Yes, January is almost over; so, no, this isn’t a New Year’s resolutions list. The thing about New Year’s resolutions is that they’re almost always left unfulfilled. But that doesn’t mean we can’t share the good times, does it? Here’s some stuff to look forward to out of NST’s camp in the coming days/weeks/months:

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EasyBCD 1.7.1 Released!

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
4

EasyBCD 1.7.1 has just hit the press, our caching engines have been activated, and we’re ready for you to come and get it!

EasyBCD 1.7.1 is a bugfix build that fixes a couple of bugs and improves some other aspects of the program:

  • Compatible with the new Wubi Gutsy Gibbon releases.
  • EasyBCD now warns users if NTLDR or Bootsect.dos was not found in the process of adding a XP or 9x entry.
  • The WinPE section has been completely overhauled… under the hood. No more delays, just raw, sheer performance to match the speed of WinPE 2.0 itself.
  • Rewritten (no longer caches responses) update checker.

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