How does iReboot work?

robm

robm

Member
Hi All from a newbie,

At the risk of sounding like an idiot, how do you make iReboot work?
Loaded it, get a tray icon, which has four options (from memory):

Reboot selection (tickable)
==================a double line
About
EasyBCD
Exit

Obviously I want the first one, but ticking or unticking it make no difference to anything. Get the same boot-select screen on startup.

I have windows XP, old and full of crap. Just reloaded a new, different partition with same winXP, the aim being to keep it clean, streamlined and fast. When I boot I get the windows boot selection screen, as expected. Loaded up iReboot thinking I would no longer get that screen, but could pre-select which partition I booted into, but it doesn't do that. No change whatsoever, still the same windows boot screen. There are no help files, or help pages on the website that I could find.

So what does iReboot do? How do you make it work? Or is it only for vista?

Found iReboot while googling dual-boot systems, and found I could boot into either partition using existing micro$oft programs in xp - go into disk management and choose which partition is active before you shut down. But that is a bit of a pain, was hoping this would be easier.

Regards,
Rob
 
Hi Rob, welcome to NST.
You should have a "Reboot on selection" option and an option for each of your systems.
When you have "ros" ticked, clicking on either of the systems mentioned will perform an immediate reboot to that system.
(temporarily changing the boot default in your menu)
If you read the sticky thread
http://neosmart.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1344
you should see how it has evolved and some of the other options.
 
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Hi Rob, welcome to NeoSmart Technologies.

You need to have Windows Vista's bootloader installed in order to use iReboot, which means that one of the OSes on your disk should be Vista.

It won't work in an XP-only environment. Sorry mate!
 
Sorry CG, hadn't really realized that myself. I suppose its the BCD you're manipulating in iR ?
 
Yep. To do anything at the bootloader-level I need to modify either NTLDR or the BCD; each one is fixed to only XP or Vista.

However, since rewriting GRUB for use with HnS I realize I've actually created a bootloader that can be used with both XP and Vista equally so there are some real possibilities there.
 
Thanks for the replies, seems I'm out of luck - the laptop's probably too old and slow for vista.

Cheers,
Rob
 
Computer Guru said:
However, since rewriting GRUB for use with HnS I realize I've actually created a bootloader that can be used with both XP and Vista equally so there are some real possibilities there.
Click to expand...

Just a quick question - Can iReboot now be used with HnS? I tried looking thru the iReboot threads, but didn't see anything specific on this (and I could have missed it also if it was there). Your comment above made me think that maybe this was now possible. I am using build 61 of HnS.

Thanks

Saphire199
 
Theoretically you could use it, but your boot would still stop at the Hn'S screen after telling it to reboot into a different OS from iReboot's menu while booted in Windows. :wink: And then of course it would probably create weird results when you select Vista, and not XP, to boot into, from Hn'S's boot menu, if you told iReboot to reboot into XP.
 
Wow thats good question sapphire, one I don't think I've seen anyone on here ask about before, that's for sure. But like Cool said above, it should be quite possible with careful configuration and patience.

From the point where you get the Windows boot menu it would need to have any partitions unhidden for the OS or OSes you want to boot into. So what you can do is make sure that HnS only does hiding Vista from XP (which I'm sure it does anyway, but check to make sure its not hiding XP from Vista, etc).

Now with the Windows boot loader (BCD) you'd need to add an entry for each OS you'd like to boot into. Make sure they're working and than set the timeout to 0 and the default to Vista/W7 if its not already that. Next you should install iReboot in every OS you plan to use it in (do not use iReboot at all to reboot the system until that's done).

Now the tricky part is say, rebooting into XP from iReboot since the whole purpose of HnS is to protect Vista's/W7's restore points from XP and doing so from Vista's/W7's bootloader with Vista's/W7's partition unhideen wouldn't do that. If you want to have that option you should try this registry trick from MS. Now the registry trick works for some but not everyone hence the importance of HnS, but its a good idea to apply it in your case anyway so that if it is working you can safely use iReboot to boot into XP without consequences.

Edit: And another thing... if you plan to be able to reboot into XP using iReboot make sure Windows boot manager and the BCD stores on a partition that can be accessed when XP is booted so iReboot can fix the bootloader again for normal boot. Otherwise, you'll continually find yourself booting into XP when you want Vista/W7 because iReboot couldnt access the BCD store on Vista's partition since its hidden/offline when you've booted XP.
 
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I think the answer is a straight no.
As I understand the design, iReboot works by temporarily (or semi-permanently depending on the config file) switching the BCD default option then instigating a reboot.
HnS sits ahead of the BCD and has its own default option which iR is completely unaware of and cannot influence.
If you boot XP through any other root than HnS, the restore point problem occurs.
If you can circumvent that with the MS registry hack then you don't need HnS to be involved anyway, and you can just remove HnS altogether and use a straight EasyBCD/ iReboot combination.

grub4Dos has its own semi-iReboot capability ( the savedefault parameter which acts like one of the iR config options (semi-permanent redefine default).
All HnS needs to turn that facility into an iR clone is a small utility to reset that default (one byte in a 2k file) and invoke a reboot. (Provided that your HnS boot files are in the 1st partition on the HDD and that it's never hidden.)
 
Terry60 said:
If you can circumvent that with the MS registry hack then you don't need HnS to be involved anyway, and you can just remove HnS altogether and use a straight EasyBCD/ iReboot combination.
Click to expand...

Very true, posted anyway to tell one how it could be done nevertheless. Why one would want to set it up that way who knows. Care detailing what you're trying to accomplish Sapphire? iReboot plus the registry trick without HnS is the best way of going about it of course, but if its not working for you than HnS is needed.
 
Well, to answer you on why I asked - I used iReboot before I installed HnS - I really liked the idea of a radio button that immediately boots your computer into whatever OS you want. Otherwise, you have to restart and choose, waiting for timeout in either Easy BCD or HnS to choose the OS you want. I DID have HnS and iReboot both installed and was able to go from Vista to XP with no problem - but Terry and Mak gave me more info on the subject (see thread Dual boot Vista/XP, finishing touches). Due to the fact that I wanted my restore points more than convenience, I opted for HnS. But at the time, there was some discussion that this might be sorted out so could use both. That is why I asked. Plus, I intend to triple boot with Windows 7 per Terry's thread, and it would be really convenient to be able to go from one OS to another, choosing your preference while you are in the currently loaded OS. I see by the order of the boot with HnS, etc, that this would not work outright, but only with workarounds as you outlined.

The registry hack seems like the way to go if I want iReboot and still hide restore points from XP. I only have one question now - Does Windows 7 have the same problem with restore points with XP that Vista does? Thanks

Saphire199
 
Any newer version of Windows beyond XP is effected by older versions of Windows prior to Vista. This includes Windows 7. Just like Vista, the registry trick in XP and/or HnS remedies the problem for W7 as well.
 
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