[Dell with MediaDirect] XOSL Bootloader, Hardware dual boot made easy

Hi everyone !

Dell laptops come with a second power up button that start a light Windows version aimed for multimedia viewing (MediaDirect). I've always wanted to be able to choose which OS to boot when the MediaDirect button is used.

There's already solutions to this, but they don't allow us to boot from a logical partition, and they aren't very "user friendly".

So I decided to tweak my favorite graphical bootloader to add the possibility to assign a different OS to each powerup button. I've also add an option to be able to hide it completely so you're laptop will boot as if XOSL wasn't there.

Another thing about XOSL, which I think it's a good point, it's that it's independant from any OS, and it will install on its own partition, which of course can be logical. Only few MBs are needed (I use 23Mb).

So here's the steps to install the custom XOSL on your Dell :

1 - First, you will need to make some room for XOSL on your hard drive. Use your preferred partition software (I use Gparted LiveCD), and make a small partition (can be logical) for XOSL. I gave him 23Mb. It's not necessary to format.

2 - Burn the ISO and boot with the CD (the link is in the bottom of the post)

3 - Press Enter when it says so

4 - Choose XOSL V1.1.5 (it's the only choice anyway)

5 - Choose "Boot no UMB (ultra-defensive)", then keep on hitting Enter on every question until you reach this screen :



6 - Press any key. Choose Install and follow the steps. Install on a dedicated partition. Don't forget to choose the partition you prepared before for XOSL.

7 - Once installed, you will be able to reboot. Once it's done, you will see the interface of XOSL :



8 - Click on "Setup", the click on "Add". Another window will show up. Here you will add an entry for each OS you have :



Choose the OS partition, name it, then click "Apply" and repeat this for all your OS

9 - There are 2 checkboxes in the General tab you should notice :

Default boot item : the OS that have this checkbox checked will be booted by default when the main powerup button is used

MD button boot item : the OS that have this checkbox checked will be booted by default when the alternative (MediaDirect) powerup button is used.

Choose now the powerup button configuration you want and enjoy

Link to download XOSL4DELL :
http://rapidshare.com/files/223048195/xosl..._by_kasaweb.rar


Few more things :
- There's an option called "Hiding" that can be usefull to isolate Windows installations.
- To make XOSL completely invisible when booting a OS affected to a powerup button, on the main window click on "preference", then "Misc" tab, then check "Show GUI only when Alt is pressed". As it says, if checked, XOSL interface will only be shown when you maintain the Alt button pressed during booting.
- If you use Linux, make sure to install its bootloader (GRUB, LILO, ...) in the OS partition instead of MBR.
- This method works with my XPS M1530, but it should work with every Dell, at least the ones that come with MediaDirect 3.0 and above.
- IMPORTANT : if the mbr is altered due to the installation of another OS, reboot with XOSL4DELL CD and in Step 6, choose "Restore" instead of "Install"

nop, you can still use arrows.
The other boot loader don't know when the laptop is powerup using the main or the MD button, this the part I customized. It's not just the "user-friendly" part of it, I believe there's no other way that offer such flexibility.

you have to run rmbr.exe everytime you want to change the default boot, and it has to be done from within an OS.

it's just a matter of convenience. whether you want to use a bootloader that properly recognize the MediaDirect powerup system and offer many options with a nice GUI, or you want to keep using a tricky method. It's up to you

I think the FN+power is handled by the bios directly, unlike the MD button which is handled by the mbr, so it's unlikely to be remappable

up

Personally, I prefer to seperate data from the OS and its applications. So my partitions look mainly like :

1. Win7
2. XP
3. Other OSes
4. Data
5. XOSL (23mb or even less)

The advantage of this method is that I can keep the data pretty independent from any OS, so it gives more freedom when formatting and stuff.

When choosing this scheme, the best thing to do is to isolate the different Windows installations. This can be done by 'hidding' other windows's partitions. Example :

You want to install vista and xp.

1. First you prepare all the partitions (with GParted or any partitioning software)
2. Use that partitioning soft to (hide XP partitions) and (unhide Vista's one and mark it as bootable).
3. Install Vista and test it
4. Again use the partitionning soft to (hide Vista's partition) and (unhide XP's one and mark it as bootable).
5. Install XP and test it.
6. Install XOSL and configure the hidding accordingly (ie hide xp when booting vista and vice versa). Marking them as bootable isn't necessary.


Hope I helped you to clarify the process a bit

I'm very positive that isolating windows's installations by hidding partitions will work for you. Don't forget to mark the target partition as bootable before installing.

Microsoft is very messy with the boot process when it detects multiple instances of windows. I prefer that each OS minds his own business and leave the main boot process to an independant app (XOSL in our case)

When you restored the boot manager of Seven, the XP partition was hidden ?