hey
i'm somewhat new here but i think that i have something that could help a lot of other newbies
i've found a program that installs itself from windows into the MBR and then when you reboot you can choose to reboor from floppy or cd-rom or your os'ses
i found it after a search for my friend who couldn't reboot from its cd-rom
here is it http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/
just choose the sbminst.exe in the map 3.7
and read the about and help

oh and to make it easy here is the user guide
1. Introduction

This section is the brief introduction of Smart Boot Manager 3.x.

1.1 Copyright

Smart Boot Manager is a free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

1.2 What is Smart Boot Manager 3.x and what it's not?

Smart Boot Manager or briefly SmartBtmgr (SBM), is an OS independent Boot Manager - a program that is loaded by the bios before any operating system and allows you to choose which operating system to boot.

It's like OS/2 Boot Manager and many other similar programs, e.g. System Commander, Bootit, Bootstar, PQBoot etc.

But it's NOT an OS Loader; it's not a replacement for LILO or other OS Loaders. In other words, you must use LILO (or other similar programs) to boot Linux while using SmartBtmgr to give you an easy to use interface to Boot Multiple OSes.

1.3 The features of Smart Boot Manager 3.x

SmartBtmgr is intended to be easy to use, flexible and small. It has a nice windows-like user interface, online help and an easy-to-use command menu. It needs no configuration file or program. All actions can be done from within the program; for example, it can automatically search all drives and partitions when it first runs, or you can let it research them later. The name of each boot record can be modified in its interface. The installation program is only used after once, unless the program is damaged. It can be installed not only onto a hard disk but also to a floppy.

SmartBtmgr is small enough that it can be installed into the first track of a hard disk (the hidden sectors), no special partition is needed. It is absolutely OS independent, unlike System Commander, OS/2 BootManager and PQBoot. Linux is of course not required.

Although it is very small, it is very powerful. It has many other useful features, such as password protection, auto delay boot, direct boot (same as the "single-shot autoboot" of Choose-OS), multi-language user interface, boot schedule, preload keystrokes, swap drive id, etc.

The style and language of its interface is easily customized. The interface datafile is independent from the program, so it can be changed, and the program does not need to be recompiled. There are two interface datafiles supplied with this version, one is Chinese and another is English.

Summarize:

The Main Features of Smart Boot Manager are:

* Very Small Size

The size of Smart Boot Manager is small enough that it can be installed into the first track of a hard disk(the hidden track).

* Absolutely OS Independent

Smart Boot Manager does NOT need any partitions, and it has online installation and uninstallation functions, so it's absolutely OS independent.

* Easy to Use

Smart Boot Manager has a window like interface, online help and easy-to-use command menu, it does NOT need any configuration file.

* Smart Search Drives and Partitions

Smart Boot Manager can automatically search out all of the floppy/hard drives and partitions that could be booted.

* Powerful Password Protection

Two types of password and three security modes can give you very flexible security configuration.

* Auto Delay Boot

Boot particular drive or partition automatically if none of keys are pressed within a certain number of seconds.

* Boot Schedule

Boot different drive or partition automatically at different times of a day and/or different days.

* Booting from CD-ROM

Smart BootManager supports booting from all kinds of IDE ATAPI CD-ROM, including PCMCIA CD-ROM.

* Preload Keystrokes

Send some keystrokes to the Operating System being booted.

* Swap drive id

Can boot DOS/Windows, 9x/Windows, NT and some other OSes from the primary partition on ANY hard disk, not only the first HD.
* Easily Customized Theme file

Anyone can customize the theme file easily, almost all of the screen elements can be changed, including the colors, strings etc.