<s>
EasyBCD	B-Application
is	O
a	O
program	O
developed	O
by	O
NeoSmart	B-Application
Technologies	I-Application
to	O
configure	O
and	O
tweak	O
the	O
Boot	O
Configuration	O
Data	O
(	O
BCD	O
)	O
,	O
a	O
boot	O
database	O
first	O
introduced	O
in	O
Windows	B-Application
Vista	I-Application
and	O
used	O
in	O
all	O
subsequent	O
Windows	O
releases	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EasyBCD	B-Application
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
set	O
up	O
multi-boot	B-Operating_System
environments	O
for	O
computers	O
on	O
which	O
some	O
versions	O
of	O
Windows	O
,	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
BSD	B-Operating_System
and	O
Mac	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
can	O
be	O
simultaneously	O
installed	O
;	O
EasyBCD	B-Application
can	O
also	O
be	O
used	O
for	O
adding	O
entries	O
to	O
bootable	O
tools	O
and	O
utilities	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
modifying	O
and	O
controlling	O
the	O
behavior	O
of	O
the	O
Windows	O
boot	O
menu	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EasyBCD	B-Application
2.3	O
introduced	O
additional	O
support	O
for	O
creating	O
and	O
managing	O
entries	O
for	O
UEFI-based	O
Windows	O
entries	O
in	O
the	O
boot	O
menu	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
of	O
June	O
20	O
,	O
2011	O
with	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
EasyBCD	B-Application
2.1	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
no	O
longer	O
free	O
for	O
use	O
in	O
commercial	O
environments	O
which	O
require	O
the	O
purchase	O
of	O
a	O
paid	O
license	O
,	O
however	O
it	O
remains	O
free	O
for	O
home	O
and	O
non-profit	O
use	O
without	O
limitations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EasyBCD	B-Application
runs	O
on	O
Windows	O
and	O
modifies	O
the	O
Windows	O
Boot	O
Configuration	O
Data	O
(	O
BCD	O
)	O
to	O
add	O
support	O
for	O
other	O
operating	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Windows	B-Device
NT	I-Device
,	O
Windows	B-Application
2000	I-Application
,	O
and	O
Windows	B-Application
XP	I-Application
are	O
supported	O
by	O
handing	O
off	O
the	O
control	O
of	O
boot	O
to	O
either	O
NTLDR	B-Application
or	O
the	O
EasyBCD-specific	O
EasyLDR	O
,	O
which	O
bypasses	O
NTLDR	B-Application
and	O
boots	O
directly	O
into	O
the	O
OS	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MS-DOS	B-Application
,	O
Windows	O
3.x	O
and	O
Windows	O
9x	O
can	O
be	O
chainloaded	O
via	O
modified	O
versions	O
of	O
IO.sys	O
and	O
the	O
Windows	O
9x	O
boot	O
sector	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Linux	B-Application
and	O
BSD	B-Operating_System
are	O
loaded	O
either	O
by	O
handing	O
off	O
control	O
of	O
the	O
boot	O
process	O
to	O
GRUB	B-Application
or	O
LILO	B-Application
or	O
by	O
using	O
EasyBCD	B-Application
's	O
own	O
NeoGrub	O
module	O
(	O
which	O
is	O
based	O
on	O
GRUB4DOS	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Mac	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
is	O
loaded	O
via	O
the	O
Darwin	O
bootloader	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
From	O
the	O
"	O
Manage	O
Bootloader	O
"	O
section	O
of	O
EasyBCD	B-Application
,	O
it	O
is	O
possible	O
to	O
switch	O
between	O
the	O
bootmgr	O
bootloader	O
(	O
used	O
since	O
Windows	B-Application
Vista	I-Application
)	O
and	O
the	O
NTLDR	B-Application
bootloader	O
(	O
used	O
by	O
legacy	O
versions	O
of	O
Windows	O
,	O
from	O
Windows	B-Device
NT	I-Device
to	O
Windows	B-Application
XP	I-Application
)	O
in	O
the	O
MBR	O
from	O
within	O
Windows	O
by	O
simply	O
clicking	O
a	O
button	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EasyBCD	B-Application
also	O
offers	O
a	O
feature	O
to	O
back	O
up	O
and	O
restore	O
the	O
BCD	O
(	O
boot	O
configuration	O
data	O
)	O
configuration	O
files	O
for	O
recovery	O
and	O
testing	O
purposes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
latter	O
feature	O
can	O
be	O
taken	O
advantage	O
of	O
to	O
install	O
the	O
Windows	B-Application
Vista	I-Application
BCD	O
bootloader	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EasyBCD	B-Application
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
change	O
the	O
boot	O
drive	O
,	O
rename	O
or	O
change	O
the	O
order	O
of	O
any	O
entries	O
in	O
the	O
bootloader	O
,	O
and	O
modify	O
existing	O
entries	O
to	O
point	O
to	O
a	O
different	O
drive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Newer	O
versions	O
of	O
EasyBCD	B-Application
also	O
support	O
creating	O
bootable	O
USB	O
disks	O
,	O
by	O
deploying	O
BOOTMGR	O
and	O
the	O
BCD	O
onto	O
a	O
removable	O
disk	O
and	O
performing	O
the	O
necessary	O
actions	O
to	O
make	O
the	O
drive	O
bootable	O
,	O
after	O
which	O
it	O
can	O
be	O
loaded	O
into	O
EasyBCD	B-Application
to	O
add	O
and	O
remove	O
the	O
various	O
supported	O
entry	O
types	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
create	O
bootable	O
repair	O
USB	O
sticks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EasyBCD	B-Application
also	O
supports	O
changing	O
the	O
boot	O
partition/drive	O
that	O
PC	O
boots	O
from	O
,	O
changing	O
the	O
default	O
boot	O
entry	O
,	O
re-ordering	O
menu	O
entries	O
,	O
and	O
modifying	O
the	O
timeout	O
behavior	O
of	O
the	O
boot	O
menu	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EasyBCD	B-Application
supports	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
different	O
Windows	O
entries	O
,	O
and	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
install	O
and	O
configure	O
the	O
following	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Depending	O
on	O
the	O
version	O
of	O
Windows	O
being	O
added	O
in	O
EasyBCD	B-Application
,	O
certain	O
other	O
options	O
may	O
be	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
of	O
version	O
2.0	O
,	O
EasyBCD	B-Application
uses	O
a	O
new	O
method	O
for	O
booting	O
into	O
Windows	O
NT/2000/XP	O
that	O
does	O
not	O
use	O
NTLDR	B-Application
in	O
order	O
to	O
avoid	O
a	O
two-level	O
boot	O
menu	O
(	O
the	O
BCD	O
boot	O
menu	O
followed	O
by	O
the	O
NTLDR/BOOT.INI	O
boot	O
menu	O
for	O
cases	O
where	O
multiple	O
legacy	O
NT	O
operating	O
systems	O
are	O
installed	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Instead	O
,	O
EasyBCD	B-Application
uses	O
a	O
boot-time	O
helper	O
developed	O
by	O
NeoSmart	B-Application
Technologies	I-Application
called	O
EasyLDR	O
,	O
which	O
replaces	O
NTLDR	B-Application
and	O
bypasses	O
boot.ini	O
entirely	O
,	O
directly	O
loading	O
the	O
operating	O
system	O
in	O
question	O
without	O
showing	O
the	O
user	O
a	O
second	O
selection	O
menu	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Windows	O
PE	O
2.0	O
through	O
5.1	O
are	O
supported	O
under	O
a	O
separate	O
module	O
in	O
EasyBCD	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
EasyBCD	B-Application
can	O
boot	O
into	O
two	O
different	O
Windows	O
PE	O
systems	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
EasyBCD	B-Application
supports	O
booting	O
into	O
WinPE	O
2.0	O
+	O
WIM	O
images	O
stored	O
on	O
any	O
local	O
partition	O
by	O
providing	O
the	O
path	O
to	O
the	O
WIM	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EasyBCD	B-Application
can	O
boot	O
into	O
Linux	B-Application
by	O
one	O
of	O
two	O
means	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Chainloading	O
GRUB/GRUB2/LILO/etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
traditional	O
chainloading	O
method	O
creates	O
an	O
image	O
of	O
the	O
GRUB/LILO	O
bootsector	O
on	O
the	O
local	O
disk	O
and	O
loads	O
this	O
image	O
during	O
boot-time	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
chainload	O
the	O
second	O
bootloader	O
which	O
should	O
already	O
be	O
configured	O
to	O
boot	O
into	O
Linux	B-Application
or	O
BSD	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
EasyBCD	B-Application
has	O
profiles	O
for	O
and	O
officially	O
supports	O
the	O
chainloading	O
of	O
GRUB	B-Application
(	O
Legacy	O
)	O
,	O
GRUB2	O
,	O
LILO	B-Application
,	O
eLILO	O
,	O
and	O
Wubi	O
(	O
for	O
Ubuntu	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EasyBCD	B-Application
also	O
ships	O
with	O
NeoGrub	O
,	O
a	O
customized	O
build	O
of	O
Grub	B-Application
for	O
Dos	O
,	O
which	O
can	O
be	O
configured	O
by	O
editing	O
C:\NST\menu.lst	O
with	O
the	O
standard	O
Legacy	O
GRUB	B-Application
syntax	O
for	O
directly	O
booting	O
into	O
the	O
needed	O
Linux	B-Application
or	O
BSD	B-Operating_System
partitions	O
,	O
or	O
chainloading	O
another	O
bootloader	O
to	O
load	O
the	O
OS	O
in	O
question	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
of	O
version	O
2.1.1	O
,	O
EasyBCD	B-Application
contains	O
a	O
module	O
specifically	O
tailored	O
for	O
booting	O
into	O
BSD-based	O
operating	O
systems	O
which	O
was	O
developed	O
in	O
cooperation	O
with	O
the	O
PC-BSD	B-Application
team	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
module	O
works	O
in	O
tandem	O
with	O
the	O
BTX	O
bootloader	O
to	O
support	O
booting	O
into	O
BSD	B-Operating_System
systems	O
in	O
both	O
BIOS	O
(	O
MBR	O
)	O
and	O
UEFI	O
(	O
GPT	O
)	O
environments	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
PC-BSD	B-Application
setup	O
wizard	O
has	O
been	O
developed	O
with	O
this	O
capability	O
and	O
module	O
of	O
EasyBCD	B-Application
in	O
mind	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EasyBCD	B-Application
can	O
chainload	O
the	O
Mac	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
Darwin	O
bootloader	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
boot	O
into	O
OS	B-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
on	O
another	O
partition	O
or	O
physical	O
disk	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
does	O
n't	O
require	O
that	O
Darwin	O
be	O
installed	O
on	O
the	O
bootsector	O
of	O
the	O
OS	B-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
partition	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
facilitates	O
multi-boot	B-Operating_System
installation	O
in	O
OSX86	B-Operating_System
setups	O
,	O
and	O
can	O
currently	O
be	O
used	O
with	O
either	O
MBR	O
or	O
EFI	O
configurations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
conjunction	O
with	O
EasyBCD	B-Application
's	O
ability	O
to	O
create	O
bootable	O
USB	O
drives	O
,	O
it	O
also	O
has	O
the	O
option	O
of	O
creating	O
portable	O
entries	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
on	O
the	O
normal	O
PC	O
bootloader	O
or	O
,	O
more	O
practically	O
,	O
on	O
bootable	O
external	O
media	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EasyBCD	B-Application
can	O
create	O
entries	O
that	O
boot	O
into	O
hard	O
disk	O
images	O
(	O
both	O
VHD	O
and	O
raw	O
disk	O
image	O
formats	O
)	O
,	O
ISO	O
images	O
,	O
WinPE	O
2.0	O
+	O
WIM	O
files	O
,	O
floppy	O
disk	O
images	O
,	O
and	O
BIOS	O
extenders	O
.	O
</s>
