Yes, there is an installboot buried, uncompiled in the sources that is pretty much the same identical source from 4.2-4.4. I have dug that out, just in case. But, disklabel, I was thinking was supposed to handle that. Maybe it doesn't do that correctly? Could there be anything in the hardware settings (CMD controller)? I wouldn't think so, since all the other OS's work fine. I have a set of root dd images from a friend's working machine. Maybe I should hexdump the front end of the drives and compare them to see where things have gone afoul. I haven't actively read hexdumps in years, so that ought to be fun to try.....(:+\\..... Anyone remember which exact disklabel or installboot incantation was used? I recall that the first boot sector had to be rdboot on a MicroVAX, but the second boot block could be rdboot or raboot. I tried both combos of rd+rd or rd+ra and never got past the "loading boot" msg. /boot is there in the root fs. What is curious is that these things supposedly boot fine in simh, but on my real hardware (and a friend's VAX, too), they don't. Could it be anything strange like odd bytes carried over in the bootblock or disklabel area or start of the fs causing it to lock up? Probably not, but, stranger things have happened..... Maybe a dd fill of the front few tracks of the drive might help? Since I am not installing from tape, but manually from another OS, could there be anything in the install scripts I am inadvertently missing? So close and yet so far.... Bob Keys -----Original Message----- Wasn't there an "installboot" program that told the bootblock where to find the /boot file? Boy was it a lllloooonnnngggg time ago that I dealt with this stuff.