Re: Help PLEASE Boot Disk for XP

From: Shenan Stanley (news_helper_at_hushmail.com)
Date: 03/19/04 

Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 20:10:19 -0600

Chuck wrote:
> Does anyone know how to make a boot disk in XP that will
> allow to activate the CDROM drives and allow to format
> the C drive (like the old DOS FDisk)
> My HDD is partitioned and the C drive (with system files)
> is corrupt. HDD won't boot so I want to boot off a disk
> and format the C partition without loosing the D partition
> then reinstall windows. I would do this from my other
> computer.
>
> On the defective computer...
> I put in my windows CD but it won't boot from CD even
> after I changed all my bootable drives to CDROM in the
> CMOS setup ...

> Get the Windows XP Boot Diskettes and use them. There are still
> systems out there that won't work easily without this option - yours
> sounds like one of them:
>
> XP Home Edition:
>
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=E8FE6868-6E4F-471C-B455-BD5AFEE126D8
>
> XP Professional Edition:
>
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=55820edb-5039-4955-bcb7-4fed408ea73f&displaylang=en
>
> You'll need 6 blank floppy diskettes.

Chuck wrote:
> Are you saying I have to go out and purchase disks. Can't
> XP operating system make those disks from another
> computer.
> Windows 98 and down used to be able to make a boot disk
> that starts your CDROM and boots to prompt. That way I
> could reinstall from CD.

Which part did you miss?

If you go to the web page appropriate for your OS version (Home or
Professional) from the two links I gave you, you can download and then
create floppy diskettes to boot up and install Windows XP that way (you will
still need the CD in the drive at the time.)

Windows XP Setup boot disks are available only by download from Microsoft.
The Setup boot disks are available so that you can run Setup on computers
that do not support a bootable CD-ROM.

Future products will no longer support installation via the setup boot
disks. Installation of future Microsoft Operating Systems will require the
ability to boot from the CD or PXE boot from Network. Setup boot disks that
are provided for Windows XP are provided and supported on an as is basis.

Also, if you think you want to install from a single diskette, you could go
to:

http://www.bootdisk.com/

And get one/create one and then run setup manually, but I do not recommend
this method. 

-- 
<- Shenan ->
--

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Can not format
    ... Another alternative would be to try the XP Setup boot disks. ... I don't know why or how your drive letters got changed but that has little or no effect when in a DOS or NT setup environment, these drive letters are somewhat arbitrary, the active partition only having an effect and being labeled as C by windows, the rest hardly matters. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics)
  • Re: possible hdd failure?
    ... I am able to boot from the CD, but I cannot do anything once the ... The CD-ROM drives seem to be functioning, ... > The XP disk can see ntfs files, the installation disk can also Format ... >> (XP boot disks don't allow you to see drives XP created?), ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: The Microsoft stranglehold on its users....
    ... uninstall LILO you had to get a successful boot into Linux and uninstall ... Probably all of the boot managers use ... At least with the DOS boot disks, ...
    (sci.research.careers)
  • Re: The Microsoft stranglehold on its users....
    ... Probably all of the boot managers use ... At least with the DOS boot disks, ... something that you pay money for and what you get is at least partly shit ...
    (sci.research.careers)
  • Re: Crash and Invalid Boot Diskette
    ... You need to try harder to get to your CMOS BIOS or System Settings, ... BIOS settings, period, since boot disks aren't working. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)