I need to make a bootable CD for WinXP so I can reformat and reinstall XP on my g/f's computer. She "lost" her floppy drive, so I can't do it the easy way with the floppies. So how do I make this CD? I'm sure it's possible, I've just never done it before. Thanks for any help.

 

I wasn't very clear in my first post... my XP cd I have now is not bootable. Or if it is, I've never been able to get it to boot.

I think I've kinda already figured it out. Will this work?

http://www.bay-wolf.com/bootcd6.htm

Except instead of using it to update BIOS, I'd use the XP startup floppies (which I'd make on my computer) and copy those files onto the ISO image CD

 

Yes, that will work. I went through the same thing a couple of weeks ago. Eventually I found an even easier way. There's a freeware burning program that includes the boot images so you don't have to do all the combining yourself. Just click the "make bootable" button.

Take a look at this; http://www.cdburnerxp.se/

 

That program looks awesome. As soon as I get home, I'll download it and try it out. Thanks a lot, Rob!

 

I really like it. I have used "Easy CD Creator", "Nero" and a few others, but I keep coming back to the free one because of ease of use and feature set.

The only complaint that I have with it is that once in a while it spits out a bad disk when I am burning from an .iso image. Otherwise it's intuitive, easy to use and powerfull. Best of all it's FREE! I have been on a freeware kick lately and have amassed quite a collection. This was one of my favorite finds. I get around the .iso problem by using another program for that kind of burning.

 

I will have to look at that program Rob.

Chris, if you have the full version of XP, it should boot.

I just formatted a few weeks ago on my PC and reinstalled XP Pro.
I had to set the BIOS to boot from the disc drive.
Funny thing is the BIOS only shows my master CD ROM which is defective, but when I installed XP, I used my E drive which is my burner.

I think after you exit your BIOS after setting it to boot from the CD ROM drive, you hit F8 or something, I forget.
But it then gave me the option to reinstall it "after" it formatted the hard drive for me from the disc.

Also when I put XP on my old PC, it will not boot from it being the BIOS or something does not support booting from it.

I made about 6 floppies to boot from that I think I got the files from Microsoft's site if I remember.

 

So if I were to put my XP cd in, burn a copy but at the same time make sure I check "make bootable", it'd work? (kinda hesitant to ask that question b/c of legal issues, but rest assured the CD will only be used by me).

If not, what would I need to do to emulate the XP setup part that comes from making the 6 floppies. Is there an easier way to do this with that program?

Corey, I think it's BIOS that's keeping the XP cd from booting. I have my CD drive set to first to boot, and that still doesnt work. I have a Dell laptop, so for some strange reason I'm not sure of, they might have disabled CD booting as a safety precaution.

Oh yeah, definitely check that program out. It looks like an awesome freeware replacement for Nero or Roxio.

 

could be your machine's BIOS is never set to boot from CD...

 

Well, that would certainly make the disk bootable, but...

How did the disk get unbootable to begin with? If it's an XP full install CD, it's inherently bootable since it was designed to set up clean machines. If it's an upgrade CD, making it bootable won't help since it doesn't contain all the files for a full install and the install will fail anyway when it doesn't detect certain files on the drive from the previous OS installation. I am assuming that you aren't trying to "fix" some bootleg image that you got somwhere...

 

This is a bit more than what your asking but your could use similar information to acomplish what your trying to do
http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd.htm
there instructions at the bottom to show step by step with nero or roxio, I prefer nero. But it should be a start .... Plus its a great idea for anyone that re-install alot and don't want to repatch say SP2 each time have a custom make XP boot CD with SP2 already ready to go
As for the boot image I bet if you do a google search on say "xp boot image" you will find it .. I won't post any links due to legal issues
Good luck ...

 

Here's a tool that will suck the files off the XP disk, integrate the files from the SP2 .cab and spit an .iso image of the new disk out the other end. http://www.windowsubcd.com/downloads...reamer1030.zip

That saves you the hassle of having to do the integration yourself and then re-rolling the bits into bootable form.

 

Well, after using IsoBuster to check the XP CD out, I've determined that I just can't boot from a CD with this computer. That sucks.

However, I decided to go ahead and make another XP disk with SP2 on it. Well, I downloaded the self extracting .cab file from Microsoft's website. However, I can't get the file to extract to a folder. It says that the file isn't a Win32 application. I find that hard to believe seeing how it's from Microsoft. What gives?

 

You mentioned it is a Dell laptop, right? Which model? I have several and they all have the capability of booting from CD. Maybe I have one and can take a look.

 

It's an Inspiron 8200. My BIOS is set up to boot in this order: Floppy, CD, Hard Drive.

 

I have one of those in the lab. I will take a look at it when I get in today. Two more questions. Which BIOS does it have and will it boot from the floppy?

 

If memory serves me right, I have BIOS A12, and it will boot from floppy.

2 things I thought of:

1. I need to re-flash the BIOS or update it again
2. Might be a driver problem with the cd-rom.

I will try both of these when I get home tonite.

 

Side note...

Rob, have you found these guys yet?

http://pricelessware.org/thelist/aboutplw.htm


I figured you might want to nominate some of your finds...

 

jeez, i have a few of them, from 8000, 8100 and 8200.

just change the BIOS order to CD, flop, HD.

when it recognizes a BOOTABLE cd, it will say on the screen "hit any key to boot from CD..."

it waits like 2-5 seconds, then continues withi the boot sequence...

 

I flashed mine with A12 today and set the boot order to CD/HD today and it booted from CD just fine. There's something funky with your configuration.

 

I will take a look into that. Thanks!