Windows Boot Disks & CD's for 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2K, 2000, ME, 98, 95, NT and MSDOS Windows 10 Windows 8 Windows 7 Windows Vista Windows XP Pro Windows XP Home Windows 2000 Pro Windows ME Windows 98 Windows NT Windows 95 Other Boot Disks What is a boot disk? A boot disk (sometimes called a startup disk) is a type of removable media, such as a floppy disk or a CD, that contains startup files that your computer can use to start Windows. The startup files are also stored on your computer's hard disk, but if those startup files become damaged, you can use the files on a boot disk to start Windows. In earlier operating systems that used the FAT or FAT32 file systems, such as Windows 95 and Windows 98, a boot disk was especially useful because it allowed a person to access files on a hard disk even if Windows was unable to start.

• Windows Me Boot Disk Image

This ability also represented a security risk, because anyone with a boot disk and access to the computer could start the computer and access any file. Hard disks formatted with NTFS have built-in security features that prevent using a boot disk to access files. Note: if you are using Windows 95 and require CD-Rom support you should just download the Windows 98 boot disk. The Windows installation disk contains the files necessary to start Windows, so it is itself a boot disk. If a problem is preventing Windows from starting, you can use the installation CD to start Windows.

The installation CD also contains Startup Repair, which you can use to repair Windows if a problem prevents it from starting correctly. Startup Repair can automatically fix many of the problems that in the past required a boot disk to fix.Note: For Windows XP and later check out our guide to the.

Creating a boot disk (bootable floppy disk) Sometimes it's necessary to have a MS-DOS boot disk. Actually, you do not need a bootable floppy disk to install Windows XP, because the XP CD is bootable. However, sometimes it can be very useful to be able to boot from a MS-DOS boot disk. The most important reason to have a MS-DOS boot disk, is to be able to or to make an, as discussed later. If your XP CD-ROM is not bootable, you need this MS-DOS floppy as well to start the setup. WINDOWS XP SETUP FROM A MS-DOS BOOT DISK There is no need to install Windows from MS-DOS, the XP CD-ROM is bootable.

If your XP CD-ROM is not bootable, then you can still try a bootable floppy disk. Make sure SMARTDRV.EXE is loaded and go to the folder I386 on your XP CD-ROM and start WINNT. Summarizing you will have to give the following commands: (1) SMARTDRV, (2) D: (if D is the CD-ROM drive with XP), (3) CD I386, (4) WINNT. Creating a bootable MS-DOS disk The easiest way to create a MS-DOS boot disk, it to visit the website and download an image file. The page gives you an overview of the different MS-DOS boot disks, I prefer the Windows ME, Custom, No Ramdrive (the Windows ME boot disk supports bigger hard disks with the command). Download the file and follow the instructions to create your own boot disk. Adapting boot disk With the Windows Explorer you can view the floppy content.

Windows Me Boot Disk Image

If you feel the need to, you can add, delete and/or change files. I prefer to add the files EFDISK.EXE , MRESCUE.COM (saving and restoring partition information) and MRBOOTER.EXE from MrBooter (download: ). Have a look at the chapter if you would like to create a disk for imaging your Windows system. The customized Windows ME boot disk doesn't have enough space to add more files: you can safely remove SCANDISK.EXE, SCANDISK.INI and SCANREG.EXE. The files starting with XCOPY can be removed as well. Creating a bootable MS-DOS CD-ROM If your computer isn't provided with a floppy drive, but you still would like to boot one, you can always create a bootable MS-DOS CD-ROM on another computer (with floppy drive). With a burning utility like Nero you can choose for a bootable data disk with the floppy as boot image.

Of course you can provide the floppy disk and/or CD-ROM with the necessary tools. Notice that the burned CD-ROM appears to be empty, the data has been put on the boot sector. If you boot from this CD-ROM, a virtual drive A: will be created. Only if you provided the floppy with CD-ROM drivers, the CD-ROM drives will be available as well.

TIP: If your floppy disk or CD-ROM doesn't boot, you probably have to make changes in the BIOS settings (most times you have to press F1, F2, F3, F10, F11, F12, DEL or INS at boot). Find the an item which looks like boot sequence or something else with boot. CREATING A BOOTABLE SYSTEM BACKUP CD-ROM Note: this procedure makes it possible to create a bootable CD-ROM (needed if you are not provided with a floppy drive). MS-DOS HELP FUNCTION If you are not sure what a file is used for in MS-DOS, you can always try the command followed by /? For example: DELTREE/? © 2001-2016 -SchoonePC - Rotterdam - The Netherlands.