I have some CDs with my xp system that aren't bootable. How do you make
a CD bootable in XP mce? Is there a batch file or something that marks it
bootable?

Bill

"Ron Badour" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> What CDs are you referring to? Are you using the correct terminology
> Bill? Bootable CDs are generally a diagnostic tool or an operating system.
> To be bootable, there has to be a routine included in the CD itself. CD
> burning programs such as NERO can be used to create a bootable CD.
>
> --
> Regards
>
> Ron Badour
> MS MVP 1997 - 2007

My XP is an OEM product. Therefore I don't have an xp install disk. I
know I can generate one with winn32.exe but I can use one of the 5 disks my
manufacturer sent me. The thing is only the 1st is bootable. The other four
aren't. I also have a copy of an old win98 OS I saved onto a disk but it
isn't boot like the original win98 OS boot disk was.

Bill

What CDs are you referring to? Are you using the correct terminology Bill?
Bootable CDs are generally a diagnostic tool or an operating system. To be
bootable, there has to be a routine included in the CD itself. CD burning
programs such as NERO can be used to create a bootable CD.

--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP 1997 - 2007


"Bill Cunningham" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%23RB%(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have some CDs with my xp system that aren't bootable. How do you make
> a CD bootable in XP mce? Is there a batch file or something that marks it
> bootable?
>
> Bill
>
>

Couple of things : Look at the OEM provided disks for a folder titele
"I386" - this is the Windows "CD" - the setup file hsould permit you to
install XP if necessary.

Also OEMs recovery systems usuall allow you to only reinstall the OS - when
the first: CD boots you should be presented with options as to restoring the
OS drivers and applications of both.

For a disk to boot 0 system files (Ms-dos.Sys, Ios.sys, command.com) are
required. The system files boot a disk to the "C" prompt - to boot
automatically to a setup file requires an auto.inf file.


"Bill Cunningham" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%23RB%(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have some CDs with my xp system that aren't bootable. How do you make
> a CD bootable in XP mce? Is there a batch file or something that marks it
> bootable?
>
> Bill
>
>

"AJR" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Couple of things : Look at the OEM provided disks for a folder titele
> "I386" - this is the Windows "CD" - the setup file hsould permit you to
> install XP if necessary.
>
> Also OEMs recovery systems usuall allow you to only reinstall the OS -
> when the first: CD boots you should be presented with options as to
> restoring the OS drivers and applications of both.
>
> For a disk to boot 0 system files (Ms-dos.Sys, Ios.sys, command.com) are
> required. The system files boot a disk to the "C" prompt - to boot
> automatically to a setup file requires an auto.inf file.

Ok now we're getting somewhere. So I don't go to I386 and run
winnt32.exe then bu a setup file? THe command interrpreter command.com and
io.sys msdos.sys (on the old dos stuff anyway) must be there I know. But
what is the auto.inf format?

Bill

"Bill Cunningham" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "AJR" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Couple of things : Look at the OEM provided disks for a folder titele
>> "I386" - this is the Windows "CD" - the setup file hsould permit you to
>> install XP if necessary.

Oh no great. Every one of those 5 cds have an i386 directory and nothing
is in them like the windows\i386 on my machine. They're all app restores and
no invisible files show up that are worth anything. I don't know why
emachines thinks I am interested in all their applications I remove them all
and just use xp.

Bill

The first one that is bootable is undoubtedly the recovery or XP disk. The
others are probably to be used once you have the system installed and are
not required to be bootable. For example, Dell sends an OS disk that is
bootable, a resource CD containing drivers that is not and various other
non-bootable CDs for the DVD drive, software burning, etc.

W98 CDs were not bootable but some W98 recovery CDs (Compaq for example)
were. With the regular CDs, one used a floppy boot disk to install the
system. If you don't have a floppy drive on your current PC, you can make a
bootable CD using Nero burning software

--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP 1997 - 2007


"Bill Cunningham" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Ron Badour" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> What CDs are you referring to? Are you using the correct terminology
>> Bill? Bootable CDs are generally a diagnostic tool or an operating
>> system. To be bootable, there has to be a routine included in the CD
>> itself. CD burning programs such as NERO can be used to create a
>> bootable CD.
>>
>> --
>> Regards
>>
>> Ron Badour
>> MS MVP 1997 - 2007
>
> My XP is an OEM product. Therefore I don't have an xp install disk. I
> know I can generate one with winn32.exe but I can use one of the 5 disks
> my manufacturer sent me. The thing is only the 1st is bootable. The other
> four aren't. I also have a copy of an old win98 OS I saved onto a disk but
> it isn't boot like the original win98 OS boot disk was.
>
> Bill
>
>

"Bill Cunningham" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Ron Badour" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> What CDs are you referring to? Are you using the correct terminology
>> Bill? Bootable CDs are generally a diagnostic tool or an operating
>> system. To be bootable, there has to be a routine included in the CD
>> itself. CD burning programs such as NERO can be used to create a
>> bootable CD.
>>
>> --
>> Regards
>>
>> Ron Badour
>> MS MVP 1997 - 2007
>
> My XP is an OEM product. Therefore I don't have an xp install disk.

Some OEMs do ship bootable XP install CDs. Some use restore CDs. Some use
a recovery partition (bad plan).

It's *not* a given that an OEM system will not have a bootable install CD.

> I know I can generate one with winn32.exe

I'm not so sure about that, or that that is the name you meant to type. I
suspect you're thinking of winnt32.exe, which is the Windows-based version
of XP Setup.

Winnt.exe is the command you'd run if you booted with a diskette with CD
drivers. IIRC neither of these have the ability to make a bootable CD.

> but I can use one of the 5 disks my manufacturer sent me. The thing is
> only the 1st is bootable. The other four aren't.

And that's probably because they don't need to be. They would be inserted
as needed during a system restore, by which point anything needed for the
restore to run was in memory or already installed on disk.

I expect that you'd find that most of the contents of those four CDs are
really only applicable or available during the restore process.

And I would wonder about the results if you made a copy of the files of
those supplementary CDs on a CD you configured as bootable. That might
interfere with the restore process, because things may not be where the
restore expects them to be.

> I also have a copy of an old win98 OS I saved onto a disk but it isn't
> boot like the original win98 OS boot disk was.

Usually those won't be of any help at all, particularly if the XP system
installs an NTFS filesystem. DOS/Win9x/ME can't read NTFS filesystems.

A boot floppy can be of value if it has CD drivers, so that you can get to a
location with the i386 folder to run winnt.exe and hence start Setup.

HTH
-pk

>
> Bill
>
>

"Bill Cunningham" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%23RB%(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have some CDs with my xp system that aren't bootable. How do you make
> a CD bootable in XP mce? Is there a batch file or something that marks it
> bootable?
>
> Bill

No, it's not a batch file. CDs, like other disks, require special files
in very specific locations on the disk. There are more settings that have
to be addressed, such as emulation, number of sectors, and load segment.

It's not incredibly difficult with software capable of making bootable CDs,
but not all CD burning software *is* capable of doing this properly. If
the settings are wrong, the disk will not boot.

Here's some information on the general topic:
http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd/


As to the CDs you have that aren't bootable, there is likely no need for
them to be. They are likely intended for use only during a restore
process, when the system is already booted. And making a bootable copy
might interfere with the restore operation.

HTH
-pk

"Bill Cunningham" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "AJR" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Couple of things : Look at the OEM provided disks for a folder titele
>> "I386" - this is the Windows "CD" - the setup file hsould permit you to
>> install XP if necessary.
>>
>> Also OEMs recovery systems usuall allow you to only reinstall the OS -
>> when the first: CD boots you should be presented with options as to
>> restoring the OS drivers and applications of both.
>>
>> For a disk to boot 0 system files (Ms-dos.Sys, Ios.sys, command.com) are
>> required. The system files boot a disk to the "C" prompt - to boot
>> automatically to a setup file requires an auto.inf file.
>
> Ok now we're getting somewhere. So I don't go to I386 and run
> winnt32.exe then bu a setup file?

You do neither.

Winnt32.exe is the Windows version of the setup launcher. You have to
already be *in windows* to use this.

If you've booted from a diskette or similar, you would run "winnt.exe" to
start Windows XP (or 2000) setup.

You do not run setup.exe directly.

> THe command interrpreter command.com and io.sys msdos.sys (on the old dos
> stuff anyway) must be there I know.

These do not appy to XP boot disks, and won't allow you to access NTFS
volumes.

> But what is the auto.inf format?

An autorun.inf file is basically a text file that tells a CD what to run
and where it is, passing any parameters.
http://autorun.moonvalley.com/autoruninf.htm

HTH
-pk


> Bill
>
>