Bootable CD

C

Carl Tribble

How can I make a bootable CD? I have a Toshiba Satellite Laptop that came
with XP Home Edition. I want XP Pro instead. I tried upgrading but it
failed. I want to try a clean install. I have the retail XP Pro. All I
need is to be able to start the machine in DOS, format the C drive and then
install XP Pro. This laptop does not have a floppy though. The only drive
it has is a DVD/CD drive. I have a Windows 98 boot disk (floppy) and I
tried copying all the files from it to a CD and then tried to boot from that
CD but it did not boot. The only way I have been able to boot from the CD
is to use the restore CD that came with the Laptop but all that won't help
me install XP Pro.

Thanks for any ideas,
-Carl
 
E

Enkidu

Carl said:
How can I make a bootable CD? I have a Toshiba Satellite Laptop that
came with XP Home Edition. I want XP Pro instead. I tried upgrading
but it failed. I want to try a clean install. I have the retail XP
Pro. All I need is to be able to start the machine in DOS, format
the C drive and then install XP Pro. This laptop does not have a
floppy though. The only drive it has is a DVD/CD drive. I have a
Windows 98 boot disk (floppy) and I tried copying all the files from
it to a CD and then tried to boot from that CD but it did not boot.
The only way I have been able to boot from the CD is to use the
restore CD that came with the Laptop but all that won't help me
install XP Pro.

The retail CD should be bootable. Is it not?

If you can boot from the retail CD, you can specify a new install and
you will be able to delete/recreate the partitions during this process.

Be aware that the Sat Pro *may* have an OEM partition which it would be
unwise to remove.

I'm suggesting a process that might work above, but be aware that it may
not be wise to totally overwrite the disk because of the possible OEM
partition.

Cheers,

Cliff
 
M

MichaelHensley

The Windows XP Pro CD is bootable. Put it in the CD-ROM drive, and re-boot.
There's no need to format the hard drive first; during the installation, you
will be given the chance to delete the partition and create a new one.
 
L

Larry Danko

As everyone else has said, the CD is bootable, however you may have to go
into setup and change the boot sequence so that the computer looks for the
CD (or DVD) as the first boot drive. The normal boot sequence is:
Floppy drive
IDE Hard Drive
CD/DVD

You want to change it so that the CD/DVD is the top drive. After that, start
Windows, insert the XP CD and exit when the Windows setup starts. Then
restart the computer. You should see something that says or close to "Press
any key to boot from the CD drive".

During the install, the computer will restart. If you see the "Press any key
to boot from the CD drive" again, DON'T DO IT. The computer will boot OK. If
you press a key, the install will start over.

After Windows is installed, don't forget to change your boot sequence back
to where it was in setup.

Good luck...
 
M

Michael Stevens

In
Carl Tribble said:
How can I make a bootable CD? I have a Toshiba Satellite Laptop that
came with XP Home Edition. I want XP Pro instead. I tried upgrading
but it failed. I want to try a clean install. I have the retail XP
Pro. All I need is to be able to start the machine in DOS, format
the C drive and then install XP Pro. This laptop does not have a
floppy though. The only drive it has is a DVD/CD drive. I have a
Windows 98 boot disk (floppy) and I tried copying all the files from
it to a CD and then tried to boot from that CD but it did not boot. The
only way I have been able to boot from the CD is to use the
restore CD that came with the Laptop but all that won't help me
install XP Pro.

If you have real XP CD, then it is bootable.
Follow the steps in the link below.
How to clean install XP.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
 
B

Bruce Chambers

Carl said:
How can I make a bootable CD?


All legitimate WinXP installation CDs are already bootable.

I have a Toshiba Satellite Laptop that came
with XP Home Edition. I want XP Pro instead. I tried upgrading but it
failed. I want to try a clean install. I have the retail XP Pro. All I
need is to be able to start the machine in DOS, format the C drive and then
install XP Pro.


Why would you want to waste time on this completely unnecessary step?

After backing up or copying any important personal data files to a
CD or other removable storage media, simply boot from the WinXP
installation CD. You'll be offered the opportunity to delete, create,
and format partitions as part of the installation process. (You may need
to re-arrange the order of boot devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from
the CD.)

HOW TO Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;316941

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm




--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH
 
C

caomhim

Dear Carl

You could try using a thrid party CD called ULTIMATE BOOT CD FOR WINDOWS

http://www.ubcd4win.com/. IT gives you a range of options one of which
involves
formatting your current drive. Then you can use your XP Pro CD after. Be
sure to backup
any essential data you need before formatting though.

Cheers
Caomhim
Carl Tribble:
 
C

Carl Tribble

Thanks to everyone for your kind help. Most of the suggestions were that
the Windows XP CD is bootable already. While this may be true of the retail
CD, I do not believe it is true of the DVD that I have as part of my MSDN
subscription. I tried to boot from it and it wouldn't boot. The toshiba
did provide a handy option on start up to change the boot sequence (press
F12) so in all my efforts I did that and selected the DVD drive to boot
from. But I could never get a DVD (or CD) to boot the machine except for
the Recovery CD that came with the Toshiba and when I used that, it did not
offer me any options on changing partitions (any options at all actually -
as you might expect all it did was reinstall the OS that came with it, XP
Home, and I need XP Pro). I know too that the MSDN subscription includes
ISO images that you are supposed to be able to create a bootable CD/DVD with
and install XP Pro that way, but when I tried that, my Nero software for
creating the CD/DVD from the ISO image failed. (it was one of those days,
you know!) Anyway, I finally ended up taking the Toshiba back and got a
nice HP instead with XP Pro already installed, So I guess all's well that
ends well

Thanks again for all the help and suggestions,
-Carl
 

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