Bootable USB Device

  • Thread starter Thread starter mha
  • Start date Start date
M

mha

Hi

How can I make my USB storage bootable, so I can boot up Windows XP in DOS
mode. Such as with a bootable floppy in the old days.

regards
Morten
 
mha said:
Hi

How can I make my USB storage bootable, so I can boot up Windows XP in DOS
mode. Such as with a bootable floppy in the old days.

regards
Morten


I found this excerpt on another site:
Click to expand...

"The USB must have a boot sector, so copying files to it is not enough and
regular format/image tools simply do it incorrectly and give it jacked up
boot sectors. The HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool is the only thing I've come
across that works on every USB every time (not just HP stuff, everything,
even my canon camera).
http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/hpcpqdt/us/download/20306.html"

I haven't tested it yet but it sounds convincing!
 
mha said:
Hi

How can I make my USB storage bootable, so I can boot up Windows XP in DOS
mode. Such as with a bootable floppy in the old days.

regards
Morten
Click to expand...

From a Windows 9x machine or virtual session you can run the sys command on
it.
 
I am running the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool from my Windows XP, and I
get the following message when I want to create a DOS startup disk :
"Missing location of DOS system files. DOS system files need to be provided
to make the specified device DOS-bootable"
 
You can't as Windows XP doesn't have any DOS mode. You "can" boot up from a
genuine Windows XP CD and go to the repair console, which will allow you to
do a limited amount of maneuvers.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
get them off a win98 boot disk

mha said:
I am running the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool from my Windows XP, and I
get the following message when I want to create a DOS startup disk :
"Missing location of DOS system files. DOS system files need to be provided
to make the specified device DOS-bootable"
Click to expand...
 
If you have a floppy drive, get a diskette and format it in XP Explorer and
don't forget to check "Create an MS-DOS startup diskette".
Now when running the HP format utility point it to this floppy for MS-DOS
files.
Works a treat.
Just tried it.

george
 
george said:
If you have a floppy drive, get a diskette and format it
in XP Explorer and don't forget to check "Create an MS-DOS
startup diskette".
Now when running the HP format utility point it to this
floppy for MS-DOS files.
Works a treat.
Just tried it.
Click to expand...

Will this method allow you to access a hard disk that's
formatted NTFS after you've booted from the USB device?
 
Opinicus said:
Will this method allow you to access a hard disk that's formatted NTFS
after you've booted from the USB device?
Click to expand...

Not really no, you'd need to run some other tool that lets you look at NTFS
volumes from a FAT16/32 OS.
 
If you have a floppy drive then pop a Windows 98 Start-up disc into it and
point to a: when asked for the location of the DOS system files. You can
acquire an image of a Windows 98 Start-up floppy from here www.bootdisk.com
if you don't have one.

If you have no floppy drive then try this
http://chitchat.at.infoseek.co.jp/vmware/vfd.html#top to create a virtual
floppy drive that you can load an image of a Dos floppy into. You can get a
floppy image from http://www.webtree.ca/newlife/downloads/Windows98.exe Run
the file and uncheck the option to Write to floppy (if you have no floppy
drive) select the option to Write Image and browse to a location to create
the image. The file will be a .IMZ file (or an image) of an enhanced Windows
98 Start-up file You can load the .IMZ into the virtual floppy and point to
it when prompted for "DOS system files" during the running the HP USB Disk
Storage Format Tool.
 
If you want the functional equivalent of a boot disk, with the ability to
read/write on NTFS partitions, try making a Bart's bootable CD. Link to
Bart's PE builder:

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/


Bart's is much better than the XP recovery console.
 
Windows XP doesn't have a DOS mode.

If you wnat to bring it up in safe mode, press F8 after POST and Before Xp
starts loading. You get startup options.

If you want to get to a command prompt and have a faulty Xp installation
boot off the XP CD. You get recovery mode, installation or other options.

If it is really DOS that you want, use an old 98 startup floppy!

If you don't have a floppy, then USB devices will prove not to be Bootable
as most PC BIOS cannot load specifc driver files for the multitude of USB
peripherals - floppy, CD, HDD, Memory Stick, Camera, Copier /
Printer......the list goes on. How would one manage to get all this info
onto a simple EEPROM. One would not need an operating system, it could all
be resident in BIOS - then it wouldn't be call Basic Input/Output System
would it?
 
[snip]
If you don't have a floppy, then USB devices will prove not to be Bootable
as most PC BIOS cannot load specifc driver files for the multitude of USB
peripherals - floppy, CD, HDD, Memory Stick, Camera, Copier /
Printer......the list goes on. How would one manage to get all this info
onto a simple EEPROM. One would not need an operating system, it could all
be resident in BIOS - then it wouldn't be call Basic Input/Output System
would it?

:
Click to expand...

What are you talking about? Many BIOS will enable you to boot a USB device.
I have a cheapo ECS board and it does it just fine.
 
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