Is it possible to create a Windows XP boot CD without the Windows CD?

[ConDumbNation]

I'm trying to get into my old PC to rescue files before I do a
complete reinstall of XP.
Multiple viruses and an overzealous extermination of them have
rendered it unbootable .
Safe mode and all the other options on that page yeild a loop right
back to that page. System files start to load, but then get hung up
and I end up back at square one.
There is a PC Restore partition on the HD from PC Angel which was used
successfully a couple of weeks ago, but now it results in a Blue
Screen of Death C000021a error.
So I guess I need some sort of Windows XP boot disk. The nearest thing
I could find to what I think I need was BartPE, but the first step in
those instructions is to "Load your Windows XP installation CD". I
don't have one. The machine was shipped with XP preinstalled.
I do however have the product activation code.
Is it possible to create a Windows XP boot CD without the Windows CD ?
If not, how do I rescue the data ?
And if it is possible to eventually boot the system, what steps should
be taken next ?
Thanks very much for any help you may be able to offer.

 

[Malke]

I'm trying to get into my old PC to rescue files before I do a
complete reinstall of XP.
Multiple viruses and an overzealous extermination of them have
rendered it unbootable .
Safe mode and all the other options on that page yeild a loop right
back to that page. System files start to load, but then get hung up
and I end up back at square one.
There is a PC Restore partition on the HD from PC Angel which was used
successfully a couple of weeks ago, but now it results in a Blue
Screen of Death C000021a error.
So I guess I need some sort of Windows XP boot disk. The nearest thing
I could find to what I think I need was BartPE, but the first step in
those instructions is to "Load your Windows XP installation CD". I
don't have one. The machine was shipped with XP preinstalled.
I do however have the product activation code.
Is it possible to create a Windows XP boot CD without the Windows CD ?
If not, how do I rescue the data ?
And if it is possible to eventually boot the system, what steps should
be taken next ?
Thanks very much for any help you may be able to offer.

1. Rescue the data by using a Linux Live CD. I prefer Knoppix but Ubuntu
will do. Obviously you need to do this from a working computer.

You will need a computer with two cd drives, one of which is a cd/dvd-rw OR
a usb thumb drive with enough capacity to hold your data OR an external
usb/firewire hard drive formatted FAT32 (not NTFS)*. To get Knoppix, you
need a computer with a fast Internet connection and third-party burning
software. Download the Knoppix .iso and create your bootable cd. Then boot
with it and it will be able to see the Windows files. If you are using the
usb thumb drive or the external hard drive, right-click on its icon (on the
Desktop) to get its properties and uncheck the box that says "Read Only".
Then click on it to open it. Note that the default mouse action in the
window manager used by Knoppix (KDE) is a single click to open instead of
the traditional MS Windows' double-click. If you want to burn CD/DVDs, use
the K3b program.

*My understanding is that you can now write to an NTFS partition from Linux.
If you wish to do this, Google for instructions.

http://www.knoppix.net

2. Call HP and order the recovery disks. This will cost very little, around
$20. When they arrive, boot the computer with the first recovery disk and
go from there.

Malke

 

[Paul]

I'm trying to get into my old PC to rescue files before I do a
complete reinstall of XP.
Multiple viruses and an overzealous extermination of them have
rendered it unbootable .
Safe mode and all the other options on that page yeild a loop right
back to that page. System files start to load, but then get hung up
and I end up back at square one.
There is a PC Restore partition on the HD from PC Angel which was used
successfully a couple of weeks ago, but now it results in a Blue
Screen of Death C000021a error.
So I guess I need some sort of Windows XP boot disk. The nearest thing
I could find to what I think I need was BartPE, but the first step in
those instructions is to "Load your Windows XP installation CD". I
don't have one. The machine was shipped with XP preinstalled.
I do however have the product activation code.
Is it possible to create a Windows XP boot CD without the Windows CD ?
If not, how do I rescue the data ?
And if it is possible to eventually boot the system, what steps should
be taken next ?
Thanks very much for any help you may be able to offer.

I use my Knoppix CD, for disk maintenance of various sorts.
A new CD version was released Feb.8 and I haven't tested
that one yet. I downloaded the beta (the previous version
from Jan.28 or so), and it was still missing the KDE desktop.
It is still perfectly usable, but lacks the graphic polish
you might expect if you're used to looking at your WinXP screen.
The main website is knopper.net, and some of the mirror sites
offer decent transfer performance. In the past, with my ADSL
connection, it might take me an hour to download the CD. And
then open and parse the ISO9660 file, with Nero, to prepare
the CD. (I use rewritable media now, since so many of the
distros I've tried, were a waste of a blank CD.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoppix

I like the versions that have the KDE desktop, since you
get an icon per hard drive volume, and it makes it easier
to visualize what you're doing. Doing "properties" on a
drive icon, exposes the "read-only" tick box, and
unticking it, makes it writable. The normal design
intent of Knoppix, is not to support writing to the
drive immediately (which could be important if you
know it is damaged, for example). So you have to
change it to writable, unmount it, and then mount it
again. Then, you can even use the graphical interface
for copying files, if you're more comfortable with that.

Knoppix can prepare an empty hard drive for you. "fdisk" is used
to set up partitions, and assign them a type like FAT32
or whatever. The mk* programs (different ones for different
file systems), provide the ability to "format" a new partition
and put a file system on it, even a file system which may be
foreign to Linux (I've even worked on MacOSX media with it).
So there are some tools for prepping disks. If you prepare a new
volume that way though, then you'd have to craft the
necessary /etc/fstab entry (or reboot Knoppix and have the
new volume picked up automatically). As a neophyte, I find
I can get stuff done with it. It really helps to be familiar
with Unix or Linux, so at least you'll have a clue where
to look for stuff (just like knowing some DOS, helps if you
need to XCOPY something). The "apropos" command can be used,
to list programs for various purposes, as in "apropos format"
to find programs that format things.

And when a disk is really broken, use TestDisk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testdisk

Good luck,
Paul

 

[ConDumbNation]

1. Rescue the data by using a Linux Live CD. I prefer Knoppix but Ubuntu
will do. Obviously you need to do this from a working computer.

You will need a computer with two cd drives, one of which is a cd/dvd-rw OR
a usb thumb drive with enough capacity to hold your data OR an external
usb/firewire hard drive formatted FAT32 (not NTFS)*. To get Knoppix, you
need a computer with a fast Internet connection and third-party burning
software. Download the Knoppix .iso and create your bootable cd. Then boot
with it and it will be able to see the Windows files. If you are using the
usb thumb drive or the external hard drive, right-click on its icon (on the
Desktop) to get its properties and uncheck the box that says "Read Only".
Then click on it to open it. Note that the default mouse action in the
window manager used by Knoppix (KDE) is a single click to open instead of
the traditional MS Windows' double-click. If you want to burn CD/DVDs, use
the K3b program.

*My understanding is that you can now write to an NTFS partition from Linux.
If you wish to do this, Google for instructions.

http://www.knoppix.net

2. Call HP and order the recovery disks. This will cost very little, around
$20. When they arrive, boot the computer with the first recovery disk and
go from there.

Malke

Wow, thanks very much for the advice.
It looks like this will be a bigger challenge than I first feared.
I was planning on eventually loading Linux on the old computer just to
learn a bit more about it. I have already created a little bootdisk
to address this problem but I don't think it has the tools I need.
It's from theultimatebootdisk.com, but I think it is more for
diagnosing hardware problems and the like. But one of the programs on
it is "basic Linux" which I guess is meant for older PC's... very bare-
bones...simple GUI, a clock, a calculator, and little else. But it was
enough to intrigue me.
I'll look around for a Linux Live CD.
Once again, thanks very much for your advice.

 

[Malke]

Wow, thanks very much for the advice.
It looks like this will be a bigger challenge than I first feared.
I was planning on eventually loading Linux on the old computer just to
learn a bit more about it. I have already created a little bootdisk
to address this problem but I don't think it has the tools I need.
It's from theultimatebootdisk.com, but I think it is more for
diagnosing hardware problems and the like. But one of the programs on
it is "basic Linux" which I guess is meant for older PC's... very bare-
bones...simple GUI, a clock, a calculator, and little else. But it was
enough to intrigue me.
I'll look around for a Linux Live CD.
Once again, thanks very much for your advice.

It's actually not that big a deal at all. Since you were planning on
installing Linux on that box anyway, you can save yourself from calling HP.
I prefer Knoppix for data recovery but it is tricksy to install on the hard
drive. A lot of people starting out in Linux like Ubuntu (I find it too
simplistic but that's just me) and it *is* easier to install on the hard
drive so you might want to just use that.

If after playing around with Linux you decide you really do want Windows (or
you can't find Linux drivers for your hardware), then definitely call
HP/Compaq and get the recovery disks. It's the best way to deal with
reinstalling Windows on these very proprietary machines.

Malke