Win XP Boot Disks

[miniman]

I have a number of PCs that I need to wipe clean and reinstall XP Pro onto. I have an XP CD-ROM but it doesn't appear to be bootable.

Is there any simple way of booting the PC from floppy without downloading 6 floppies worth from Microsoft???

Tried a DOS 6.22 boot disk but XP setup won't run - "This is not a DOS application"

[beanbag]

You don't run setup.....do the following

I can't remember the directory off the top of my head but find the directory named i386 and then run winnt.exe.

so (if D is your CD drive):

D:i386winnt.exe

WinXP setup should copy enough files on your HD to make it bootable and then the rest is very straight forward.

Email me if you need any further help.

[miniman]

"Could not create swap file. Press Enter to exit" (Enter to Exit - )

[Zod]

The XP CD-ROM should be bootable. Do you have the CD_ROM drive set in the BIOS to be bootable and first boot device (or at least ahead of the hard drive)?

[miniman]

Zod said:

The XP CD-ROM should be bootable. Do you have the CD_ROM drive set in the BIOS to be bootable and first boot device (or at least ahead of the hard drive)?

The drive is set up to be bootable and will boot other CDs (e.g. WinXP MSDN CD) but not the XP disk. The XP disk is a copy - all the PC's are licenced but we never got a disk with them and the MSDN disk will not accept the "standard" licence number.

[pdV6]

miniman said:

MSDN disk will not accept the "standard" licence number.

Are you using the correct MSDN CD?
There's a "retail" and a "volume license" version in the kit (depending on what version of MSDN you bought).

The "retail" one needs to be activated as if you bought it from PC World or whereever. The Volume License version needs a volume license key which you will need to request from Microsoft (and then doen't need activation).

{edited to add:} Saying that, I've not seen an XP CD that wasn't bootable... is your "copy" kosher?

>> Edited by pdV6 on Monday 14th February 12:02

[miniman]

It's the first one I came across in the pack - so would assume then that it's Volume Licensing one. Will have another look through the stack of discs. The copy is just a disc-to-disc copy so don't know whether that would retain the "bootability" but it's from a legit source.

[FlossyThePig]

miniman said:

The copy is just a disc-to-disc copy so don't know whether that would retain the "bootability" but it's from a legit source.

This type of copying will loose the "bootability".

Look at www.nu2.nu/bootcd/ for ideas on creating a bootable disk. You can include service packs so they are pre-loaded when you install the OS. I've done it with WIN2K with no problems.

Hugh

[pdV6]

miniman said:

assume then that it's Volume Licensing one

Need to get on to MS to obtain your VL key for it, then... they're a bit tight about letting them out (for obvious reasons)

[trooperiziz]

www.ultimatebootcd.com/

I find this pretty useful.

[GregE240]

All the above, particularly the boot disk sites.

Also, check out www.bootdisk.com

Once you've done that, the floppy will boot to 98SE or whatever and load the MSCDEX driver so your ROM loads okay. From there you'll be able to run Setup, away you go.

The XP CD SHOULD be bootable, if its a kosher CD. Are you sure you don't need to change the PCs boot order in order to facilitate this?

Just some thoughts....

Greg

[agent006]

What's already on teh PCs? If you've got a version of windows you'll be able to run XP setup from that and do a clean install.

[JonRB]

FlossyThePig said:

Look at www.nu2.nu/bootcd/ for ideas on creating a bootable disk.

I've used this site and can confirm it is very good. I have used it to create bootable OS installs with the latest Service Pack "slipstreamed" into the install and the MSDN licence key pre-installed. It is a proper Ronseal job (ie. 'does exactly what it says on the tin' )

Just work through the instructions and off you go. I'd advise keeping the resulting ISO so you can burn additional copies at a later date, especially useful if you mislay the CD you've burned and need a replacement.

[Zod]

miniman said:

Zod said: The XP CD-ROM should be bootable. Do you have the CD_ROM drive set in the BIOS to be bootable and first boot device (or at least ahead of the hard drive)? The drive is set up to be bootable and will boot other CDs (e.g. WinXP MSDN CD) but not the XP disk. The XP disk is a copy - all the PC's are licenced but we never got a disk with them and the MSDN disk will not accept the "standard" licence number.

If you have an MSDN subscription, you should have access to an iso of WinXP which you can burn to become a bootable CD. You can download it from the MSDN Subscriber Downloads site or, if you have a DVD subscription, you should have a DVD from the last few months with the iso on it.

[andygo]

Having booted up the pc into Windows,If you put the CD into the drive and use explorer to view the files on the cd, there should be a setup file - run it from that.