Boot Floppies

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When a computer can't boot, a boot floppy is often the only way to get access to the hard drive to troubleshoot and repair the system. Boot disks for 9x allow you only to get to DOS, but you'll have access to any FAT or FAT 32 hard drive on the system. Boot disks for XP/2000 can be used only to boot to Windows.

9x/DOS Boot Disks

When you install Windows 9x, you are prompted to create a boot floppy. If you don't have one, find a 9x computer that works and create one. With a blank floppy in the drive, go to Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, and select Windows Setup tab. Then, click the boot disk tab. Follow the simple instructions for making a disk.

You can also make a disk using DOS, but it won't have all the features that a Windows boot disk has. For Windows 98SE and previous versions, you can format a floppy using the option to copy system files. Alternatively, from a DOS prompt you can use the command format a:/s. This is useful anytime you need a bootable floppy with extra room or more available memory.

You should have one for each version of 9x, but a different version's disk will often work in a pinch. The exception to this is that boot disks for 95 might not be able to access FAT 32 hard drives.

Note 

Although you will be able to start up any PC with a Windows 9x boot disk, you won't be able to access an NTFS-formatted hard drive partition. Therefore, unless you have a 2000 or XP computer with a FAT 16 or FAT 32 partition you need to access, a 9x boot disk isn't going to do you much good on these systems.

XP/2000 Boot Disks

Boot disks for XP and 2000 are different. There is no provision in 2000 or XP to create a boot disk. A boot disk will work only if Windows system files are intact. The most common reasons you might need to make a boot disk are if something happens to the MBR, or the disk configuration has been changed. In the latter situation, the problem is that one of the files, Boot.ini, points to the wrong partition for the boot files. In this case, you'll have to edit another boot.ini file to make the boot disk work, and then you'll need to edit the boot.ini file on the computer to correct the problem and enable Windows to boot normally. See the note after the tutorial for more information. You can make a boot disk on any XP or 2000 computer, or even a Windows NT 4.0 system. Tutorial 11.1 provides instructions for making an XP/2000 boot floppy.

Tutorial 11.1: Making an XP/2000 Boot Floppy

1. On any 2000, XP, or Windows NT 4.0 computer, format a floppy disk. Do this by inserting the disk, opening My Computer, right-clicking the floppy drive icon, and clicking Format from the menu that appears. Do not select the Quick Format check box.

2. Double-click to open the disk partition where the boot files are stored, the C: drive by default.

3. If hidden files aren't already showing, click the Tools menu and then Folder Options from the menu that appears. Click the View tab.

4. Look for and select the Show Hidden Files and Folders option button. In addition, make sure the "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)" check box is cleared. It is also helpful to clear the "Hide file extensions for known file types" check box.

5. Locate the following files and copy them to the floppy disk: boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect.com. To copy the files, right-click each, click "Send to" from the menu that appears, and then 3-1/2 Floppy (A).

Note 

This boot disk will work only if the disk configuration of the computer you're making the boot disk on is the same as the computer you need to start; for example, if there is only one disk partition on each machine. If the disk configurations are different, you'll have to edit the boot.ini file in Notepad. That exercise is beyond the scope of this book. Search the Internet for editing boot.ini. A good selection of useful boot disk files can be found at bootdisk.com. There is also a Web site, http://www.nu2.nu/bootdisk/ntboot/index.php, where you can copy or even download a boot.ini file that is purported to be all-purpose.

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