Window's XP Startup Disk / How To's

[roadrage]

How do I make a Windows XP Statup Disk and why?

Sometime's you might have this happen to your Windows XP when you Boot your System and Window's XP wont start.

NTLDR is Missing
Press any key to restart
Boot: Couldn't find NTLDR

Please insert another disk
Invalid Boot.ini
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:

You could have Downloaded something or accidently edited a Boot file that Window's need's in order to run properly.

There are three file's that you need for Window's XP to Boot properly from and are located in the root folder of the system partition in your hard drive.

These are:

Boot.ini, NTLDR, and Ntdetect.com

With the Startup Disk you will be able to start Window's when and if one of these file's ever become corrupted, it is advisable to make one after and when you install an Upgrade or Full install of Window's XP.

Note:

The XP Startup Disk is different from a MS-Dos Disk startup disk in that it does not have the full operating system on it.

With this said you can now make your XP startup disk by doing this:
If you cannot do this from your computer you can still do this from any computer with Window's XP.

With a clean formatted 3.5 inch floppy insert it into your A: Drive.

Locate these file's ( Boot.ini, NTLDR, and Ntdetect.com ) from you root directory which should be in X:\ where X is the letter of you hard drive, usually C:\

1. Right click the first file with your mouse and then the select Copy.

2. Go to your A:\ Drive and right click anywhere in the window and select Paste.

3. Do the same for each file untill they are all copied to the A:\ floppy.

A). If you have a Dual Boot System you will need to Copy and Paste the:
bootsect.dos and Ntbootdd.sys for a SCSI Controller.

Special Note's:

The file's do not show up and the file's are Read only.
These file's are operating system file's and are normally hidden by default, to show hidden file's follow these step's:
Show hidden files by doing this:

1. Click Start.

2. Open My Computer.

3. Select the Tools menu and click Folder Options.

4. Select the View Tab.

5. Under the Hidden files and folders heading select Show Hidden File's and Folder's.

6. Uncheck the Hide protected operating system files (recommended) Option.

7. Click Yes to confirm.

8. Click OK.

Change the Attribute's for the file's:

1. Right click each file and select Properties.

2. Select the General Tab.

3. For Attributes: Uncheck the Read-only.

Note:

After you have copied the file's to your floppy go back and make sure Do not show hidden file's and folder's is checked and the file Attributes are checked back to Read-only and Hidden and select Apply.

When your computer give's you the error message insert the Startup Disk into your floppy and Reboot your computer, you will now be back into Window's XP and will be able to do your troubleshooting from there.

[Will.Spencer]

Awesome post! Thanks roadrage!

[eeeboy]

Theres actually one core problem I find ! Floppy Disk !! Now a days , I find most of the floppy drives inactive. And due to their affected nature by weather and surrounding [ physical damage] makes me doubtful , will the floppy work for me in the time of work ?

Folppy betrayed me several times !!

[roadrage]

If your talking about life expectancy of the floppy disk, provided you take care of it, it should last up to ten years or more, you could copy or burn the file's to a CD just as well, they are suppose to last 50+ years or better tho they have only been around for a short while so you can't really say how long they last on CD either, well in the end it's up to the user how they want to do it, but really is your computer life expectancy going to out last the floppy, I say probably not, I guess you could do it with both, look me up in 20 years and let me know.

[darviria]

Yeah but a lot of people don't bother with floppy drives anymore so I'd burn it to cd, blank cd's are cheaper than floppies anyway.