Make MS-DOS Boot CD

First you must boot from a CD or DVD or from a floppy disk and not from the hard drive.

Creating a Windows XP boot disk

Note: The Microsoft Windows XP CD is a bootable CD and in many cases you should not need a bootable floppy diskette. Booting from the Windows XP CD will allow you to not only install/re-install Windows XP but will also allow you to troubleshoot it.

Create MS-DOS bootable diskette

When formatting a floppy diskette, users have the option of creating a MS-DOS startup disk, follow the below steps to do this.

1. Place diskette in the computer.
   
2. Open My Computer, right-click the A: drive and click Format.
   
3. In the Format window, check Create an MS-DOS startup disk.
   
4. Click Start
   

How to boot from Microsoft Windows XP CD.
1. Restart the computer while it is rebooting keep on tapping on F12
2. In the boot menu option select on CD/DVD Rom the press Enter
3. Computer will restart and you will be prompted to " Boot from CD/DVD press Any key" just press any key on your keyboard. Just the let the Windows Setup files be loaded.
4. Press "R" when you the screen below





5. Press 1 then Enter
6. In the command prompt type format c:/q then press Enter

Note: This will format the drive c: or wipe out the information in the hard drive

1. Check your BIOS to be sure your computer will boot from a CD. Enter the BIOS setup by pressing the "Delete" or F2 or "F12" key, or as directed at the startup screen, immediately after booting. Set the first boot device to "CDROM" or "DVDROM" instead of "hard drive" if it isn't already.

2. MS-DOS command prompt

Insert the Windows XP installation CD into your CD or DVD drive and restart the computer. When prompted, choose to start from the MS-DOS command prompt with CD support. The MS-DOS command prompt will appear in a moment.

3. Start SMARTDRIVE by typing "SMARTDRV" at the DOS prompt and pressing enter. You don't have to run SMARTDRIVE, but copying the files will be much quicker if you do. The computer will display the DOS prompt again.

4. Enter "CD I386" at the DOS prompt to change to the directory where the setup program starts.

5. Enter "WINNT" at the prompt to start Windows XP setup. The installation program will copy files to your computer and then display a message requesting to reboot.

6. Press the "Enter" key to reboot. The setup program will start again and check that your hard drive format is compatible with Windows XP. If not, it will guide you through partitioning and formatting the drive and then ask you to reboot once more.

7. Press "Enter" to reboot. The computer will restart in Windows XP mode and automatically start the Windows Setup Wizard to detect your hardware and finish the installation.

www.bootdisk.com try that, but if you had xp on it then get into the bios or press f.1.2 at post & switch it to "boot from cd"(make sure your xp disk is in). It should re-boot & ask to press any key to boot from cd. Continue from there. Trying to put '98 on without a floppy drive can be tricky to say the least. You'll need to find a way to load the windows dos based cd driver, from a cd just to get to the next step of the install. Avoid using 98 unless you really,really need it.

you need to go into setup or your BIOS and set the boot sequence as 1- floopy, 2- cd 3- hard drive, exit and restart and your machine should boot up the xp cd.
good luck

Hi,

Although the BIOS in this old machine has a boot from cd option, it is quite possible the DVDrom drive simply doesn't support the feature. Many P2 machines were like that. Chances are you will need a bootable DOS/WIN95/WIN98 floopy which will allow you to get it running with a CD driver.

Once you have this accomplished you can simply use the command prompt with cd support boot option and use the command prompt to load the installer on the CD. Once it finishes it's initial setup it will be able to use the cd drive for everything BUT booting.

Hope this Helps FixYa,

Chris

You should set your boot up sequence to boot up first in cdrom in bios settings. Then load a bootable cdrom in your drive before booting up.

If this doesn't happen, cd disk non bootable or drive defective.

1.If you purchase an external USB CD drive you will not need to use your floppy discs for booting. 2. You can connect a USB CD drive to your system. 3. Your system will recognize any device plugged into your USB drive. 4. There is no CD drive available for internal installation in your computer. 5. With the USB CD drive plugged in and the windows installation disc inserted, your computer should take you through the setup program automatically.

If XP will not install from the CD or if you have a new drive with no operating system onit yet try these:

Install Windows XP from the hard drive with Windows 98 already installed:

Boot Windows 98
Insert the XP CD into your CD reader
Explore Windows XP through My Computer
Copy i386 folder to C:\
Go into C:\i386 folder and double click on winnt32.exe to launch the setup from the hard drive

Install Windows XP from DOS (ie. no OS on a new hard drive):

Boot with a Windows 98 Start Up disk
Insert the Windows 98 CD into the CD reader
Run smartdrv.exe from the Win98 directory on the windows 98 CD (file caching)
Type cd.. to back up to the root directory
Insert Windows XP CD into the CD reader
Copy the i386 folder to C:\
Go into C:\i386 folder on C: and type winnt.exe to launch the setup from the hard drive.

Please let me know Which HDD is installed on your PC or Laptop

thats cause you are running the wing 98 of the same hard drive that you are trying to format. What you need to do is create a boot disc. boot from that disc and then format.

you can also boot from a win 98 cd to format as well.. If you have problems doing that let me know and i can walk you through it :)