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How to Make Boot Disks

You should always have a good Emergency Boot Disk available. If you do not have an Emergency Boot Disk make one now.

Windows 9x:

Note that a boot disk is not formatted the same way as a normal disk you use to store data. If your disk is not formatted correctly, it will not work as a boot disk. To format the disk, follow these steps:

Put a blank floppy disk into drive A:.
Double-click My Computer
Right-click Floppy Drive and choose Format.
Under Other Options, check Copy System Files (The system files are three files which distinguish a system disk from a regular disk. Two of the files, IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS, are hidden and the third, COMMAND.COM, provides basic DOS commands such as DIR and COPY).
Next, choose Start|Settings|Control Panel and double-click Add/Remove Programs.
Click the Startup Disk tab, then click the Create Disk button.
You may be asked to insert your Windows 95 or 98 CD. (Note that if your CD-ROM drive letter has changed because you added another IDE device since you installed Windows, you may have to switch the drive letter to read the CD).

Windows XP:

Place a formatted blank diskette in the A: drive
Open My Computer to the C: drive
Select Tools, Folder Options, View Tab, Files & Folders.
Click Show Hidden files and folders.
Also, Uncheck the box for "Hide Protected Operating System Files (recommended)."

Locate and copy the following files to the diskette:
ntldr
ntdetect.com
boot.ini
Label the diskette "Windows XP Boot Disk."

NOTE: After making your boot disk, select "Do not show hidden files and folders" and recheck "Hide Protected Operating System Files (recommended)."

The Easy Way:

Insert a blank diskette in your Drive A:
Select your operating system below and click the button.

Select "Open" and follow the instructions. Do not attempt to create a Boot Disk from a diskette containing data. It is best to use a new, unused diskette.
You might want to test your new Boot Disk before you label it and store it in a safe place.

NOTE: You can also select "Save" to download and save the file to your Hard Drive for future use.

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