System Files

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Jessica@aol.com

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Hello,



I am trying to locate the boot.ini file on the Windows XP Professional CD. I

am trying to create a bootable cd.



Please advise.

--

Mike
 
Jessica@aol.com wrote:

> Hello,

>

> I am trying to locate the boot.ini file on the Windows XP Professional CD. I

> am trying to create a bootable cd.

>

> Please advise.




First of all, I'll have to admit, I've never made a bootable CD

from scratch myself. These are just a few bits and pieces I've noticed

along the way.



It is not simply a matter of "throwing" some files onto a CD.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootable_cd



Try figure 1 on page 6 here. This is an archived copy of the El-Torito spec.



http://web.archive.org/web/20070928...-9CC9-4DF5-B496-A286D893E36A/0/specscdrom.pdf



In terms of learning about the different CD formats, try a utility like

"disktype". For example, I can boot a Linux LiveCD in a VPC2007 session

(using the toram option), and then run "disktype" from in there. In the

following, I include a couple examples of discs I checked, for comparison.

disktype can analyse a great many different file systems, and printing

out CD/DVD structures is only one of its capabilities.



http://disktype.sourceforge.net/



When Microsoft offered a 2GB+ download of Windows 7 last year, I ran

the disktype utility on that image, and this is what it said.



*******

--- 7100.0.090421-1700_x86fre_client_en-us_retail_ultimate-grc1culfrer_en_dvd.iso

Regular file, size 2.357 GiB (2530975744 bytes)

UDF file system

Sector size 2048 bytes

Volume name ""

UDF version 1.02

ISO9660 file system

Volume name "GRC1CULFRER_EN_DVD"

Publisher "MICROSOFT CORPORATION"

Preparer "MICROSOFT CORPORATION, ONE MICROSOFT WAY, REDMOND WA 98052, (425) 882-8080"

Application "CDIMAGE 2.54 (01/01/2005 TM)"

Data size 2.357 GiB (2530975744 bytes, 1235828 blocks of 2 KiB)

El Torito boot record, catalog at 22

Bootable non-emulated image, starts at 663, preloads 4 KiB

Platform 0x00 (x86), System Type 0x00 (Empty)

*******



You can see that DVD uses El Torito. And the bootstrap portion does not

use an emulation of a floppy, to do its work. Now, for comparison, this

is the "disktype" output for a dual layer DVD movie I burned. There is

no boot stuff to be seen, in this report. This is effectively a "data" disc.



*******

--- /dev/sr1

Block device, size 7.076 GiB (7597457408 bytes)

CD-ROM, 1 track, CDDB disk ID 02000001

Track 1: Data track, 0 bytes

UDF file system

Sector size 2048 bytes

Volume name "VACATION_2009"

UDF version 1.02

ISO9660 file system

Volume name "VACATION_2009"

Application "IMGBURN V2.5.0.0 - THE ULTIMATE IMAGE BURNER!"

Data size 7.076 GiB (7597410304 bytes, 3709673 blocks of 2 KiB)

*******



So whatever utility you use, to prepare a bootable CD, it involves more than

just the "visible" files on the CD. There is also stuff that needs to be

included for booting, and there are techniques for including it into an

ISO9660 image.



So if you take a Windows installer CD, and copy the files (drag and drop)

to another burnable CD, that won't grab any of the boot structure. You need

a tool. For example, in this description of "isomaster", I see mention of

features needed for boot support.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isomaster



In the page here, a program called "isobuster" is mentioned. This guy

is building his own bootable CD, and this page describes some

of the details.



http://www.infocellar.com/cd/boot-cd.htm



A utility that copies CDs, will know about the boot stuff and copy

it as well. Copying using just the "visible", file system section

of the CD, won't work by itself.



One other example, for fun. If you download the memtest86+ test

CD, it is an example of bootable media. This one seems to be using

floppy emulation, as near as I can tell. The download size is only

62KB (compressed), so you know there is little in the way of code

inside this thing. Inside this, there is an ".img" the size of a

floppy, but even that is mostly empty. If a bootable CD burning program

like Nero, burns this to disc, it is going to be burning at least

several megabytes worth of sectors, to finish the job.



http://www.memtest.org/download/4.00/memtest86+-4.00.iso.zip



If I open that with 7-ZIP, the structure inside looks like



BOOT

BOOT.CAT 2048 bytes

MEMTEST.IMG 1474560 bytes

[BOOT]

Bootable_1.44M.img 1474560 bytes

README.TXT



The README.TXT file is included, so if the CD is popped into a

running Windows computer, you'll have something to read. It would

be the only "visible" file on the CD. It was placed there, to make

people "comfortable", as a completely empty test CD would scare people.

All of the working bits, of that bootable CD, are hidden. The 1474560 byte

floppy emulation (1440K) is actually mostly empty. A single executable

program hides in there, and it runs the 640x480 VESA screen while

the memory testing is taking place.



So that is an example, of as bare-bones a bootable CD as you can find.

The CD does have a file system, but it was only put there for comfort

and not for function.



Now, how that differs from a Windows installer CD, is in the memtest

case, the bootstrap loader ends up running the computer. On the

Windows CD, the bootstrap loader is only an intermediate step, and

it eventually begins to access the "visible" files on the disk, as a

real OS of some sort is being booted.



My purpose in explaining this, is mainly to point out that a "drag

and drop" copy is not enough. There are some more details.



Paul
 
Jessica@aol.com wrote:

> Hello,

>

> I am trying to locate the boot.ini file on the Windows XP

> Professional CD. I am trying to create a bootable cd.

>

> Please advise.




Boot.ini is just a text file that specifies where Windows resides on *your*

system; consequently, you won't find it on your XP CD...look on C:



You shouldn't need it on a boot CD anyway.



--



dadiOH

____________________________



dadiOH's dandies v3.06...

....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from

LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.

Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
 
dadiOH wrote:

> Jessica@aol.com wrote:

>> Hello,

>>

>> I am trying to locate the boot.ini file on the Windows XP

>> Professional CD. I am trying to create a bootable cd.

>>

>> Please advise.


>

> Boot.ini is just a text file that specifies where Windows resides on

> *your* system; consequently, you won't find it on your XP CD...look

> on C:

> You shouldn't need it on a boot CD anyway.




What you *do* need are files from a boot *floppy*; however, as Paul pointed

out, just dumping them onto a CD won't make the CD bootable unless you've

made an .iso of the floppy.



--



dadiOH

____________________________



dadiOH's dandies v3.06...

....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from

LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.

Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
 
Jessica@aol.com wrote:

> Hello,

>

> I am trying to locate the boot.ini file on the Windows XP

> Professional CD. I am trying to create a bootable cd.




Why are you doing this?



What do you intend to do with it?



Is there a specific type of bootable CD you are trying to create? Bart

PE perhaps?



Please provide more information.
 
You don't need to create a bootable CD because your Windows XP

Professional CD is itself a bootable CD. If you want a CD to

create backup copies of your documents because your system has

become unresponsive or unbootable then I suggest you download

either a Windows Vista Recovery CD or Windows 7 Recovery CD

because these CDs will be able to read the NTFS file System of

Windows XP and allow you to create backups. Try this link:







Windows 7 Recovery CD Link is at the bottom of the screen.



hth





Jessica@aol.com wrote:

>

> Hello,

>

> I am trying to locate the boot.ini file on the Windows XP Professional CD. I

> am trying to create a bootable cd.

>

> Please advise.

> --

> Mike




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In news:O4NFNoZ6KHA.3656@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl,

Daave typed:

> Jessica@aol.com wrote:

>> Hello,

>>

>> I am trying to locate the boot.ini file on the Windows XP

>> Professional CD. I am trying to create a bootable cd.


>

> Why are you doing this?

>

> What do you intend to do with it?

>

> Is there a specific type of bootable CD you are trying to

> create? Bart PE perhaps?

>

> Please provide more information.




OP: As you've already been told by another poster, it's not on the CD; it's

created on the hard drive and can be different for different computer

configurations. Pull the one from your boot drive to see it as it needs to

be.



It would have been smart to mention what it is that you're trying to do. Oh,

and ignore LD55ZRA; it seldom gives anything useful.



HTH,



Twayne`
 
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