WinXP startup disk?

[Kelvin]

Is there a WinXP startup disk? My PC has WinXP Prof
installed but it won;t startup so I was wondering if there
was a WinXP startup disk so I could recover my data inside
the hard drive.

[Mike Brannigan [MSFT]]

The Windows XP CD ROM is your start-up disk as it is bootable.

--
Regards,

Mike
--
Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights

Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions.
Please use these newsgroups

"Kelvin" > wrote in message
...
> Is there a WinXP startup disk? My PC has WinXP Prof
> installed but it won;t startup so I was wondering if there
> was a WinXP startup disk so I could recover my data inside
> the hard drive.
>
>

[Nicholas]

The Windows XP CD itself is bootable and is a Startup Disk.
It has all the necessary tools to repair XP in the event of an
unlikely failure.

Visit http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm and click
on "How to Run a Repair Install".


--=20
Nicholas

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Kelvin" > wrote in message:
...

| Is there a WinXP startup disk? My PC has WinXP Prof=20
| installed but it won;t startup so I was wondering if there=20
| was a WinXP startup disk so I could recover my data inside=20
| the hard drive.

[Ron Martell]

"Kelvin" > wrote:

>Is there a WinXP startup disk? My PC has WinXP Prof
>installed but it won;t startup so I was wondering if there
>was a WinXP startup disk so I could recover my data inside
>the hard drive.
>
>

As others have said, you can boot with the Windows XP CDROM and run
the Recovery Console or do a Repair Install from there.

However if your Windows XP is an OEM version that comes with a "system
recovery" CD then this option will probably not be available.

And in that situation your hard drive will probably be NTFS and you
cannot use a Windows 98 or Windows Me boot disk to boot the computer
and recover the files that way. But if the hard drive is FAT32 then
this option would work.

With an NTFS hard drive and only a "system recovery" CD your situation
is starting to get rather complex. Basically you have two options:
1. Remove the hard drive and install it temporarily as a second hard
drive in a working computer that is running Windows XP. You would
then be able to access the drive contents and copy off the needed
files.
2. Use a DOS based NTFS file reader and some additional steps to copy
the needed files to another hard drive, a network drive, or to 3.5
inch diskettes, depending on what is available.

Post a response back here if you need more detailed instructions
regarding either of the last two options.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

[Peter Wilkins]

On Sun, 15 Jun 2003 19:10:26 GMT, Ron Martell
> wrote :

>"Kelvin" > wrote:
>
>>Is there a WinXP startup disk? My PC has WinXP Prof=20
>>installed but it won;t startup so I was wondering if there=20
>>was a WinXP startup disk so I could recover my data inside=20
>>the hard drive.
>>
>As others have said, you can boot with the Windows XP CDROM and run
>the Recovery Console or do a Repair Install from there.
>
>However if your Windows XP is an OEM version that comes with a "system
>recovery" CD then this option will probably not be available.
>
>And in that situation your hard drive will probably be NTFS and you
>cannot use a Windows 98 or Windows Me boot disk to boot the computer
>and recover the files that way. But if the hard drive is FAT32 then
>this option would work.
>
>With an NTFS hard drive and only a "system recovery" CD your situation
>is starting to get rather complex. Basically you have two options:
>1. Remove the hard drive and install it temporarily as a second hard
>drive in a working computer that is running Windows XP. You would
>then be able to access the drive contents and copy off the needed
>files.
>2. Use a DOS based NTFS file reader and some additional steps to copy
>the needed files to another hard drive, a network drive, or to 3.5
>inch diskettes, depending on what is available. =20
>
There is a third option.
Get from Microsoft the free floppy disk boot program:
WinXP_EN_PRO_BF.EXE which will let you create a set of floppies
to boot your system in XP.

Unfortunately you will need a working computer and internet
access to get it and then create the floppy set. =20
Got any nearby friends with the goods?
--=20
Regards,
Peter Wilkins

[Ron Martell]

Peter Wilkins > wrote:

>On Sun, 15 Jun 2003 19:10:26 GMT, Ron Martell
> wrote :
>
>>"Kelvin" > wrote:
>>
>>>Is there a WinXP startup disk? My PC has WinXP Prof
>>>installed but it won;t startup so I was wondering if there
>>>was a WinXP startup disk so I could recover my data inside
>>>the hard drive.
>>>
>>As others have said, you can boot with the Windows XP CDROM and run
>>the Recovery Console or do a Repair Install from there.
>>
>>However if your Windows XP is an OEM version that comes with a "system
>>recovery" CD then this option will probably not be available.
>>
>>And in that situation your hard drive will probably be NTFS and you
>>cannot use a Windows 98 or Windows Me boot disk to boot the computer
>>and recover the files that way. But if the hard drive is FAT32 then
>>this option would work.
>>
>>With an NTFS hard drive and only a "system recovery" CD your situation
>>is starting to get rather complex. Basically you have two options:
>>1. Remove the hard drive and install it temporarily as a second hard
>>drive in a working computer that is running Windows XP. You would
>>then be able to access the drive contents and copy off the needed
>>files.
>>2. Use a DOS based NTFS file reader and some additional steps to copy
>>the needed files to another hard drive, a network drive, or to 3.5
>>inch diskettes, depending on what is available.
>>
>There is a third option.
>Get from Microsoft the free floppy disk boot program:
>WinXP_EN_PRO_BF.EXE which will let you create a set of floppies
>to boot your system in XP.
>
>Unfortunately you will need a working computer and internet
>access to get it and then create the floppy set.
>Got any nearby friends with the goods?

And the options available when you boot with that floppy set are very
limited.

Not much value there in terms of recovering specific individual files,
at least not from my experiences with the boot floppies.


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."