Boot disks creation

[Dr. Dos]

I would like to create emergency boot disks that do more than merely
boot to a prompt. I can create the ISO boot disks in floppy, CD and DVD
using the Command.com, msdos.sys and io.sys that are part of Win XP. As
part of that process I can include the "dos" utilities on those disks.
What I am having a problem with is creating the proper config.sys to
include the correct drivers and path for the CD-Drive. Also, even
booting up from the CD/DVD or floppy, I only get an A:\> prompt (correct
even for the d:\ cd). But, I cannot see the C:\ drive (invalid drive
specification). The reason for the emergency boot disk(s) is to try to
do recovery work on wounded HDDs.

[Donny Broome]

You cannot see NTFS partitions from DOS. You can, however, see them (and
read/write) using NTFSDOS Pro. The site below has links to many different
boot disks that you may find helpful.

http://www.bootdisk.com/

Bart's PE boot disk is a live bootable Windows CD:
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

NTFSDos Pro:
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/NtfsDosProfessional.html



--
------------------------------------------
Donny Broome
www.broomeman.com/tech
------------------------------------------




"Dr. Dos" > wrote in message
...
>I would like to create emergency boot disks that do more than merely boot
>to a prompt. I can create the ISO boot disks in floppy, CD and DVD using
>the Command.com, msdos.sys and io.sys that are part of Win XP. As part of
>that process I can include the "dos" utilities on those disks. What I am
>having a problem with is creating the proper config.sys to include the
>correct drivers and path for the CD-Drive. Also, even booting up from the
>CD/DVD or floppy, I only get an A:\> prompt (correct even for the d:\ cd).
>But, I cannot see the C:\ drive (invalid drive specification). The reason
>for the emergency boot disk(s) is to try to do recovery work on wounded
>HDDs.

[Dr. Dos]

Donny Broome wrote:

> You cannot see NTFS partitions from DOS. You can, however, see them (and
> read/write) using NTFSDOS Pro. The site below has links to many different
> boot disks that you may find helpful.
>
> http://www.bootdisk.com/
>
> Bart's PE boot disk is a live bootable Windows CD:
> http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
>
> NTFSDos Pro:
> http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/NtfsDosProfessional.html
>
>
>
Thank you.
Working on it.

[philo]

"Dr. Dos" > wrote in message
...
>I would like to create emergency boot disks that do more than merely boot
>to a prompt. I can create the ISO boot disks in floppy, CD and DVD using
>the Command.com, msdos.sys and io.sys that are part of Win XP. As part of
>that process I can include the "dos" utilities on those disks. What I am
>having a problem with is creating the proper config.sys to include the
>correct drivers and path for the CD-Drive. Also, even booting up from the
>CD/DVD or floppy, I only get an A:\> prompt (correct even for the d:\ cd).
>But, I cannot see the C:\ drive (invalid drive specification). The reason
>for the emergency boot disk(s) is to try to do recovery work on wounded
>HDDs.


If XP is on an NTFS partition a dos boot floppy will do you no good.
you could gain access to the sytem by booting with the XP cd and entering
the repair console

[[email protected]]

Hi,

You can also try NTFS Reader utility. It can access NTFS system in DOS
and is really useful for me. It never failed. The tool can be found on
a data utils set Active@ Boot Disk CD image that also includes really
awesome data destruction, backup and recovery tool. Give it a quick
glance, you won't regret it.

http://www.ntfs.com/boot-disk.htm

[Michael Wayne]

You already have a boot disk. It is the XP CD that came with your computer.

Your XP CD is your boot disk that will allow you see your C: Drive from
command prompt.

Set your computer to boot from CD
Upon boot it will require to select any key to boot from CD
Boot from XP CD
At the first screen with options - Select the letter R for repair
It will then prompt which installation which usually number 1
Then it will prompt you for the administrative password. - Note: This is not
your user account password
This is the password (if one is assigned) that you would use when you
boot into Safe Mode and select Administrator
Most cases for most users there is no password. Then just hit the enter
key.
Then you will be command prompt C: Drive.
Type dir and you will see your hard drive tree.
From there type the word HELP and you see a list of command line commands.
For each command type the command followed by /? to see the parameters
allowed.

Example - chkdsk /?


Hope this helps

Michael Wayne


"Dr. Dos" > wrote in message
...
>I would like to create emergency boot disks that do more than merely boot
>to a prompt. I can create the ISO boot disks in floppy, CD and DVD using
>the Command.com, msdos.sys and io.sys that are part of Win XP. As part of
>that process I can include the "dos" utilities on those disks. What I am
>having a problem with is creating the proper config.sys to include the
>correct drivers and path for the CD-Drive. Also, even booting up from the
>CD/DVD or floppy, I only get an A:\> prompt (correct even for the d:\ cd).
>But, I cannot see the C:\ drive (invalid drive specification). The reason
>for the emergency boot disk(s) is to try to do recovery work on wounded
>HDDs.

[Stan Brown]

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 14:51:25 -0600 from Michael Wayne
>:
> You already have a boot disk. It is the XP CD that came with your computer.

That's not awfully funny.

These days I'll be the odds are less than 50% that an XP CD comes
with a given new computer.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/