Help creating system disc for xp

[HD-Rider]

Can someone help me create a system disc (boot disc) for windows xp......

[Confused]

XP CD is bootable. You don't need a bootdisk. Go into BIOS and set your first boot device as your CD-ROM, Put your XP CD in and reboot.
Chas

[HD-Rider]

Yes But I want a boot disc for a pc I am building and going to put xp on this pc.............

[Statica]

The XP CD is bootable. If you are so inclined to use floppy disks (and lots of them) to boot then check out the following free downloads from Microsoft:
XP boot disks

[KHT]

Are you referring to a boot disk (copy NTLDR, NTDETECT, boot.ini, bootfp if it`s there to a floppy) or installation disk?

Installation disks from floopies involve six floppy disks. If you`re building a PC, just do like Confused and Statica said and boot to the CD to install.

[HD-Rider]

So what you are saying is--- if I can not boot from cd I must create 6 boot discs ( floppy discs) to boot pc and set up with xp...

[KHT]

Yeah basically. There are other options like installing W98 and inserting the XP CD and doing an install from there *but*..........if you are building a PC I would hope you are using components that are capable of booting to a CD. Unless you are using stuff that is some 4-5 years old.....and then you might want to check if the PC you are building from spare parts will even be compatible with an XP system.

[Cricket]

Originally posted by HD-Rider So what you are saying is--- if I can not boot from cd I must create 6 boot discs ( floppy discs) to boot pc and set up with xp...

Yep, that's pretty much what they're telling you. I haven't had to use bootable floppies to install WinXP yet, I just boot to the WinXP CD and do the installation from there (on about 20 different computers so far).

Cricket

[Confused]

Originally posted by HD-Rider So what you are saying is--- if I can not boot from cd I must create 6 boot discs ( floppy discs) to boot pc and set up with xp...

What kind of parts are you using? If they are that old that you cain't boot from the CD, then XP probably will not run anyway.
Chas

[MilesG]

I'm about to build one too, and wondered about this. I assumed that the floppy was necessary to load the CD driver (MSCDEX?) so that the cd-drive could run and read the XP cd-rom. So where is the CD driver and the auto-run software? Already in the BIos on the mobo?
Can i boot from the Maxtor hard drive floppy (MaxBlast software) before installing XP so that I partition first?
MilesG

[bailey]

no,
do not use that maxblast cd to boot with.

all you need to do is go into the bios and set the first boot device to the cdrom drive
insert the xp cd and reboot
the xpcd will start the installation and partition and format the hard drive for you in the install proces, just follow the on screen instructions .

[andyms18a]

most modern computer bios are able to boot form a CD with out the knead to load drivers for the CD drive when you set first boot device in the bios to CD ROM and restart the computer as long as a boot-able CD is in the drive you will get a massage to press any key to boot from CD then follow the on screen instructions to set up windows if you are using a SCSI or raid controller card for you hard drive set it to second boot device and have the drivers for it on a floppy as xp will ask you to press F6 to load the drivers and will then look in the floppy drive for them also when xp finishes the first part of setup it will ask you to restart go back to the bios and change first boot device to you hard drive save and reboot if you forget to do this when xp restarts don't press any keys to boot from CD or it starts the install all over again you knead to let it reboot from the hdd to continue installing windows

[MilesG]

bailey and andyms 18a your comments are really helpful thanks

[icallmedan]

Just for record, you need 6 XP boot disks....I had to use them once.