 Sooner or later, your PC is going crash and then fail to reboot. At that moment, the preparations that you made (or didn't make) beforehand will determine whether the crash is a minor annoyance or a catastrophe. Regularly backing up your data is the best way to minimize the impact of a system crash, but it's not the only option. Boot disks, which coax ailing operating systems to run, might give you the time you need to copy important files to external storage. Create a boot disk now and keep it handy.
In Win98 and WinMe. Start by turning on the computer and waiting for Windows to start. When it does, insert the diskette in its drive and open the Control Panel. Double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon, choose the Startup Disk tab, and click the Create Disk button. A message reminding you to insert a diskette in the diskette drive will appear on-screen. Click OK to close it and complete the process.
Windows may prompt you to insert the installation CD-ROM in the optical drive during the creation of the bootable diskette. If that happens, comply with the instructions and then close the message. After Windows creates the bootable diskette, remove it from the diskette drive and label it as a Win98 or WinMe startup disk. Store the diskette in a safe place, so it will work properly when you need it.
In WinXP. As mentioned earlier, you can make two bootable diskettes via WinXP: one for booting into Windows and one for booting into DOS. The former contains three key system files that help you boot the computer directly into Windows. The latter contains just enough files to load a primitive version of DOS.
To create the Windows boot disk in WinXP, turn on the computer and insert a blank diskette in the diskette drive. Next, you need to copy three files—Boot.ini, Ntdetect.com, and Ntldr—from the Windows drive to the diskette. To do that, open the Start menu and click the My Computer icon. When the My Computer window displays, open the Tools menu and select Folder Options. Choose the View tab in the resulting dialog box and scroll through the Advanced Settings list until you see the Show Hidden Files And Folders radio button. Click it once to select it. (A dot will appear next to it.)
Creating a bootable diskette in Windows 98 and Windows Me is as easy as opening the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box, choosing the Startup Disk tab, and clicking the Create Disk button. A pop-up message even reminds you to insert a diskette in its drive. | While you're reviewing the Advanced Settings list, deselect the Hide Extensions For Known File Types and Hide Protected Operating System Files checkboxes. WinXP may prompt you to verify these changes. Do so and then click OK in the Folder Options dialog box to save the new settings.
Back in the My Computer window, double-click the icon representing the Windows drive. In the resulting window, locate the Boot.ini, Ntdetect.com, and Ntldr files. Click each one while holding down the CTRL key and then right-click any of the three files and select Copy from the pop-up menu. Add these files to the Windows boot disk by returning to the My Computer window, right-clicking the icon representing the diskette drive, and selecting Paste from the pop-up menu. Repeat this process to copy the Bootsect.dos and Ntbootdd.sys files (if available) to the Windows boot disk. Remove the diskette from the diskette drive and label it as the Windows boot disk.
Now it's time to create the MS-DOS startup disk. Insert a second diskette in the diskette drive and open My Computer. Right-click the icon representing the diskette drive and select Format from the pop-up menu. When the Format dialog box appears on-screen, select the Create An MS-DOS Startup Disk checkbox and click the Start button. A verification message will ask if you want to continue. Click Yes. Remove the diskette from its drive when the process is complete and label the diskette as the MS-DOS startup disk. Store it, along with the Windows boot disk, in a safe location.
Please note that the MS-DOS startup disk works only on drives that support the FAT32 (32-bit file allocation table) file system. You cannot create or use an MS-DOS startup disk if your WinXP hard drive uses the NTFS (NT file system). To find out what type of file system your computer uses, open My Computer, right-click the icon representing the Windows drive, and select Properties from the pop-up menu. When the dialog box displays, you'll see the file system identified next to the File System heading on the General tab. In Windows Vista. If your PC runs Vista, it probably doesn't have a floppy drive. That's not a problem, however, as Microsoft put the files necessary for booting your PC onto the Vista installation DVD. If your computer included a standard Vista installation DVD, you have everything you need. The DVD also includes a Startup Repair tool that can often overcome problems preventing your PC from booting correctly. Put the installation DVD into the PC, start it, and then select Repair Your Computer. So, what should you should you do if your PC doesn't include a standard Vista installation disk? Check the computer's manual. In some cases, PC manufacturers don't give customers the Vista installation disc. Instead, they put restore options on a separate DVD (or on a hidden partition on the computer's hard drive). If your manufacturer put the restore options on a disc or hard drive, it may have included Microsoft's Startup Repair tool or a similar feature. The manual will tell you how to access these features.
Add support for accessing your optical drive. Among the files on the startup disks for all OSes are several generic device drivers. These device drivers let you access some of the PC's key components, such as the keyboard and the optical drive, while the computer is in DOS mode.
Unfortunately, your computer may have an optical drive that the device drivers on the startup disk don't support. If this is the case, you won't be able to access data from that optical drive while using the computer in DOS mode. You should do what you can to resolve this situation because one of the best ways to fix a damaged system file is to copy a clean version of the file from the installation CD-ROM to the Windows drive. To rectify the situation and guarantee access to the optical drive, you'll need to add the relevant device driver to the bootable diskette.
The FDISK partitioning utility is one of several system utilities you can access after booting your PC with the Windows 98 or Windows Me startup disk. | (NOTE: The following instructions work only with drives that connect to an IDE [Integrated Drive Electronics] interface. Contact the drive manufacturer for assistance in configuring the bootable diskette if your optical drive connects to a SCSI [Small Computer System Interface] or USB [Universal Serial Bus] interface. Likewise, ask the drive manufacturer for assistance if you encounter any problems while adding a driver to the startup disk or if you are still unable to access the optical drive after following these instructions.)
First, if necessary, contact the computer or optical drive manufacturer to find out where the optical drive's device driver is on your computer system. Next, find the file on your system and make a copy of it. You can do this by opening the My Computer window to look in various folders for the file, right-clicking the file, and selecting Copy from the pop-up menu. Insert the startup disk in the diskette drive and right-click the My Computer icon representing the floppy drive and select Paste from the context menu.
Now you need to edit the Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files, so they include references to the device driver. Open the Start menu and burrow through the Programs (All Programs in WinXP) and Accessories submenus until you find the Notepad icon. Click it once to open the text editor. Select the Open command from the File menu. In the resulting dialog box, choose the 3½ Floppy (A:) entry from the Look In drop-down menu (near the top of the dialog box), select All Files from the Files Of Type drop-down menu (at the bottom of the dialog box), and then double-click the Config.sys file. The contents of the Config.sys file will appear in the Notepad window.
You need to type the following line in the Config.sys file: device=<driver> /D:mscd001 (where <driver> is the name of the relevant device driver). Add this line to the [CD] section of the code, if there is one. Otherwise, insert it as the first line in the Config.sys file. Either way, open the File menu and click Save when you finish.
The Windows boot disk contains only three files: Boot.ini, Ntdetect.com, and Ntldr. That's all you need, though, to gain access to Windows XP and all the helpful troubleshooting tools it has to offer. | Next, Win98 and WinMe users should open the Autoexec.bat file in Notepad and locate the following line: LH %ramd%:\ MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001 / L:%CDROM%. If you don't see this line listed at least once, look for a similar line (or lines) and modify it (or them) to match this one. Click File and Save if you need to save any changes and close Notepad.
Boot Into Action Booting a troubled computer and fixing common startup problems is a breeze when you have a bootable diskette handy. Simply insert the diskette in its drive and start (or restart) your computer. The BIOS will spring into action, retrieve the system files from the bootable diskette, and launch either DOS or Windows. How you proceed depends on which bootable diskette you use.
If you use the Win98/Me startup disk. When starting your PC with a Win98 or WinMe startup disk, your system presents you with several startup choices, including the Start Computer With CD-ROM Support and Start Computer Without CD-ROM Support options. We suggest selecting the first option because it lets you access content from the Windows installation CD-ROM. After making your selection, the A:\> command prompt will appear on-screen.
 What good is a DOS command prompt to the average Windows user? A lot, as long as you know the right commands to use. The following list of commands can help you start your journey on the road to recovery.
CD—You can use the CD (Change Directory) command to navigate the contents of your storage drives. Type cd at the command prompt, type the name of the folder you want to access, and press ENTER. To access the Windows and System folders on the C: drive, for instance, you would type cd c:\windows\system at the command prompt.
COPY—The COPY command helps you copy files from one location to another. To use the command, type copy at the command prompt, followed by the name and location of the file you want to copy and the location of the folder where you want to store the new copy. To copy the Disk Defragmenter utility from the Windows drive to a diskette, for instance, you might type copy c:\windows\defrag.exe a: at the command prompt and press ENTER.
DIR /P—Use the DIR command to view the contents of the current drive or folder. The /P switch lets you view the contents one screen at a time.
FDISK—The FDISK utility helps you divide a storage drive into several partitions. You can activate the FDISK utility by typing fdisk at the command prompt and pressing ENTER. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the partitioning process (although there are some things you need to consider, such as backing up all your hard drive's data onto removable storage media, before proceeding).
FORMAT—When a drive's data is damaged beyond any hope of recovery, you can use the FORMAT command to delete all of it and start over. To do this, type the command followed by the letter of the drive you want to clean out. To format our Windows drive, for instance, we would type format c: and press ENTER. Use this command with caution, however. There is no cheap or easy way of recovering content from a drive after you format it.
SCANDISK—Like its Windows counterpart of the same name, the SCANDISK utility in DOS scours a storage drive for errors that lead to data corruption. You can access the utility by typing scandisk at the command prompt and pressing ENTER. Follow the on-screen instructions to proceed.
SYS—This simple command writes a new set of system files to the Windows drive, thereby fixing any startup problem that stems from a corrupt system file. All you have to do is insert the startup disk in the diskette drive, type sys c: at the command prompt, and press ENTER.
If you use WinXP's MS-DOS startup disk. Like the Win98 and WinMe startup disks, WinXP's MS-DOS startup disk boots the computer to an A:\> command prompt. Unfortunately, that's where the similarities end. The MS-DOS startup disk lacks most of the best DOS troubleshooting tools, including the FDISK and SCANDISK utilities. Because of its limited capabilities, we find the MS-DOS startup disk to be of little assistance in troubleshooting startup problems. Consider using the WinXP Recovery Console instead.
For more information about using WinXP's Recovery Console, visit Microsoft Product Support Services (support.microsoft.com), type 307654 in the Search The Knowledge Base field, and press ENTER. When the results of your search appear, click the How To Install And Use The Recovery Console In Windows XP link.
If you use WinXP's Windows boot disk. When you boot your computer using the Windows boot disk, WinXP should start as it normally does. Your optical drive will work, and you will have access to all of WinXP's built-in troubleshooting and maintenance tools.
More Diskettes To Boot The various bootable diskettes that Win98, WinMe, and WinXP help you create are not the only bootable diskettes available. Antivirus software developers, for instance, often provide virus-fighting bootable diskettes to consumers who need to tackle serious virus infections. In addition, the Internet is home to a plethora of downloadable bootable diskettes that manufacturers and developers have customized to address specific PC difficulties. We advise staying away from these alternatives unless you have a particular reason for using them. In most situations, the tried-and-true startup disks offer the best boot assistance you can get.
by Jeff Dodd
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