how do I make a start up disk

[reddragon]

I,ve got a window xp on this computer and I need to take windows xp pro of another but I need to make a start up disk for xp first.I think this is the way to replace xp pro. put I,m lost as to how .

[mjc]

Ok...what exactly are you attempting?

A fresh install?

The XP CD is bootable, all you need to do is to set your CD drive as the first boot device in BIOS setup and then put the disk in. When you reboot it should start setup.

[reddragon]

ok hold my handhow do I get into BIOS I new how with 98 but not with xp.what I am trying to do is take xp pro out and I don"t no how to format. when I start with the disk it it will not boot becouse the copy I have is older than what is thare .I can't tranfer from this computer to the other becouse this one has no cd burner.this is macking me feel like a moron sorry.

[Paul Komski]

You enter the BIOS by selecting a specific key (usually shown on the first or second screen - and if that all happens too quickly press the pause button to pause and esc to continue) often DEL or F2 or F12 or ... depending on the actual PC. This is unrelated to the operating system(s) on the PC.

Without any CD drive, changing the bootorder will do nothing and installing WinXP becomes much more complicated. It can be done using 6 floppy disks (downloadable from www.bootdisk.com) but its still not clear to me what you are attempting. If you have an ordinary CDROM drive and just no burner you can still reinstall or repair WinXP from the installation CD.

However if you just want to transfer files/data from one pc to another then CDburning is not the only option. Using a USB pen drive or networking two computers would be more elegant solutions and even temporarily moving the hard drive itself can be done.

If you just want to format the hard drive there are a number of utiltites that will do this. Just explain more exactly what you want to achieve. You can get other startup floppies from bootdisk.com that can format and the makers of the hard drive will provide a utillity on their website that will even wipe the drive clean.

[reddragon]

the xp that is on the bad computer will not get on the net and the fire wall is down and will not come up.when I change the bios to boot from cd it still goes rite into the same os and will not let me change to an older os.I can get on the net with this computer but it is no good becouse I can't burn a fix program to place in the other one

[Paul Komski]

becouse I can't burn a fix program
So, if we have understood, you can or have downloaded a "fix" on one computer and want to transfer the download to the other computer.

Personally I wouldnt be without a USB pen drive for this sort of thing but another fairly easy way to transfer stuff (assuming both PCs have a NIC) is to run a crossover ethernet cable between them and setup file sharing on the two-pc network.

when I change the bios to boot from cd it still goes rite into the same osIf the boot order is correct and saved then there must be a problem in recognising the CD or the CD is not bootable or you could be missing a prompt to "press any key" to boot from the CD.

[reddragon]

how do I format windows xp pro then I can just go from thare .

[Whyzman]

It appears that we need to isolate the CD drive as the only possible option to boot from. In your BIOS, what are the options presented when you attempt to change the boot order?

[Paul Komski]

If you just want to format the drive you can use any dos/win9x based boot floppy (www.bootdisk.com) to do that job but you will have problems reinstalling WinXP, which is normally done by booting to its CD and running setup. The same CD can manage the partitioning and formatting involved.

It is possible to install WinXP using winnt or winnt32 from the i386 folder rather than using setup but the installation options are more limited. You would also need to have a way of copying the i386 folder to the hard drive or of accessing the CDROM from DOS or from within windows.

[reddragon]

thank you varry much and I.m sorry to be such a pain for you to understand you guys are a grate help