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WAYS TO MAKE A WINDOWS 98 STARTUP
DISK
last updated: 08/02/03
INTRODUCTION. Back
in the MS-DOS and Windows 3.x days most technicians packed a boot floppy
with some basic software tools on it for trouble-shooting, and installing
hard disks and software. Today, this sort of floppy is called a Windows
Startup disk or Emergency Boot Disk (EBD) and is largely ignored until an
emergency, such as a hard disk failure, when, to the dismay of the user,
it may not work.
The Startup Disk is an adaptation of the old
boot floppy to the needs of Windows 98. It includes the system files,
configuration files, himem.sys driver, CD-ROM support, and some basic software
tools. It can used to partition and format FAT16 and FAT32 hard disk
drives and edit configuration files. It can be very useful, if
not essential, when replacing a bad hard disk drive, upgrading Windows, troubleshooting
Windows boot-up problems, etc. Herein, are instructions which will
help you, I hope, make a Startup Disk and modify it so it will
work on your computer when you need it. Four methods for making these
floppies are described in this article:
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CREATE
DISK. You have a access to a computer running
Windows 98. This is the normal user way of making a Startup
Disk. I don't like the end result.
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BOOTDISK. You
have a access to a computer running Windows 98. This makes the
same Startup disk as the CREATE DISK method, but can be done from the
DOS prompt and you don't need the Windows CD. It may be useful
if you can't get windows to boot beyond the DOS prompt. Again,
I don't like the end result.
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FAT32EBD. Your
computer is not running Windows 98, but is operational with MS-DOS and/or
an older version of Windows, and you have a Windows 98 CD. Or,
you may want to use this method if you don't like the first two and the
last one is "too hard."
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MANUAL. You
are running Windows 98 and you want to make your own custom Startup Disk
with software tools and configuration files of your choosing. This
is the method I use.
In all of these methods, you may have to tailor
the resulting floppy to include a driver for your specific CD-ROM drive.
 Purchase
the pdf version of this article
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Create Disk Method > |
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