Bootable CD for Windows 2000 Final

[ByronT 0]

No, I'm not asking how to create one - that I already know (I did the Search thingy and found a reference on how to create a bootable CD for RC3.)

 

My questions are:

 

Is Windows 2000 Professional (Final) going to be a bootable CD? The only reason that I ask is that for bootable CDs you can only have an bootable image that is 1.44MB, but Windows 2000 requires 4 "setup" disks before you even start accessing the CD.

 

If that is the case, how are disk 2, 3 and 4 handled on the bootable cd?

 

I would much rather burn this stupid CD as a bootable CD so that I don't have to play [censored] with "setup" disks, but I'm just not sure what/how the 4 setup disks should be handled.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

------------------

J. Byron Todd

Computer Consultant

byron@toddcomp.com

Todd Computer Solutions

[EddiE314 0]

I would also like to know.

[NascarFool 0]

I have a copy of Win2k Pro Final that is bootable. The Win2K Pro Compaq Corporate version is not bootable. Both are build 2195.

[SHS 0]

Yes Final CD are bootable,

but this depin on Motherboard Bios & CDROM.

Set the CDROM boot up in the Bios one or two thing are going happing NO Boot or Boot

[Toby 0]

Hi !

 

Use Nero Burning Rom to create your CD, this program allows you to use more than 1.44MB for bootfiles.

 

Just copy your floppies to an empty partion and select it as source for boot instead of A:\

 

Toby

[YuppieScum 0]

Byron - sorry if this sounds a little patronising, but a bootable CD is the equivalent to a 650Mb floppy disk.

 

The whole point about it being bootable is that it can load sufficient code from the "boot block" to access the rest of the disk...

[ByronT 0]

Let me state the objective, then maybe the question will become clearer. I want to be able to wipe a HD and clean install Windows 2000 without having to do the floppy disk shuffle. However, the only way to do this is to create my Windows 2000 CD as a bootable CD. My system is capable of booting from CD - I've already checked that out.

 

And I've also learned that bootable CDs have a boot image that is used in the same manner as a floppy disk. What perplexed me is that Windows 2000 uses 4 diskettes for setup - not 1, and as far as I can tell, my CD burner software (Adaptec EZ CD 4.0) will only allow you to use a single bootable floppy disk for the boot image.

 

However, someone did mention that Nero allows a larger boot image to be used. So I'm guessing that that is the answer: Create the four boot floppies using MS's utils, and then copy all four floppies to a single directory, and then use Nero to point to that dir as the boot image.

 

I'll try and post my results here.

 

Thanks for all the help (and you know who you are!)

[ThC 129 0]

Byron, check one of the RC3 bootdisk sites or come to #NTCompaitble on undernet since we have the boot images. Also check out http://members.xoom.com/RC3Bootdisk/ this will tell you how to make a bootable CD-ROM for win2K, I used to instructions on it and my bootdisk works fine. I just throw it in my CD-RW, and hit boot then it boots right off the CD into setup

[YuppieScum 0]

Ah...

 

Use CDRWIN to make the bootable CD. Also, don't worry about it only being a small boot block - the boot block for NT on the HD is tiny but it fills 100Mb after it loads...