Manually creating a "good" Win95/98 Boot/Utility Disk

Creating a boot/utility disk is pretty much handy some times. The boot/utility disk that I will teach you is so very different from the crappy windows startup disk. Which most of us won’t know what the heck is going on

This boot/utility disk will take you directly to the command prompt and the CD ROM can be used…

So… first we need some files:

Edit.com
Help.hlp
Himem.sys
Mscdex.exe
Msd.exe
Oakcdrom.sys
More.com
Mouse.exe
Attrib.exe
Diskcopy.com
Fdisk.exe
Format.com
Label.exe
Ansi.sys
Scandisk.exe
Sys.com
Io.sys
Command.com
Msdos.sys

Once you get those files in your floppy, we will start making 2 more files… that’s right.. MAKE two more files…

These files are the autoexec.bat and config.sys

So why don’t we start creating the config.sys

Creating Config.sys

All you have to do is go to the command line… and type “edit config.sys” then a new window would pop up.. it would basically look like dem BASIC or QBASIC windows..

Then you type in the codes…

Device=himem.sys
DOS=UMB
DOS=HIGH
After that, save it in the floppy…

The main purpose of this file is to configure the computer’s memory. HIMEM.SYS is an extended memory manager.


Creating Autoexec.bat

Now its time to create the Autoexec.bat file…

Go to command prompt and type “edit autoexec.bat”

And in the window input the codes:

@ECHO OFF
PROMPT=$P$G
MOUSE.EXE

Then save it in your floppy…



Now to enable for you to use the CD ROM.. we have to do some minor changes..


Including CD ROM in the boot disk.

We need to do some changes in autoexec.bat and config.sys

So first, lets do the config.sys

Edit config.sys and add these codes:

DEVICE=C:\DOS\OAKCDROM.SYS /D:MSCD001

*it doesn’t have to be “c:\dos\oakcdrom.sys” that entry depends on where the oakcdrom.sys is located in your hard drive.

*the “/D:MSCD001” doesn’t have to be like that. You can change “MSCD001” to anything you want since that is the label of the CD ROM drive..


Save the changes and lets move on to the next step..

In the command prompt, type “edit autoexec.bat” and input these codes:

C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001

*again, the path doesn’t have to be “c:\dos\mscdex.exe” it all depends on where the mscdex.exe file is locarted.

*be careful with the “/d:mscd001” part coz if you did change the name in the config.sys file you should do the same in this file. The label of the CD ROM drive in both files has to be identical.

Save your work…


Now you are done… that was a short tutorial on how to create a “good” boot disk manually… save all the changes you made and save all the required files in it and you are done… this is more like of a utility disk than a boot disk because it has commands that no ordinary boot disk has…



Sonic

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Yeah it's all good, should be noted though that OAKCDROM.SYS is for your specific cd-rom. When making the boot disk you should make sure that that driver is right for your cd-rom drive. The file for my drive is something like D011v200.sys.

Wouldn't it be more pratical and a lot faster to download these bootdisk from the internet. I mean do a search on google >>bootdisk.

Get the links, down file and extract that into floppy. Done, bootdisk in hand. Why waste all this time making a bootdisk when it's easier to download the software.

Am I wrong to think this way? hell, that's what I did the last time I needed a freakin bootdisk and none was available.

www.bootdisk.com has all the old dos and windows boot disks.

If your PC supports El Torito index then you don't need a boot disk (floppy) at all !

you can use your CD to boot up from. You could use this with some Linux versions and NT4.0 / Win2K to boot directly from CD and install the OS. With Win9x you could put all the things you need to boot and work on a CD, plenty of space (even create a loader for multiple OS's on 1 CD) and start up with the CD (make sure the BIOS is set to boot from CD first and that your PC supports El Torito and you are working directly from CD).

but it always stays usefull to have some bootdisk (floppy).

:)