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Create An Emergency Start Up Disk For Windows XP

For those of you wanting to create an Emergency boot disk that will boot you straight to the desktop here is a simple method.

1. Insert a floppy disk into your floppy drive.
2. Open the command prompt (Start Menu/All Programs/Accessories/Command Prompt
3. Type format a: and press Enter.
4. Next open Windows Explorer
5. On the top toolbar click Tools followed by Folder Options
6. In the Folder Options Windows click the View tab
7. From the list select Show Hidden Files and Folder and place a check mark in the box to the left of this option.

8. Still in the folder options window scroll down another two lines and then remove the check mark next to the Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) option. A message will appear telling you that you have decided to display operating system file. Press OK to close this message. Now press Apply followed by OK
9. In Windows explorer again look for the C: directory - this is the root directory
10. You are looking for the following files NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM copy these to the floppy drive.
11. Next open Notepad (Start Menu/All Programs/Accessories/Notepad) and type the following:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
Default= multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\windows [operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\windows="Windows XP"

12. Next click the File menu and select the Save as Command. In the text box type "a:\boot.ini" (You must include the quotation marks. The boot ini file should then be saved to the floppy. You can now exit notepad
13. Now reboot your machine to test the emergency disk. If all has gone well you should be able to boot to the desktop.

Please note the boot ini file applies only to a single partition hard drive. If you are dual booting this will need to be altered accordingly.

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