How to make a windows xp rescue cd

This article shows you how you can re-create a usable and bootable Windows XP installation CD using your running system. I'm sure there are many other possible reasons why you might need a Windows Installation CD, but let's get on with the procedure for making one.

I have not tested this procedure on other versions of Windows. This is essential. Without this, the procedure outlined on this page will not work. To find out whether you can use the steps listed on this page to re-create your bootable Windows XP setup disk, look for into your system drive usually the C: drive , and see if you can find a folder named I in the root directory.

When you bought your PC or laptop, it probably already came with Windows pre-activated, which means that you could use the computer out-of-the-box without having to enter your Windows licence key from Microsoft or needing to activate the machine. However, when you reinstall Windows, you will need a Windows licence key. You can usually find this taped somewhere on your computer sometimes on the underside or back of the computer. Without this, you won't get far in the installation.

Some manufacturers provide you with the device drivers for your system on a CD that comes with your system. Others require you to go to their website and download these drivers. Whichever the case may be, make sure you have all your drivers handy before you start.

Do not leave them on your hard disk, since your clean installation of Windows will probably wipe out everything on your hard disk. If your computer has SATA, IDE, SCSI or other mass storage devices for your hard disks that the Windows installer does not recognize out of the box, you will need to create a floppy disk with the drivers for that device. At the appropriate time, when Windows prompts you to hit F6 to load the drivers from a floppy disk, you will need to so.

This is however outside the scope of this tutorial. If your manufacturer has not provided you with any device drivers, or if you have lost the drivers CD or DVD that the vendor has provided you, all is not lost.

You can try using a device driver backup program to extract the existing drivers on your currently running system. You can get a device driver backup program from the Free Device Driver Backup and Extraction Utilities page on thefreecountry. In such cases, you need the manufacturers' textmode drivers which the driver backup utility will not recreate. You can of course use other software, but since it is difficult for me to write a tutorial that covers every possible burning software around, this guide will assume that you are using ImgBurn.

Since the software is available free of charge, I doubt that this choice will pose significant hardship for anyone. The easiest way to get this is to download the file wxp In fact, you should do this now. Download the file and save it on your desktop.

You will need the file later. Update : the site mentioned in the previous paragraph is no longer available, and I don't know any reliable alternative locations that provide it. I would also strongly suggest that you make a backup image of your entire system before you reinstall it. By entire system, I mean the whole system and not just your data. This is important in case there is some glitch in your installation or some fault in the setup CD that you create, resulting in an unusable system.

In such a situation, you will be able to restore your working system from your backup image. If you are not sure what a backup image is, or think that I'm only talking about saving your documents to another location, or worse, think that "image" refers to some sort of picture, please do not carry on with this procedure. If you are tinkering with your system, you owe it to yourself and your sanity to get a good hard disk image backup program. It is possible that it does not work - for example, if your vendor has deleted some essential file in the I folder which we will need , your installation may well fail at some crucial point after it has formatted your hard disk!

It is also possible that my procedure will not work on your system, or that I made some mistake in describing it here. So do it all at your own risk. And make sure you have an up-to-date backup of your system that you know works.

Actually, you can name it anything you want and put it anywhere you like, but for ease of explanation, the remainder of the steps below will assume that you have created the XPSETUP folder in the root of drive C:. Notice that I said "copy", not "move". It is important to work from a copy of the I directory so that if you make mistakes, you can simply go back and start all over again. If you move the directory or drag and drop it, and you make a mistake, your mistake will be permanent.

Click Start. Mostly, you do not need a bootable floppy diskette. Be reminded that the recovery console of Windows XP installation was also based from command prompt console and not on GUI console. Further, it has limited functions. We advised that you make use of our freeware to make a bootable CD and you can as well make your USB bootable recovery USB flash disk using our freeware.

Search for:. Martin Brinkmann. Windows , Windows tips. Article Name. First part of a two-part series that walks you through the steps of creating a system rescue disc for Windows XP. Microsoft Windows Security Updates January overview. Photos app update for Windows 11 rolls out with a new interface and editing options.

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