Create a Windows CD for PCs That Don't Have One

[budeone]

MICROSOFT REQUIRES that every PC bundled with Windows provide some way of restoring the operating system, but too many bundled Windows XP "restore" CDs merely return your hard drive to its factory condition, which wipes out all of your data and any apps you've added.

Fortunately, vendors appear to be moving away from these data-wiping recovery discs.

If your PC lacks a Windows CD, a folder named 'i386' containing the Windows installation files is probably in the root directory of drive C: or in your C:\Win-dows folder. Your system may have several 1386 folders, but the one you want has a lot of files with extensions ending in underscores (__), along with the executable files expand.exe, regeditexe, andwinnt32.exe.

Copy this folder onto a CD for safekeeping, though you'll use the version on the hard drive to actually reinstall Windows. Keep your 25-character Windows Product Key handy—you'll need it to reinstall the OS. The number is on the back of your PC, on the bottom of your notebook, or in some other hard-to-read spot; it may be listed in the documentation as well.

You'll also need a bootable CD for starting the install process. Bart Lagerweij's free PE Builder creates a CD-bootable version of XP called Bart's Pre-install Environment, or BartPE, from either a Windows CD or the i386 folder.

Visit find. pcworld.com/49064 to download PE Builder.

Open PE Builder's main dialog box and select the folder or drive containing your i386 folder, but not the folder itself.

Check Create ISO image, click Burn to CD, and select your CD-RW drive from the Device drop-down menu. If PE Builder doesn't support your burner, double-click the PE Builder-created .iso file to launch your CD authoring program and burn the CD.

To reinstall Windows, boot from the BartPE CD you just created and select Go Programs-A43 File Management Utility Navigate to the hard drive's 1386 folder (do not use the 1386 folder on the CD). Double-click winnt32.exe to start the installation process. When the installation program closes, reboot your PC, remove the CD, and select Microsoft Windows XP Setup from the resulting boot menu. The installation will pick up where it left off.

[DUHWON]

To reinstall Windows, boot from the BartPE CD you just created and select Go Programs-A43 File Management Utility Navigate to the hard drive's 1386 folder (do not use the 1386 folder on the CD). Double-click winnt32.exe to start the installation process. When the installation program closes, reboot your PC, remove the CD, and select Microsoft Windows XP Setup from the resulting boot menu. The installation will pick up where it left off.

r u saying , if i totally obliterate all data on a drive or CD

http://www.killdisk.com/

like project tells me. i will be able to reboot windows xp??? or just do it with out wiping out HD. & then which download am i sopose to download. http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/download/
the site u gave was not there , i had to put the guys name in the saerch to find it . & then all kinds of download apire ????

[Project]

this is self defeating, you are copying back the folder that comes from a possibly infected computer, and where do the other files required come from?

I would never do this personally, and I very seriously doubt it would work anyways.

[Project]

woops I see what they are saying... this is still definitely not the recommended way to do it, and if you mess up, everything is gone, no chance of recovery.

Either buy a disk, pirate one, or use a free operating system.

[Sliztzan]

oh yes, Bart's PE is great. If your computer gets wasted and you can't even use it, but you can startup (boot) your computer from your cd rom, Bart's creates a temporary Ram Drive which enables you to see your files using file management tools similar to windows explorer. From there you can save important documents, files, videos, music or whatever you desire, to another drive, usb, fireware...etc. even burn to a disc with Nero, before having to reinstall everything or get a new hard drive. That's because it doesn't use anything on your present drive. If your drive is toast due to mechanical failure, you might get lucky and recover data. I've used it most at home to delete spyware or virus files that can't be deleted in the normal windows enviroment. In the field, working on other peoples' computers, it's a great tool for a graphical user interface (basic windows point and click) to fix computers that otherwise won't start up past post, and to recover important files.

[Project]

There is something much more amazing available on the torrents... a bootable liveCD of windows - complete... you can boot straight into it without touching your hard drive, just like a linux live CD.

I haven't pushed it since it is illegal, and hell, linux is a million times better, but it is out there...

[Sliztzan]

thats interesting. I've never heard of that one. Have you ever done slipstreaming? I only found out about that 3 or 4 years ago. I really like that.

[Project]

yes, I was forced to slipstream my own CD because of course XP ships with squat for SATA drivers, and want you to press F6 and use a floppy (HAH!) for drivers during installation. Obviously, I have not installed a floppy drive for maybe 10 years on a computer, so that was out of the question.

I have tried to make a pre-installation disk with all my fave apps already installed, but you still have to do so much crap post-install it is not worth it.

Much better is to use Acronis TrueImage - awesome awesome ghosting program, much better than Norton's scary software.

[Sliztzan]

I know exaclty what you mean. I started ghosting my system a few years ago, tired of having to install so much stuff everytime I wanted to do a fresh install. In about 2 minutes you can have a fresh install again. That's great.

[selena_orchids]

If you have a cd or dvd burner, its a good idea to get in the habit of backing up your computer every now and then. I do once a month. There are many softwares that will allow you to do this. You basically want to do a 'restore' backup. This way you will still have all the files from the time you last backed up if anything goes wrong with your computer system.