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From: Jessica on 30 Apr 2010 21:28
Hello,

I am trying to locate the boot.ini file on the Windows XP Professional CD. I
am trying to create a bootable cd.

Please advise.
--
Mike
From: Paul on 1 May 2010 01:05
Jessica(a)aol.com wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am trying to locate the boot.ini file on the Windows XP Professional CD. I
> am trying to create a bootable cd.
>
> Please advise.

First of all, I'll have to admit, I've never made a bootable CD
from scratch myself. These are just a few bits and pieces I've noticed
along the way.

It is not simply a matter of "throwing" some files onto a CD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootable_cd

Try figure 1 on page 6 here. This is an archived copy of the El-Torito spec.

http://web.archive.org/web/20070928081155/http://www.phoenix.com/NR/rdonlyres/98D3219C-9CC9-4DF5-B496-A286D893E36A/0/specscdrom.pdf

In terms of learning about the different CD formats, try a utility like
"disktype". For example, I can boot a Linux LiveCD in a VPC2007 session
(using the toram option), and then run "disktype" from in there. In the
following, I include a couple examples of discs I checked, for comparison.
disktype can analyse a great many different file systems, and printing
out CD/DVD structures is only one of its capabilities.

http://disktype.sourceforge.net/

When Microsoft offered a 2GB+ download of Windows 7 last year, I ran
the disktype utility on that image, and this is what it said.

*******
--- 7100.0.090421-1700_x86fre_client_en-us_retail_ultimate-grc1culfrer_en_dvd.iso
Regular file, size 2.357 GiB (2530975744 bytes)
UDF file system
Sector size 2048 bytes
Volume name "<5500><4400><4600><2000><5600><6F00><6C00><7500><6D00><6500>"
UDF version 1.02
ISO9660 file system
Volume name "GRC1CULFRER_EN_DVD"
Publisher "MICROSOFT CORPORATION"
Preparer "MICROSOFT CORPORATION, ONE MICROSOFT WAY, REDMOND WA 98052, (425) 882-8080"
Application "CDIMAGE 2.54 (01/01/2005 TM)"
Data size 2.357 GiB (2530975744 bytes, 1235828 blocks of 2 KiB)
El Torito boot record, catalog at 22
Bootable non-emulated image, starts at 663, preloads 4 KiB
Platform 0x00 (x86), System Type 0x00 (Empty)
*******

You can see that DVD uses El Torito. And the bootstrap portion does not
use an emulation of a floppy, to do its work. Now, for comparison, this
is the "disktype" output for a dual layer DVD movie I burned. There is
no boot stuff to be seen, in this report. This is effectively a "data" disc.

*******
--- /dev/sr1
Block device, size 7.076 GiB (7597457408 bytes)
CD-ROM, 1 track, CDDB disk ID 02000001
Track 1: Data track, 0 bytes
UDF file system
Sector size 2048 bytes
Volume name "VACATION_2009"
UDF version 1.02
ISO9660 file system
Volume name "VACATION_2009"
Application "IMGBURN V2.5.0.0 - THE ULTIMATE IMAGE BURNER!"
Data size 7.076 GiB (7597410304 bytes, 3709673 blocks of 2 KiB)
*******

So whatever utility you use, to prepare a bootable CD, it involves more than
just the "visible" files on the CD. There is also stuff that needs to be
included for booting, and there are techniques for including it into an
ISO9660 image.

So if you take a Windows installer CD, and copy the files (drag and drop)
to another burnable CD, that won't grab any of the boot structure. You need
a tool. For example, in this description of "isomaster", I see mention of
features needed for boot support.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isomaster

In the page here, a program called "isobuster" is mentioned. This guy
is building his own bootable CD, and this page describes some
of the details.

http://www.infocellar.com/cd/boot-cd.htm

A utility that copies CDs, will know about the boot stuff and copy
it as well. Copying using just the "visible", file system section
of the CD, won't work by itself.

One other example, for fun. If you download the memtest86+ test
CD, it is an example of bootable media. This one seems to be using
floppy emulation, as near as I can tell. The download size is only
62KB (compressed), so you know there is little in the way of code
inside this thing. Inside this, there is an ".img" the size of a
floppy, but even that is mostly empty. If a bootable CD burning program
like Nero, burns this to disc, it is going to be burning at least
several megabytes worth of sectors, to finish the job.

http://www.memtest.org/download/4.00/memtest86+-4.00.iso.zip

If I open that with 7-ZIP, the structure inside looks like

BOOT
BOOT.CAT 2048 bytes
MEMTEST.IMG 1474560 bytes
[BOOT]
Bootable_1.44M.img 1474560 bytes
README.TXT

The README.TXT file is included, so if the CD is popped into a
running Windows computer, you'll have something to read. It would
be the only "visible" file on the CD. It was placed there, to make
people "comfortable", as a completely empty test CD would scare people.
All of the working bits, of that bootable CD, are hidden. The 1474560 byte
floppy emulation (1440K) is actually mostly empty. A single executable
program hides in there, and it runs the 640x480 VESA screen while
the memory testing is taking place.

So that is an example, of as bare-bones a bootable CD as you can find.
The CD does have a file system, but it was only put there for comfort
and not for function.

Now, how that differs from a Windows installer CD, is in the memtest
case, the bootstrap loader ends up running the computer. On the
Windows CD, the bootstrap loader is only an intermediate step, and
it eventually begins to access the "visible" files on the disk, as a
real OS of some sort is being booted.

My purpose in explaining this, is mainly to point out that a "drag
and drop" copy is not enough. There are some more details.

Paul
From: dadiOH on 1 May 2010 08:12
Jessica(a)aol.com wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am trying to locate the boot.ini file on the Windows XP
> Professional CD. I am trying to create a bootable cd.
>
> Please advise.

Boot.ini is just a text file that specifies where Windows resides on *your*
system; consequently, you won't find it on your XP CD...look on C:

You shouldn't need it on a boot CD anyway.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico



From: dadiOH on 1 May 2010 08:16
dadiOH wrote:
> Jessica(a)aol.com wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I am trying to locate the boot.ini file on the Windows XP
>> Professional CD. I am trying to create a bootable cd.
>>
>> Please advise.
>
> Boot.ini is just a text file that specifies where Windows resides on
> *your* system; consequently, you won't find it on your XP CD...look
> on C:
> You shouldn't need it on a boot CD anyway.

What you *do* need are files from a boot *floppy*; however, as Paul pointed
out, just dumping them onto a CD won't make the CD bootable unless you've
made an .iso of the floppy.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico



From: Daave on 1 May 2010 21:51
Jessica(a)aol.com wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am trying to locate the boot.ini file on the Windows XP
> Professional CD. I am trying to create a bootable cd.

Why are you doing this?

What do you intend to do with it?

Is there a specific type of bootable CD you are trying to create? Bart
PE perhaps?

Please provide more information.


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