When Windows Don't Load

One of the major problems faced by all PC users is when Windows simply refuses to load. Try as you might, in Safe Mode or Normal Mode, the PC will just not respond. You can keep pressing the computer’s switch till your fingers turn sore, but it stays dead.

Your vendor will probably tell you to format the hard drive and reload Windows. But this is easier said than done. You may think your precious pictures, programs and songs, not to talk about the important documents, are lost forever. This is when you need a bootable CD to kick start your computer and deal with the problem.

Ideally, a recovery disc should act as a safety net if anything bad happens to you

r PC’s hard drive or its data. This can occur because of a program crash, a virus or spyware attack, or even from a corrupt driver. A good recovery disc allows you to reinstall Windows to fix a minor problem without having to format the hard drive.

But there is a hitch in making a bootable Windows CD with the latest drivers and patches. Once you upgrade your Windows XP to Service Pack 3, the operating system will never allow you to install an older version (includin

g earlier editions of XP) without wiping the hard drive. The solution is to create a new installation disc from your Windows installer CD and a special version of SP3, using a process known as slipstreaming.

Before you begin creating a bootable CD make sure you have three things: a genuine XP CD, a valid Windows product key, and about 1.5 GB of free space on

your hard drive. Your Windows XP CD can be SP1 or SP2 or even the original release from 2001.

Now let us begin the process of creating a bootable Windows CD. First make a new folder called XPSetup in the C:\ of your hard drive. Insert your original XP CD, start Windows Explorer, and then navigate to your CD drive. Highlight everything in the root folder of the CD, and copy all of it to the C:\XPSetup folder you just made.

Next, create a second new folder in C:\ and name it SP3. Go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads /Results.aspx?displaylang=en&nr=50 and click the link for Windows XP Service Pack 3 Network Installation Package for IT Professionals and Developers. Download the 324MB file, WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe, and save it to the new C:\SP3 folder.

From the Start menu, select Run and type the following command at the prompt C:\SP3\WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU /integrate:C:\XPSetup. Make sure there is only a single space between ENU and /integrate — there should be no other spaces. Otherwise, you will get all kinds of error messages. If everything is done right you should get a “Completed” message box after a while. On some computers this process takes several minutes to complete.

Now we will create what is called

an “answer file” to enter your product key automatically so that you do not have to type it manually later on. On your original Win XP CD (Professional Edition only), navigate to the \Support\Tools folder, double-click Deploy.cab, and then double-click Setupmgr.exe to open the Windows Setup Manager Wizard. When prompted, choose Create a new answer file and then Windows Unattended Installation. For the User Interaction Level, choose Provide Defaults, and when asked about the Distribution Folder, answer No. Finally, you’ll see a new window, into which you can specify defaults; select Providing the Product Key on the left and then type your product key in the text fields on the right. When you’re done, save the file Unattend.txt into your C:\XPSetup folder.

The final step has yet to be done. You have to extract the boot loader from your old Windows XP disc so that you can make the new one bootable. The best way to do this is to download a free software called ImgBurn from www.imgburn.com.

Install ImgBurn, start the program, and click Write files/folders to disc on the first screen. Choose the Advanced tab, followed by the Bootable Disc tab, and from the Extract Boot Image list select the drive containing your XP disc. Click the Save icon and save the BootImage.ima file to your C:\SP3 folder. Now all that you have to do is burn a new CD.

In ImgBurn, choose the Advanced tab, followed by the Bootable Disc tab, and turn on the Make Image Bootable option. If prompted to choose a bootable disc emulation type, select no emulation. (Use 0x7C0 for the load segment, and 4 for the sector count. Make sure you are using the Joliet file system). Specify the BootImage.ima file you just created as the boot image; drag the entire contents of the C:\XPSetup folder into your CD project and burn the CD.

Keep this disk in a safe place. The next time your Windows does not load use it so that your computer recovers.