Making a Win98 bootdisk

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For an alternative method go here   Want to download a bootdisk image with generic CD-ROM support?

If you have a Win98 CD (either full or upgrade version) and you can read the CD from either DOS or Win9x you can make a Win98 boot disk with generic IDE or SCSI CD-ROM support.  If these methods don't work for you then you'll need to follow the methods from the link listed above.  So far I have yet to find a 'puter that this boot disk hasn't worked on!  (And no, I don't mean older 286, 386 'puters!)

From DOS

When you're done, write protect the floppy (by sliding the little plastic switch so you can see two holes) and reboot your 'puter with the new boot disk in the floppy drive.  Verify that you can read CDs with it by doing the following:

Now you should (hopefully) see the contents of the CD.

Click here to see a better image


From Win9x

Click here to see a better image

When you're done, write protect the floppy (by sliding the little plastic switch so you can see two holes) and reboot your 'puter with the new boot disk in the floppy drive.  Verify that you can read CDs with it by doing the following:

Now you should (hopefully) see the contents of the CD.

Click here to see a better image


This is from the FAT32EBD.TXT file on the Win98 CD:

=============
INTRODUCTION
=============

The FAT32 Emergency Boot Disk (EBD) provides a virus-free means for
starting and troubleshooting a computer, as well as a means for
partitioning large drives with the FAT32 file system.

The utility that creates the EBD, FAT32EBD.EXE, writes an image of a
known-good boot sector that was scanned for viruses. A virus-free
boot disk can be used to troubleshoot systems that you suspect are
infected with a virus, or to create a large partition for Windows 98.


=========================================
HOW TO CREATE A FAT32 EMERGENCY BOOT DISK
=========================================

The utility that creates the FAT32 EBD, FAT32EBD.EXE, can be run from
MS-DOS or within Windows. It will prompt you to insert a 1.44 MB
floppy disk in the A:\ drive and then prompt you to continue.
FAT32EBD.EXE transfers the boot sector to the floppy to ensure
there are no viruses. Next, the files for the disk are extracted from
the WIN98*.CAB files and transferred to the floppy.

------------
Requirements
------------

- Access to the Windows 98 CD-ROM
- Access to a 1.44 MB floppy drive on A:\
- 1.44 MB floppy disk


If you happen to read this whole file you'll notice it doesn't say anything about providing CD-ROM support.  Trust me, it does.  This boot disk will not be the same as a START UP DISK that you can create either during the install of Win98 of after Win98 is installed.  You should create a START UP DISK, it's very handy!


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Last Revised: 10/20/2000