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Thread ID: 11368	2001-09-14 13:27:00	Booting from CD	Guest (0)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
18816	2001-09-14 13:27:00	How can I find out whether my computer is bootable from CD, and what is the best stuff to put on one? Using Win98. Thanks JM	Guest (0)
18817	2001-09-14 14:03:00	Have a look in your BIOS (usually by pressing F1 at startup). Have a look for an entry called boot order, or similar. Then see if it can include CDROM. A bootable cd contains an image of a floppy disk (accessable as a:), so you need a floppy image that has cdrom access.	Guest (0)
18818	2001-09-14 20:48:00	I believe that Win98 CDs are bootable, so you could try booting your system with your Win98 CD in the drive... This is how I discovered that my dad's PC was CD bootable a few years ago. Quite a surprise :) You may still have to change the settings in your BIOS first as B M suggested, although we never did that on my dad's PC.	Guest (0)
18819	2001-09-15 01:22:00	Thanks Peoples	Guest (0)
18820	2001-09-15 04:43:00	Unless you have a very old computer, virtually all Intel machines are CD bootable. During startup, press Del to enter CMOS Setup. The boot options are usually under Advanced BIOS settings. It will either have a boot order, or seperate options for primary boot device, secondary boot device, other boot device. Your computer checks each of these things in turn, so if you have it set to HDD0, Floppy, CDROM, the computer will attempt to boot from the primary hard disk first, and if and only if that fails, it will check the Floppy disk, and if and only if THAT fails it will check the CDRom. The devices do boot slightly differently, if a non-bootable CD is in your drive and the computer attempts to boot from CD, it will recognise that this isnt possible and pass to the next stage, however with a floppy it will give you a 'Non-System Disk Error' and you have to eject the disk before boot sequence can continue. Finally, if you are at all concerned about security for your computer, you should disable all boot options other than HDD0 and then set a system password on the BIOS setup. This means that no one can come along with a custom boot disk, boot your machine to DOS and start screwing around with your stuff. Given it is possible to erase the BIOS password and get around it, this takes much longer than inserting a floppy disk. Then if you need to boot from something other than your primary Hard Disk, you can enter BIOS and enable it temporarily. As to the best stuff to put on it.. the point is moot really, if you dont NEED to be booting from a CD, there is absolutely no reason to be doing so, other than being able to boot the contents of the CD it gives no real benefits, and if you DO need to boot from CD, then there are specific things you need to be able to boot, and so you dont really have a choice in the matter, you have to boot what you have to boot. In all, I wouldnt bother with creating your own bootable CD's, without any great need, its more hassle than its worth.	Guest (0)
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