I have created a boot disk by formatting a 3 1/2 floppy and choosing that
option in the window. Now, when I boot from the disk, all I can access is
the a: drive. How can I get to the c: drive after booting from my boot
floppy? Also, I need to have access to the CD drive when booting from the
floppy. Thanks

Your XP CD is bootable,
You may have to boot into your Bios and set the CD driver to boot before the
hard drive does.
Then on boot up with the CD installed, look for a statement that says "Hit
any key to boot from the CD drive.

"Brett" <Brett@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B21B2957-1B1F-4E72-9157-109528A59524@microsoft.com...
>I have created a boot disk by formatting a 3 1/2 floppy and choosing that
> option in the window. Now, when I boot from the disk, all I can access is
> the a: drive. How can I get to the c: drive after booting from my boot
> floppy? Also, I need to have access to the CD drive when booting from the
> floppy. Thanks
>

Also you should be able to access the CD in the Windows CMD prompt.

"Squire" <jerrym526@msn.org> wrote in message
news:O19ECpo$FHA.2784@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> Your XP CD is bootable,
> You may have to boot into your Bios and set the CD driver to boot before
> the hard drive does.
> Then on boot up with the CD installed, look for a statement that says "Hit
> any key to boot from the CD drive.
>
> "Brett" <Brett@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:B21B2957-1B1F-4E72-9157-109528A59524@microsoft.com...
>>I have created a boot disk by formatting a 3 1/2 floppy and choosing that
>> option in the window. Now, when I boot from the disk, all I can access
>> is
>> the a: drive. How can I get to the c: drive after booting from my boot
>> floppy? Also, I need to have access to the CD drive when booting from
>> the
>> floppy. Thanks
>>
>
>

When you create a bootable floppy from within Windows XP it puts an older
version of DOS on the disk. It does not provide support for CD, USB or NTFS
disk format on the disk. When you boot with the floppy you can only see
what DOS can see and DOS can't see NTFS, CDs or USB without the proper
drivers. There are NTFS readers available for DOS which may allow you to
see your C drive, search Google for these. USB is still fairly hard to find
drivers for (yes I know you didn't say anything about USB.)

To be able to use a CD drive you would need the proper drivers on the floppy
with the proper config.sys and autoexec.bat files to load the drivers at
bootup.

An easy way to get a boot floppy that will access a CD is to find someone
with a Windows 9X system, create a "system restore disk" on their computer.
This will install all the files onto the floppy needed to access the CD but
not USB or an NTFS formatted hard drive.

As others have said, a Windows CD will do almost anything needed to access
the computer and restore it.


"Brett" <Brett@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B21B2957-1B1F-4E72-9157-109528A59524@microsoft.com...
>I have created a boot disk by formatting a 3 1/2 floppy and choosing that
> option in the window. Now, when I boot from the disk, all I can access is
> the a: drive. How can I get to the c: drive after booting from my boot
> floppy? Also, I need to have access to the CD drive when booting from the
> floppy. Thanks
>
>

Is your file system FAT32 or NTFS? If it is NTFS then the DOS boot disk you
created cannot see the NTFS partition. This, unfortunately, is how it should
be. Is there a specific reason why you need to use the boot disk when,
assuming you have a retail copy of the Windows XP cd, the CD itself is
actually bootable?
When you created a bootable floppy it should also have copied over generic
CD drivers. When you boot from the floppy you should have been presented
with a menu giving the option to boot with cd drivers or boot without cd
drivers.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org

The information in this post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any kind,
either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this post. The Author shall not be liable for any
direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use
of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this post..



"Brett" <Brett@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B21B2957-1B1F-4E72-9157-109528A59524@microsoft.com...
>I have created a boot disk by formatting a 3 1/2 floppy and choosing that
> option in the window. Now, when I boot from the disk, all I can access is
> the a: drive. How can I get to the c: drive after booting from my boot
> floppy? Also, I need to have access to the CD drive when booting from the
> floppy. Thanks
>

Brett

Go to here for a boot diskette.. http://www.bootdisk.com for a Win 98 or
'special' Win XP boot diskette..

Booting from either will not allow you to see the boot drive if it is
formatted NTFS.. you should be able to see the CD, but will not be able to
do much with it in all probability..

This site will give insight into the NTFS filing system..

http://www.ntfs.com/google-adv.htm?g...FQq6PgodSWkJ3A


--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/User


"Brett" <Brett@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B21B2957-1B1F-4E72-9157-109528A59524@microsoft.com...
>I have created a boot disk by formatting a 3 1/2 floppy and choosing that
> option in the window. Now, when I boot from the disk, all I can access is
> the a: drive. How can I get to the c: drive after booting from my boot
> floppy? Also, I need to have access to the CD drive when booting from the
> floppy. Thanks
>

Brett wrote:

> I have created a boot disk by formatting a 3 1/2 floppy and choosing
> that option in the window. Now, when I boot from the disk, all I can
> access is the a: drive. How can I get to the c: drive after booting
> from my boot floppy? Also, I need to have access to the CD drive
> when booting from the floppy. Thanks


Answered in another newsgroup. Please do not send the same message
separately to more than one newsgroup (called multiposting). Doing so just
fragments the thread, so someone who answers in one newsgroup doesn't get to
see answers from others in another newsgroup. And for those who read all the
newsgroups the message is multiposted to, they see the message multiple
times instead of once (they would see it only once if you correctly
crossposted instead).

If you must send the same message to more than one newsgroup, please do so
by crossposting (but only to a *few* related newsgroups).

Please see "What is the accepted way to share a message across multiple
newsgroups?" at http://smjg.port5.com/faqs/usenet/xpost.html

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

For what purpose are you booting the PC with a floppy? A bootable DOS
diskette will not give you access to any NTFS volumes. Tell us what your
goal is.


--
------------------------------------------
Donny Broome
http://www.broomeman.com/tech/
------------------------------------------


"Brett" <Brett@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B21B2957-1B1F-4E72-9157-109528A59524@microsoft.com...
>I have created a boot disk by formatting a 3 1/2 floppy and choosing that
> option in the window. Now, when I boot from the disk, all I can access is
> the a: drive. How can I get to the c: drive after booting from my boot
> floppy? Also, I need to have access to the CD drive when booting from the
> floppy. Thanks
>

Brett

Having removed the partition, you will need to recreate it.. boot from the
diskette again, and then format the drive.. insert the Windows 98 CD, and
then type D followed by the colon:.. now type dir at the prompt.. a short
list if DIRs and files should appear.. now type SETUP..

Ensure that you have your product key handy..

--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/User


"Brett" <Brett@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:3C7BB14E-B88B-4308-BE7A-5EB6A9C61C5B@microsoft.com...
>
>
> "Mike Hall (MS-MVP)" wrote:
>
>> http://www.bootdisk.com for the Win 98 boot diskette..
>>
>> http://www.fdisk.com to learn how to use FDISK
> Thanks Mike. I appreciate the help.
> Brett

Brett wrote:

> "Donny Broome" wrote:
>
>> For what purpose are you booting the PC with a floppy? A bootable DOS
>
> My ex bought a supposedly new unused XP Pro CD from a "friend" of
> hers. The CD had been used before and when she went to activate the
> operating system, she was told that the CD had been activated too
> many times.


An erroneous and very misleading message. You can reactivate asmany times as
you need or want to. There is no limit. When you get the message, just call
the number given to activate over the phone.


> I want to install an old version of 98 I have from an
> old system, but the CD is a full version and won't let me install
> over XP Pro. I can't find out how to return her pc to its pre XP
> state and want to format her c: drive so that my 98 version will load.



No need to install Windows 98, as I said above, but if you want to, read on.

You can't format an NTFS partition from DOS. To install Windows 98, what you
need todo from the boot diskette is run FDISK, remove the NTFS partition
(it will be identified as non-DOS partition), then create a new partition.
You can then format the partition you've created and install Windows 98
normally.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup.