BleepingComputer.com: how to make xp boot cd

safe mode does not work on my computer and i checked the safe boot startup on msconfig and now my computer tries to boot up on safe mode

so i need a boot cd in order to rename the boot.ini file which might possibly allow me to boot the computer through regular mode

so is it possible to make a boot cd,by the way i have windows xp media center SP3

i also cant find any boot cds specifically for media center so is it ok if i use either xp home or xp pro boot cds and which one?

i found this website that seems to have the file...
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Windows_XP_Pro_S...Disk_d1040.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Windows_XP_Home_...Disk_d1039.html

but then theres this website that tells me to do it a bit more complicated:
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

so i dont know which one to follow

also i do have access to another windows xp computer if i will be needing it to make a boot cd

and my last question for now...can i use a usb to boot up my computer?and how?

plz help me,any help will be appreciated...

If you are trying to rebuild the boot.ini file, perhaps the following article will help:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330184

like i said i need to make a boot cd not rebuild the boot.ini file,im trying to do the opposite of that

all i need is help on making a boot cd for xp media center and i mean a cd not a floppy disk one

I am not at home right now maybe you can get some info from these posting at techsupportteam . com titled Need A Bootable Disk. Hope it helps .

Dan

Maybe you could try this: at the Avira web site .free-av . com, under Products then Free Tools there is a tool, Avira Boot Sector Repair Tool it maybe useful or not to your problem.

Dan

EDIT: I missed the Media Center part , and I don't have a way to verify the post below, so I hope I did not get off on some wild goose chase - my commentary should work for XP (this is the XP forum )


You really should get hold of a boot CD, but...

Why not just run msconfig in Safe Mode and uncheck the /SAFEBOOT option?

If all you did was boot normally and then run msconfig and check the /SAFEBOOT option on the BOOT.INI tab, that just adds this to your current boot.ini file:

/safeboot:minimal (or /safeboot:something...)

to the end of the [operating systems] first multi choice line, so why can't you boot in Safe Mode, edit the boot.ini file, remove the /safeboot:minimal part, save the boot.ini file, reboot in normal mode?

The boot.ini file is going to be in C:\ and will be hidden and read only, so in Explorer you need to navigate to C:\ and click Tools, Folder Options, View.

Check - Show hidden files and folders (so you can see the hidden files)
Uncheck - Hide extensions for known file types (so you can see the .ini extension)
Click OK

Locate the boot.ini file (first make a copy for safety), right click the boot.ini file, Properties, uncheck the Read-only box, OK.

Now you can use a text editor to edit the boot.ini and remove the /safeboot:minimal (or /safeboot:whatever it says), save the file and reboot in normal mode.

If you are not sure it looks right, copy and paste the contents of your boot.ini file back here.

When you are finished testing, change the boot.ini back to read only and undo your changes in Explorer if you feel like it.

Here is a generic boot.ini file without the safeboot:minimal stuff in it.

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows XP Recovery Console" /cmdcons

With the safeboot stuff it looks sort of like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /safeboot:minimal
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows XP Recovery Console" /cmdcons

Yes, you still should come up with a bootable CD, preferably a bootable XP CD, but the other offerings will be good if you can't come up with that.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654/

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330184

treat media center as xp pro

Bleeping Computer isn't just about the forums! It also has a whole bunch of useful tutorials, including: Problems that can occur by forcing Safe Mode using the System Configuration Utility

I will have to assume any bootable xp pro cd will suffice for running the recovery console from

ren C:\Boot.ini Boot.ini.bak

The last time I saw this, the computer had a very bad infection.

I could be missing something, but jpat69 said his computer would not boot up in Safe Mode, so he says he used MSCONFIG to adjust the boot.ini so his computer would boot in Safe Mode.

Now his computer boots in Safe Mode as desired, but he wants it to boot normally again.

Why not just run MSCONFIG from Safe Mode and undo whatever was done on the BOOT.INI tab and turn off all the Boot Options?

That leaves the problem of why it doesn't boot in Safe Mode in the first place but that sounds like a different problem.

If the boot.ini was missing or fouled, that would have different symptoms.

from a PM I received

Quote

as AA and I read this thread, however the real problem now is the poster does not have a bootable CD?

Just another little detail... I got a couple PMs also, so went back and read post #1 and perhaps still didn't get it. I read it like he used msconfig to change his boot.ini to run safe mode and now is stuck in safe mode, but now I am not sure. Change it back!

I'm confused and don't know what "doesn't work" means. I Googled it, but only got 741,000,000 hits

I don't know if he really needs a recovery CD or just thinks he might.

I am confused, but in my PM he wanted to know where to buy a recovery CD.

Asking for help via PM's defeats the purpose of an online community and a forum. This is why it's discouraged on BC.

In this case safe mode is disabled by an infection, as in this thread


http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/ind...t&p=1326534

changing the boot option in msconfig then prevents the computer from booting into the only working mode, normal

As stated here, never use msconfig for this

http://www.malwareremoval.com/tutorials/safemodeboot.php

think of it like this,my computer can only boot up in safe mode,however my computer is infected with malware disabling safe mode,thus not allowing me to use my computer

now i need a boot cd to rename the boot.ini file,which could possibly allow me to run windows on regular mode and then go back to msconfig and stop my computer from booting in safe mode everytime