Windows 2000 Quick Fixes

Create a bootable Windows 2000 disk

In some situations you might not be able to boot the system from the hard disk. For example, the Master Boot Record or Partition Boot Sector might be corrupted. Or a hardware problem is preventing the system from starting from the hard disk. Whatever the case, having a bootable system disk will help you begin to troubleshoot and recover the system.

Whether your system uses FAT/FAT32 or NTFS, you can create a diskette to boot the system in the event you can’t boot from the hard disk. The process for creating the disk varies, however, depending on the filesystem(s) in use.

Create a bootable disk for FAT/FAT32

Because FAT and FAT32 are supported by DOS and Windows 9x, you can use a bootable system diskette created with either of those operating systems to boot and begin troubleshooting and recovering your Windows 2000 system. Open a command prompt on a working DOS or Windows 9x system with a diskette in the drive and type the following command to create a bootable system disk:

               format a: /s

where a: is the drive letter for your floppy drive.

Create a bootable disk for NTFS

If your system uses NTFS volumes or if you don’t have access to a DOS or Windows 9x system to create a bootable disk for FAT/FAT32 volumes, you can create the boot disk on a Windows 2000 system. The process is a little more involved and requires that you format the diskette, then manually copy files from your system to the floppy.

Follow these steps to create a bootable disk from Windows ...