win xp core os files help

[nymph4]

I am runding win xp and I thought of making my own win xp startup disk and it works.

I just copyed the files    NTL.DR and NTDETECT.COM and I only have one Operating System installed so I did not copy the file BOOT.INI and this disk works greate.

Now I wanted to try to make this same disk but copy the same files directly from my Win xp CD to the floppy.

Now I know these files are on the CD in a folder called I think   1397  or something like that.

But if I put the CD in my computer and go to dos prompt can I just type a command  like..........D: 1397 copy io.sys A:

And it will copy the files I told you about to the floppy?

or is this not the command??

[Dusty]

The files are in the I386 folder on the XP cd.   Afaik using IO.SYS will not boot a non-dos based system.   These two files are not 'core os files' they are boot files only, the os is still loaded from the C:\WINDOWS folder.

The commands are:

COPY D:\I386\NTLDR A:   

-and-   

COPY D:\I386\NTDETECT.COM A:

Where D: is the drive letter of the cdrom.  (caps for emphasis only)

Good luck.

[nymph4]

If I want to copy the NTL.DR File from my win cd to a floppy I see the code is
COPY D:\I386\NTLDR A:

But if I ever want to copy the NTL.DR File back to my hard drive to replace a bad one would I use this code?

COPY A:\NTL.DR\C: or is the code
COPY A"\NTL.DR\C:\1386

[BC_Programmer]

if you ever have problems booting (including a missing NTLDR) the best solution would be to use the Repair Option of Windows XP setup.

the syntax is

copy <file> <destination>
you want to copy A:\NTLDR C:\
so

copy A:\NTLDR C:\


Also, you aren't attempting to copy all the files in i386 to the floppy are you? a CD-ROM holds 650-700 Megabytes, and a Floppy holds 1.38, so something tells me that won't work out too well.

[nymph4]

I am sorry I gess I shoud have explained my self.

If I want to copy the NTL.DR File from my win xp CD to a floppy to have a good copy you told me
COPY D:\I386\NTLDR A:    so just say I new that my NTL.DR File was bad on my computer over time I can just copy the good copy I have on my floppy. I know I chould just use the repair fuction on the win xp CD but I am just thinking of diferent was to do the same thing.

So what I ment was that if NTL.DR File was in the i386 Folder on the win xp CD then when it is on my Hard Drive does it still go in a folder called i386? If so the code for copying it from the floppy to the C: Drive would not just be
COPY A: NTLDR C:

That would just place the File out in the open on the root directory. Or is it just on the Root Directory on the hard drive and there is no i386 Folder on the hard drive that it goes into it is just in that folder on the win xp CD?
Thanks

[BC_Programmer]

you can find your NTLDR file on your disk as is- in command prompt-

Code: [Select]

C:\>dir C:\NTLDR /a
 Volume in drive C is BOOTDISK
 Volume Serial Number is 7C47-B92D

 Directory of C:\

05/13/2008  07:05 PM           250,048 NTLDR
               1 File(s)        250,048 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  177,941,413,888 bytes free

of course your results will differ somewhat, but the file is there- you could just copy the file directly from the HD to the floppy, instead of the CD.

Yes, NTLDR is stored in the root directory of the boot drive, in fact it has to be, since it performs a similar function as DOS's IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS (and PC-DOS's IBMBIO.COM and IBMSYS.COM), which is when the boot-loader first starts up. At that point, it doesn't "understand" folders, and so can only run the rest of the OS boot process if the appropriate file is in the root directory.

I'm not sure if you are aware, but you are spelling it as NTL.DR, where in fact it contains no extension, so it is just "NTLDR", I'm not trying to be pedantic, it's just you won't find a NTL.DR file on your disk, or anywhere for that matter.

In any case- you've got the syntax down pat, and so should have no problem copying back and forth from a floppy to replace NTLDR. one question remains, how exactly will you access the floppy before the machine boots? Copying NTLDR to the floppy doesn't make it bootable, and in fact chances are you'll need to use recovery console (from the CD) to gain access to the drive and thus copy NTLDR over to it.

I know I chould just use the repair fuction on the win xp CD but I am just thinking of diferent was to do the same thing.

I think you should now be able to perform this "back-up" type of system-proofing, but NTLDR is very rarely, if ever corrupted. And anything that DOES corrupt NTLDR would likely have also corrupted other system files. Besides, you'll need to use Recovery Console to copy NTLDR from the Floppy/CD anyway,and unless you install it as a boot option using "setup /cmdcons" for windows setup, you'll need to boot it from the CD anyway, so it just seems smarter to use the repair functionality since it will replace any and all corrupted system files.

[nymph4]

Thanks for all your help and I only typed NTLDR File as NTL.DR because I keep seeing it this way when I read about it.

But I did copy NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM to the floppy disk and then toock it out and turned off my computer and put the floppy disk in and turned on the computer and it acessed the floppy drive and toock like 5 sec and then booted to the desk top   so this is a boot disk right??

I meen it used NTLDR from the floppy to start  I chould here the floppy drive. And then it used the NTDETECT.COM for the hardware check right and then it got the rest from the boot drive.

Is this what happened and what I made??

[Dusty]

I meen it used NTLDR from the floppy to start  I chould here the floppy drive.

Yes, and, if you are brave enough to try it, rename NTLDR on your hard disk and try to reboot from the hard disk.  You should get the infamous "Ntldr missing" boot failure error message.   Then boot from the floppy, your system should appear to boot normally and load Windows at which point the renamed ntldr file can be renamed back to NTLDR or copied from the floppy..

I have a similar floppy in my software recovery toolkit, mine also contains copies of Ntdetect.com, Hal.dll and Boot.ini files for speedy non-complex recovery purposes..  I also have a boot cd for systems which do not have a floppy drive, it works on the same principle as the floppy although it only has the boot files on it.

You may be interested in the boot/loading sequence here.

Good luck