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windows working from cd

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7 replies

by kamran-saleem

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I am trying to copy installed windows from my hard disk to cd and wanting that it will work in the same way as from hard disk. When i copy windows 98 from hard disk to cd then it will not work even system did not bot from it
please tell me how to copy windows on to cd so that it will be working from there.

7 replies

by ann777

Did you set your computer bios to boot from your cd-rom drive first?

Did you setup your cd to be bootable?

Did you edit the MSDOS.SYS file (before copying to the cd) to declare your D: (assuming D: is your cd-rom drive) drive as the boot drive?

by timwalsh

You cannot run Windows from a CD. It must be installed on a hard drive. The reason for this is that Windows creates and deletes many temporary files, and modifies many system files during the course of normal operation. Many of these files exist is specific locations that can't be changed. Since CD-Rs are read-only after you record them, Windows will not function.

by thechas

Tim's answer is correct.
You cannot run Windows from a CD.

Even if you could, since CD access speeds are a lot slower than hard drive speeds, your PC would slow to a crawl.

Very little software, other than installers, runs off of CDs anymore.
Even software that requires the CD to run, have the executables stored on your hard drive, and use the CD for images and graphics.

Since CD-RW disks are about as slow as you can get, and nearly as reliable as a floppy, your system would not workwell, or long with Windows installed onto one.

If you are trying to free hard drive space, you will need to find another way.

If you just want an easy to use recovery disk, use a program such as Norton Ghost to create an image of your hard drive.

Chas

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