Windows 95 start up disk

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Dee - 02 Dec 2003 19:17 GMT

I have an older gateway computer. The CD rom drive went
bad and I have lost everything on my hard drive. I have
replaced the cd rom drive and now want to install
everything back onto the computer. I have the original
Win 95 cd but do not have a start up disk. The computer
dosn't have a recovery disk so I have to do it by using
these two items. Is there a way to make a start up disk
on another computer using 98 or XP, without messing up
those computers by putting in the win 95 CD? I have
contacted Gateway and they say no. I have had no luck
contacting Microsoft. Please advise.

Reply to this Message

Haggis - 02 Dec 2003 19:22 GMT

find what you need at www.bootdisk.com

> I have an older gateway computer. The CD rom drive went
> bad and I have lost everything on my hard drive. I have
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> contacted Gateway and they say no. I have had no luck
> contacting Microsoft. Please advise.

Reply to this Message

Dee - 02 Dec 2003 20:02 GMT

Thank you. I tried it but it comes up with the
response "Invalid System Disk" Replace the disk and press
any key. Any other suggestions?

>-----Original Message-----
>find what you need at www.bootdisk.com
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
>.

Reply to this Message

Tim Slattery - 02 Dec 2003 21:04 GMT

>Thank you. I tried it but it comes up with the
>response "Invalid System Disk" Replace the disk and press
>any key. Any other suggestions?

In that case you've done something wrong. If you follow the
instructions at www.bootdisk.com you should come up with a bootable
floppy disk. The error message indicates that the floppy in the drive
is not bootable.

Signature

Tim Slattery
MS MVP(DTS)
Slattery_T@bls.gov

Reply to this Message

dude - 02 Dec 2003 21:48 GMT

>-----Original Message-----
>I have an older gateway computer. The CD rom drive went
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>.
>no you cant make a boot disk off of windows 98 or xp

there incompatable with windows 95 go to bootdisk.com

Reply to this Message

cquirke (MVP Win9x) - 03 Dec 2003 08:42 GMT

>I have an older gateway computer. The CD rom drive went
>bad and I have lost everything on my hard drive. I have
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>on another computer using 98 or XP, without messing up
>those computers by putting in the win 95 CD?

Yes.

Unlike some older versions of MS-DOS, whenever Win9x formats a
diskette, it places appropriate boot code to look for and boot IO.SYS
etc. if present, and this boot code is not version-specific across the
Win9x (Win95/98/ME) spectrum. However, if the diskette is formatted
by NT (NT/Win2000/XP), the boot code won't be appropriate - i.e. it
won't look for and boot an IO.SYS, more likely looks for an NTLDR

So to make a boot diskette for an arbitrary version of Win9x, do this:

1) Format diskette from arbitrary Win9x or Win9x DOS mode
2) Copy on appropriate-version boot files, namely:
- IO.SYS
- Command.com
- DrvSpace.bin and/or DblSpace.bin (for compressed volumes)
- FDisk, Format, Sys, etc. commands to taste
- CD-ROM drivers to taste (SomeName.sys + MSCDEx.exe)
- Config.sys and AutoExec.bat to taste (e.g. for CD support)
- HiMem.sys, Emm386.exe, RAM disk support etc. to taste

Note that it's no longer necessary to use Sys A: to make the diskette
bootable. As long as you can see the normally-hidden IO.SYS file, you
can do (2) under direct vision from Windows Explorer.

I find the WinME boot diskettes so dysfunctional that I don't use
them, so i don't know how one would make those from arbitrary Win9x
systems. As it is, the WinME boot diskette robs you of control over
the startup process, so you can't use a Config.sys [Menu] to (say)
select whether or not you want memory management, CD drivers etc.

>--------------- ---- --- -- - - - -

I'm baaaack!

>--------------- ---- --- -- - - - -

Reply to this Message