Before we get into the procedure for doing so, it should be noted that with today's operating system (O/S) technology a boot disk is often not even necessary.  If you have Windows 98 or Windows NT 4 or later, booting directly off the CD may be a more accessible option for you.  Note: This is only true if you are planning on reinstalling your operating system. If you are not reinstalling your O/S and require a boot disk for other reasons or as a safety precaution, please skip to the section below entitled

Creating a Boot Disk.

Booting From a CD

To boot from the CD, simply reboot the computer with your Windows CD in the CD-Rom drive and sit back as the Windows Setup program launches itself.

If you have tried booting off the CD-Rom drive with no success, your system may not be set up properly to do so.

Setting Up the Computer to Boot From a CD

Reboot the computer and enter the system BIOS.  Once in the BIOS* find the section pertaining to Boot Devices (usually found in the Advance Features section) and change Boot Device 1 to CD-ROM.  Also change Boot Device 2 to IDE1.  Exit the BIOS and reboot the computer with the Windows CD in the CD-Rom drive.

*Please see the BIOS section of your mainboard manual for instructions on entering your system BIOS and changing the boot device settings.

Creating a Boot Disk

You may only create a bootable floppy on a system with a FULLY FUNCTIONAL operating system.

Windows 95/98

Put a floppy disk in the floppy drive and double click on the My Computer icon on your desktop.  Right-click once on the A: drive.  A pop-up menu will appear.  Left-click on the word FORMAT from the list.  A Format window will appear.  Under Format Type, choose FULL.  Under Other Options, choose COPY SYSTEM FILES.  It is these system files that make the disk bootable.  Click the START or OK button in the Format window.  Windows will format the disk.  When it is finished, close the format window.

Now you will need to copy some additional files to the disk to make it useful.  To do this left-click on the START button in the lower left corner, which will bring up the Start Menu.  From the menu left-click on PROGRAMS, then choose WINDOWS EXPLORER.  On the left hand side of the screen find the C: drive icon and make sure there is a minus(-) sign next to it.  If there is a plus(+) sign, click on the (+) and it will turn into a (-).  Now look for a folder labeled WINDOWS.  Double-click on the Windows Folder.  On the right side of the screen, look for a folder labeled COMMAND.  Double-Click on the Command folder.  The right side of the screen now shows the inside of the Command folder.  Find a file named FDISK.EXE in the folder. Left-Click on the file ONCE to highlight it. Take a look back to the left side of the screen.  Make sure you can see the icon for the 3 1/2 floppy A: drive.  If you do not scroll the left side up until you do.  Now move the mouse cursor directly over the highlighted FDISK.EXE file on the right side of the screen.  Hold down the left mouse button and drag the file to the A: drive icon on the right side. The A: icon should highlight as the mouse cursor goes over it.  Release the mouse button.  You have just copied a file to the A: floppy drive.   Go back to the right side of the screen and locate a file labeled FORMAT.EXE.  Highlight the file like before and drag and drop the file onto the A: drive icon as before.  This will copy a second file to the floppy.  You may now close the Windows Explorer program.  Your boot disk is complete!

Make sure to test your boot disk to make sure that the system will boot from it.