Windows Bootable CD

[MGuido]

I have Windows Server 2003 installed on a PC that was given to me by a friend because I am going to school for computers. That being said, I used ImgBurn to try and make a bootable Windows Server disk and it did work technically however after the windows setup shows hit F2 to use ASR I get a message saying please insert floppy disk. I have the entire I386 file of the operating system which I copied following steps I found for making a bootable CD for XP. The computer running Windows Server 03 is rather old and I am trying to get this done so I can put the OS on a newer PC.

 

Again note that the disk does boot but does not seem to have all the files I need for a complete install.

I love your software by the way. Please help, I really would like to practice using Windows Server plus I could also install it on my virtual PC program if I can get this disk complete.

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Did you actually hit F2?!

 

If you're installing, you don't want/need to.

 

If you're missing files from the disc then there's nothing we can do about it, you'll need to get a proper copy of the 2003 installation CD.

 

Assuming you have a proper license, you can just but the media direct from Microsoft for like

[MGuido]

No I did not hit F2 and no I am not missing any files. The files are a backup copy my friend made when he got it. Given that there was no guide that I could find that had how to make a bootable disk from Windows Server 2003. Yes I am aware that I can get another copy from Microsoft but being in the IT field I would prefer to figure out why it's not working. It drives me crazy when I get stuck on something but I have yet to give up. Bare in mind I just got started in IT about a year ago and so far nothing like this has come my way yet. Please help if you can.

 

I am thinking the problem is that I used the XP guide to try this. Below is a copy of what I followed to make the disk.

 

1. Create a temporary working folder at the root (top) of the C: drive called "XPSETUP" (without the quotes). Actually, you can name it anything you want and put it anywhere you like, but for ease of explanation, the remainder of the steps below will assume that you have created the XPSETUP folder in the root of drive C:. This C:\XPSETUP folder will be where you will create the CDROM directory structure for your bootable Windows CD.

 

2. Copy the entire C:\I386 to C:\XPSETUP. When you have finished, you will have C:\XPSETUP\I386

 

3. Create an ASCII text file with only the word "Windows " (without the quotes and including the final space after the word "Windows") in it, followed by a new line. Save the file with the filename "WIN51" (include the quotes so that Notepad will not add a ".txt" extension behind your back) in C:\XPSETUP. Again, the filename's spelling and case must be exactly like mine.

 

4. At this point, the C:\XPSETUP directory contains all the files that will be copied to your Windows Setup CDROM. Don't worry if the directory does not contain files like "setup.exe" which you see on the retail CDROMs. You won't need it for a fresh install from the bootable CDROM. Note: You will only have "setup.exe" if you had to slipstream Service Pack 2 as mentioned earlier. The Service Pack 2 slipstreamer creates setup.exe for you.

 

5. Now open the wxp10.zip file that you downloaded earlier. Simply doubleclicking it in Windows explorer should do the trick. Go into the cds directory and into wxphome (or wxppro; it doesn't matter which) directory, followed by the files directory. Drag the "w2ksect.bin" file into C:\ (the root directory/folder of drive C:).

 

6. Start ImgBurn. Select Mode -> Build from the menu.

 

7. Select File -> Load Project from the menu. A dialog box will open. Select the XPSETUP.ibb file you saved earlier and click "Open".

 

8. Finally, click the "Write" icon at the bottom of the window.

 

9. At this point, the bootable Windows setup disk will be created.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you actually hit F2?!

 

If you're installing, you don't want/need to.

 

If you're missing files from the disc then there's nothing we can do about it, you'll need to get a proper copy of the 2003 installation CD.

 

Assuming you have a proper license, you can just but the media direct from Microsoft for like

[LIGHTNING UK!]

I've attached a directory listing (using 'dir /b /s > C:\win2k3.txt' ) from a proper 2003 cd and the bootimage so you can compare it against your own.

 

If you're using ImgBurn 2.4.2.0 it should detect you're building an OS install disc and change all the appropriate settings for you.

WIN2K3.zip