XP boot up question

[StanleyFish]

My computer is using XP home. I do not have a floppy. I have the XP CD rom. I want to boot my system into Dos. How can I do that with my XP CD? I try boot up by the CD, it go to the setup page of XP, and I don't know how to go to the dos mode.

My question is how can I boot my system to dos mode without floppy drive?


Thanks!!

 

[rch4001]

I think there may be a key combination during startup like F8 or F5 that starts you directly into MS Dos

 

[StanleyFish]

I can boot to DOS by pressing F5 or F8, but I cannot go to C drive. When I enter the DOS, it said something about the version is Windows 98, but I am using Windows XP and my hard drive was formatted as NTFS. Is that Windows 98 cannot detect NTFS hard drive?

Thanks!

 

[bsobel]

Is that Windows 98 cannot detect NTFS hard drive?

Correct. Why do you need to access the drive from dos?
Bill

 

[StanleyFish]

I just bought the computer for two days. I just install some program and drivers and want to use ghost to backup my whole hard drive so that I can restore to the current stage even I format my drive later on. But the ghost program has to be run under DOS, so I want to boot my system to DOS mode first.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: StanleyFish
I just bought the computer for two days. I just install some program and drivers and want to use ghost to backup my whole hard drive so that I can restore to the current stage even I format my drive later on. But the ghost program has to be run under DOS, so I want to boot my system to DOS mode first.

Ghost handles reading the NTFS volume internally (e.g. doesn't use dos to do it since dos doesnt' support it), so the fact that it needs to boot under DOS doesn't mean you need to be able to 'see' the drive yourself.
Bill

 

[StanleyFish]

oh.. then do you know any method that I can backup my hard drive using ghost or may be other software?

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: StanleyFish
oh.. then do you know any method that I can backup my hard drive using ghost or may be other software?

Not sure I follow, I thought the issue was that you couldn't see the drive from DOS. You just need to boot from a dos boot disk (XP will make one if you need one) and then run ghost from that floppy.

Bill

 

[StanleyFish]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: StanleyFish
oh.. then do you know any method that I can backup my hard drive using ghost or may be other software?

Not sure I follow, I thought the issue was that you couldn't see the drive from DOS. You just need to boot from a dos boot disk (XP will make one if you need one) and then run ghost from that floppy.

Bill

But I do not have a floppy drive. Can I boot to DOS using the bootable Win XP CD?

 

[igiveup]

If you have any Windows 98, 98SE, ME, or 95 disks those will allow you to boot off of the cd into a dos mode. XP and 2000 do not contain any DOS (they do use and support a command line enterface, which is not DOS), so therefor don't need to boot into DOS for any reason. Other than that, sorry.

 

[Green Man]

Can I boot to DOS using the bootable Win XP CD?
no

But I do not have a floppy drive
why did you buy a PC without a floppy drive? I find them invaluable.

Do you have a CD burner? copy ghost to a cd and make it bootable.

 

[StanleyFish]

Originally posted by: SpookyFish
Can I boot to DOS using the bootable Win XP CD?
no

But I do not have a floppy drive
why did you buy a PC without a floppy drive? I find them invaluable.

Do you have a CD burner? copy ghost to a cd and make it bootable.

It worth $20 more if the floppy drive is included when I buy my system and I can get a floppy drive for a lot less from the other store, so I don't have floppy drive now... Also, for my normal use, I don't need a floppy drive coz my computer is network with other computers that has floppy drive.

Let me try your suggestion that burning ghost into CD

 

[StanleyFish]

Originally posted by: igiveup
If you have any Windows 98, 98SE, ME, or 95 disks those will allow you to boot off of the cd into a dos mode. XP and 2000 do not contain any DOS (they do use and support a command line enterface, which is not DOS), so therefor don't need to boot into DOS for any reason. Other than that, sorry.

I can boot to DOS using win 98 CD, but I cannot access to my c drive.. I think the reason is that win 98 and ME does not support NTFS drive.

 

[Rob G.]

Which version of Ghost are you using?

 

[StanleyFish]

Originally posted by: Rob G.
Which version of Ghost are you using?

Oh.. I don't know

 

[Rob G.]

You'll need to determine which version you have because only version 2002 and 2003 can backup partitions formatted in NTFS under Windows XP.

If you have 2003, the bit that installs into Windows includes a 'virtual boot' thing whereby you set up the Ghost job from Windows and the application then handles the reboot into DOS etc without the need for a floppy drive or boot CD.

 

[Rob G.]

...oops, almost forgot.

Only version 2003 will let you save an image file *on* an NTFS partition. 2002 can only backup to FAT/FAT32 or CD-R.