Need a new windows disc

[SonyCosmos]

Hi,

I had a windows xp disc and I copy everything from it onto a folder on my hard drive . I see all these files and folders in it , how can I reload / burn it onto a disc and be able to use it ? Thanks

[Nelson37]

Since you did not make an image copy, it won't work.

You can download an image file for the install disk, as long as you have the authorization code this should work fine and is perfectly legal.

[SonyCosmos]

Hey ... What do you mean image copy ? I took everything off the windows disc and copy it onto a folder on my computer . I can see everything that would be on the Windows disc on this folder . Why can I just burn the content of the folder onto a disc ? Wouldn't that work ? TIA

[fritzi93]

Why can I just burn the content of the folder onto a disc ? Wouldn't that work ? TIA

No. But you could:

1) Do what Nelson37 suggested to you.

2) Simply ghost (make an image of) your present install. Like with the free (limited) versions of Acronis offered by hard drive manufacturers like Western Digital or Seagate. This way no activation is required and all your programs are already configured, and you keep all your data. It can make the bootable restore CD that allows you to restore the image. Restoring the image is easy and fairly quick once you boot up the restore disc and point it to your image. You can store it on optical disc(s), a removable drive, or a separate internal drive.

3) There are various sites that outline a method to create a new install disc from the I386 folder on the install disc. This folder is also typically present on the "C" drive when the manufacturer did not supply an install disc. You have it since you copied the install disc to hard drive. The method came about as a way of reconstituting an install disc without all the junkware for PCs that came without install discs, only an option to make "recovery discs". Recovery discs contain the junkware one wants to avoid. I've never done it myself, but you can find instructions by searching the terms "XP install disc from I386 folder" or similar. Here's a couple:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r19133441-Make-your-own-Windows-XP-CD

http://supportpcs.co.uk/installcd/winxp.html

Good luck.

[wmelnick]

Hey ... What do you mean image copy ? I took everything off the windows disc and copy it onto a folder on my computer . I can see everything that would be on the Windows disc on this folder . Why can I just burn the content of the folder onto a disc ? Wouldn't that work ? TIA

Simply because there is more on that disc than what you can see. There are hidden files, boot files and the boot sector itself. The files that you can see are 95% of it, but you desperately need that other 5%, and not only do you need it but it has to be in the right place. That is why there are programs to make an exact image of a CD (or a DVD or a Blu-Ray). That way when you burn another disc from that image, you are assured that everything is back and in the right place.

[wmelnick]

There is a stciky at the top of this forum dealing with that. The files referred to in this link are the image files we are referring to:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/177286-How-do-I-burn-extract-image-files-IMG-ISO-BIN-CUE-VOB

[pepegot1]

Anyone who has a computer, without a disc image backup, is asking for trouble or just does not care..

[wulf109]

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=297

[SonyCosmos]

I don't know what you guys are talking about . I told a co worker my problem and he told me to use Nero . I should just copy and paste the content of the folder were my windows data is into Nero and Nero will do the rest . He right . I got a new windows disc

[fritzi93]

And have you been able to boot your machine from the disc you made? Do you know what is meant by that? (We can guess at this point).

You're right, nobody here knows squat.

[jman98]

After reading SonyCosmos' last post, it's pretty clear that he's one of those people whose mind is closed and he just wants somebody to validate what he already thinks is right. We're done here.

[Moontrash]

I told a co worker my problem and he told me to use Nero

he's wrong

use this...its free and it works

EaseUS Todo Backup

Directions

[Nelson37]

He wrong, and no you don't. But good luck to you, anyways.

[SonyCosmos]

When I said I don't know what you guys are talking about . I didn't mean you guys don't know . I meant I do not know what you are trying to say. WOW talk about misunderstanding lol

[aedipuss]

what you have done is created a data disc with the files you know of on it. the disc is not bootable and can not be used to do an install of windows.

did microsoft kill off all the iso images that used to be available? i thought you used to be able to d/l them direct from m$? nothing shows up in a search anymore.

[MJA]

ask your pc maker to send you a "recovery cd" I remember sony was selling it for $15

[lordsmurf]

did microsoft kill off all the iso images that used to be available? i thought you used to be able to d/l them direct from m$? nothing shows up in a search anymore.

Yep. When the top of my CD got stuck to the inside of the wallet, and destroyed the disc, I had to resort to torrents to get a legitimate retail SP2 ISO for MCE. It's really rather stupid. I'm not going to upgrade to Win7 just because MS decided to hide the software. Anybody caught hosting an ISO will probably get C&D from MS, so best option is (quite sadly) to suggest everybody use torrents. Or better yet, copy a disc from a friend.

The downside of torrents is you could find yourself with a poisoned copy that has backdoor access to some hacker. Go for full retail versions, not the hacked up editions.

After that incident, I started to dump ISOs of all my installer CDs/DVD to a backup hard drive (which is then mirrored twice to off-site location). The same drives hold system backups using Acronis or Paragon backup tools.

[Cauptain]

Get a Windows XP bootfile here , drag data in NERO software, load bootfiles, setup correctly and done: Windows XP perfect to new fresh install...

In NERO boot config:

BOOT CD TYPE = NO EMULATION
LOAD SEGMENT = 0x7c0
SELECTOR COUNT = 4

Record your CD.


Claudio

[freebird73717]

Try running your copied files through nlite. Leave everything at it's default settings. It should then make a new iso that you can use to burn a new disc.

[SonyCosmos]

Thanks guys for all your help . That same co worker just gave me his copy of windows and I made exact copy . He said its a retail version the same one I had from Best Buy ... I'm good to go now , thanks again and sorry for the mis up ...