Problem: How do you Reload Windows when CD-ROM doesn't work? What do you do when Windows doesn't run and you own a CD-ROM version of Windows?
1. Use Windows Startup Disk. If you were prepared, you could use your Windows Startup Disk to boot Windows (to make a Startup Disk, format a floppy disk and then click on Start/ Settings/ Control Panel/ Add Remove Programs/ Startup Disk) and then the disk would load a CD-ROM driver and you could then load Windows from your CD-ROM.
Note 1: Windows 95 does not copy a CD-ROM driver to the Startup Disk. So you will have to supply your own DOS CD-ROM driver (hopefully a DOS driver came with your CD-ROM drive) to use this method.
If don't have a Startup Disk, or you can't use your floppy and CD-ROM at the same time, you have three choices: boot from the CD-ROM drive, copy the Startup Disk to your hard drive, or borrow a Startup/Boot disk from a friend.
If don't have a Startup Disk, or you can't use your floppy and CD-ROM at the same time, you have three choices: boot from the CD-ROM drive, copy the Startup Disk to your hard drive, or borrow a Startup/Boot disk from a friend.
Note 2: Windows XP does not have a Startup Disk like previous versions of Windows. Startup procedures for Windows XP will be covered in a separate topic. Please see the Computer Problems Help Index.
2. Booting from the CD-ROM. To boot from your CD-ROM you need to change the device boot order in the BIOS to boot from the CD-ROM first.
So when your computer starts up, most desktop users press the Delete key while the computer is performing the DOS memory check to enter the BIOS. Click on one of the BIOS headings and find a setting called "boot device" or "boot sequence".
Next to the boot device setting will be the devices that are checked for an operating system at startup e.g. C:, A: . This needs to be changed to the CD-ROM as the first device and your hard drive as the second device. So the entry would like something like "boot sequence CD-ROM, C:\".
Press F10 to save and exit the new settings and then press Y (make sure the Windows CD is in the drive before pressing Y). Hopefully, your system will read the Windows CD-ROM and boot the install program. After installing Windows, enter your BIOS and change the boot order back to the hard drive as the first device.
So when your computer starts up, most desktop users press the Delete key while the computer is performing the DOS memory check to enter the BIOS. Click on one of the BIOS headings and find a setting called "boot device" or "boot sequence".
Next to the boot device setting will be the devices that are checked for an operating system at startup e.g. C:, A: . This needs to be changed to the CD-ROM as the first device and your hard drive as the second device. So the entry would like something like "boot sequence CD-ROM, C:\".
Press F10 to save and exit the new settings and then press Y (make sure the Windows CD is in the drive before pressing Y). Hopefully, your system will read the Windows CD-ROM and boot the install program. After installing Windows, enter your BIOS and change the boot order back to the hard drive as the first device.
3. Copy Rescue Disks/ Startup Disk to Hard Drive. If you can't boot from your CD-ROM, and can't use a rescue disk because you own a laptop that only allows use of either the laptop or the CD-ROM, you can copy your rescue disk to your C: drive. Remove the disk drive, install the CD-ROM and reboot. Hopefully you will now be able to use your CD-ROM to install Windows.
4. Borrow a Startup Disk. Find someone with the same version of Windows as you and use their Startup Disk to start Windows and hopefully provide a driver for your CD-ROM. (If you're a Win95 user, find someone with Windows 95 on floppies and borrow that instead.)
