Windows XP emergency start up issues

Question

Hey Everybody,  I believe the last post I made concerning Windows XP emergency start disks, was based on DELL info that applied to the home edition and not to XP pro version that I have. I couldn't find  a'emergency start up disk' option on my XP pro backup. I did find a 'system slate data' backup option, which I had already backed up on a CD. I tried backing it up on a floppy, but the floppy couln't hold all of the system slate data. The reason I 1st tried the floppy disk is because DELL pre set my computer to boot off the 'A' drive. I also made a emergency MS-dos boot floppy. When I backed my system up with Norton Ghost, I used Norton to create a PC-dos boot floppy in case I ever had to restore with Norton Ghost.   Which rasies another question, if had I to reinstall Windows XP, would I be able to since my computer boots off the 'A' drive? Can it be reinstalled from MS-dos, or the PC-dos if I had to restore with Norton Ghost?( why did DELL make the 'A' drive the boot drive, is there a advantage to that?)  Any feedback will be appreciated.

Denny Denham · Answer

leoliver,

Your system was set with the A:\ drive as the first boot device because that is standard. All Dells can boot from the CD-ROM which means that you don't need a floppy disk to install XP. The procedure for setting the CD-ROM drive as the first boot device is here for Dimensions, here for Inspirons, and here for Latitudes.

Windows General

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