Rescue Windows

With new viruses on the prowl and uncertainty about OS stability, creating a rescue startup disk for your system can prove to be a lifesaver. But how does one create a startup disk under various flavors of Windows?

Windows 98



Go to Start>Settings>Control Panel and select Add/Remove Programs. Select the startup disk tab and then press the Create disk button. When prompted for a floppy, insert one and click Ok’ This startup disk contains DOS utilities that let you scan your hard drive, copy system files, formatting your system and use the CD-ROM drive.

Windows 2000



The rescue disk here is known as ERD (Emergency Repair Disk). For creating an ERD, go to Start>Programs>Accessories>System tools>Backup. From the Tools menu, choose Create an Emergency Repair Disk option. When prompted, insert a formatted floppy disk into the drive and press the Ok button. You can also choose to backup registry files through this wizard but the registry files are saved in a folder called Repair in your system root directory instead of the floppy disk.

Windows XP



Here the rescue disk is called ASR (Automated System Recovery) disk. This disk can only be created when you take a back up of your system files. For the same, go to Start>Programs>Accessories>System tools>Backup. From the Tools menu, select the ASR wizard and take a back up of the files. You can create a disk for starting up the system in MS-DOS mode by right clicking on the floppy disk icon, selecting the format option and then checking Create a Disk to start in MS_DOS only option.

While using rescue disks, remember that if your system crashes, you will also need to have the Windows installation CD for complete recovery of your OS.