To prepare for the possibility of a system failure on a computer that does not support starting from the CD-ROM drive, create floppy disks you can use to start the computer. Before deciding that a computer must be started from a CD-ROM or floppy disks, try starting in safe mode on that computer first.

After starting a disabled computer from floppy disks, you then have the option of using the Recovery Console or the Emergency Repair Disk (if you have prepared one). For more information about safe mode and the recovery and repair options, see "Options to Use When a System Will Not Start."

Note You can create floppy disks for starting a disabled system by using the Windows 2000 Setup CD-ROM on any computer running a version of Windows or MS-DOS. You will need four blank, formatted, 3.5-inch, 1.44-MB floppy disks.
Label them Windows 2000 Setup Boot Disk, Windows 2000 Setup Disk #2, Windows 2000 Setup Disk #3, and Windows 2000 Setup Disk #4.

You cannot use startup disks created from the Windows 2000 Professional CD-ROM to start Windows 2000 Server. The startup disks must match the operating system on the computer you want to start.

To create a set of Setup boot disks for Windows 2000, run the Makeboot.exe tool from the Bootdisk folder on the Windows 2000 CD-ROM:

1. Insert the Windows 2000 CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type drive:\bootdisk\makeboot a:, where drive is the letter of your CD-ROM drive, and then press ENTER.

NOTES You do not have to be running Windows 2000 to create the Setup Boot disks. A directory called \Bootdisk resides in the root of the Windows 2000 Setup CD. This directory contains two utilities capable of generating the 4 Setup Boot floppies. If you are booted into Windows 9x you will need to run the 32-bit version of this utility called makebt32.exe.

If you are in DOS, or booted with a Windows 98 Startup Floppy that has access to the CDROM, you can use the 16-bit version called makeboot.exe.

Disks created from the Windows 2000 Professional CD cannot be used with Windows 2000 Server; the reverse combination also does not work.