How to boot computer
Level of difficulty: Easy
Computers often need to be booted from the source bootable CD or DVD during its lifetime. Booting is particularly recommended by computer professionals after a computer crash, data erasure, system infection and/or hard disk failure. Every time a computer recovers from a system anomaly like a virus spread or a Malware infection, the essential system files are lost. The computer, unless it has auto-backup-recovery options, needs to be re-booted from an external media so that the Operating system functions normally. Booting is also extremely helpful and essential while re-installing, troubleshooting and diagnosing existing operating systems, or tweaking the hard disk for changes in partition and configuration. Bootable external media also helps in the workings of certain system repair tools, password-extraction programs and computer-memory diagnostics.
Materials Needed:- Computer (desktop or laptop)
- bootable diskette
Step 1
These guidelines assume that the bootable CD is pre-configured with the necessary operating system. Tweaking around with the booting list at BIOS setup would result in the external bootable media being ordered before other components. Without this, regular booting would commence (from the HDD), as the computer would not recognize the external media as an initial component. After this is taken care of, the media should be inserted /attached into the computer. (Before this step, the user should make certain that the diskette indeed is a bootable disk).Generally, CDs that are marked as setup disks and other repair tools for operating systems are all bootable disks.
Step 2
After the disk is inserted, the user would be prompted to type a random key to initiate the booting process. Incase the booting is for an operating system that is being repaired /installed/ formatted, the user is asked to indicate the appropriate choice from a list of options. There is generally a break in operation, allowing the user to type in his option, after which normal booting resumes.
Step 3
During the process of booting, the computer prompts the user to select certain files and options. The progress bar shows the number of files being copied, the files that are being repaired or deleted, and an estimate of the amount of time left. The user just needs to keep an eye open for any instructions like prompting to re-start the machine, or any pause in operations. After the booting process is successful, the computer would automatically restart, and the necessary changes would have taken place. It must be remembered that the actual bootable program is a very small program that gives directives to a larger process, hence the size of the program indicated on disk might not be the actual space occupied in the hard disk.