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Writing a Bootable CD-ROM

  • Article

5/10/2007

After you have a complete run-time image, create an ISO-9660 image. This can be then used to produce a bootable CD-ROM.

Use Hd2iso.exe to create an ISO-9660 image. The ISO-9660 image is then burned onto a CD and this results in a bootable CD.

To write a bootable CD

  1. Open a command prompt window, and change directories to your Windows Embedded utilities folder, for example, cd C:\Program Files\Windows Embedded\utilities.

  2. Run HD2iso.exe.

  3. From the Main menu, select Option 1, Create an ISO-9660/ELTORITO bootable image file.

  4. From the ISO Image menu, select Option 2, Set physical drive and type a physical drive number as a hexadecimal value (0 through F).

  5. From the ISO Image menu, select Option 3, Select partition(s) and type the partition number.

    The first partition of the ISO image must always be the boot or system partition that is protected by EWF. You must copy this partition from the first partition of the source hard disk. Two additional partitions of any size and type are supported; however, the fourth partition on the hard disk must be free for EWF.

  6. From the ISO Image menu, select Option 4, Set image file path. Type the full path and name of the ISO image file.

    The drive must be large enough to contain a 650- to 700-MB file. Type a fully qualified path to the target file. Paths that include spaces must be enclosed in quotation marks.

  7. If you need to specify any of the following options from the ISO Image menu, select Option 5, Advanced Options:

    • Specify the default target media size (74-minute CD or 80-minute CD). An 80-minute CD can accommodate approximately 50 MB more data than a 74-minute CD.
    • Change the default disk signature from 0x4F544C45 to another value. Use the same value for the disk signature as the one you specified in the El Torito CD configuration settings in Target Designer.
    • Change the default volume ID, Windows XP Embedded (El Torito), to another ID.
    • Specify a binary file for inclusion in the System Data Area of the CD if the system BIOS or software uses the first 16 sectors (32 KB) of the ISO-9660 CD. The binary file should be 32 KB in size or less. It is written starting at offset zero of the ISO image.
    • Mark one partition as bootable if necessary.

  8. From the ISO Image menu, select Option 6, Create Image to package the ISO image. This process takes several minutes to initialize and complete.

  9. Burn the ISO-9660 image to a CD by using software that is ISO-9660 compliant.

    The resulting CD-ROM will appear to be empty if it is viewed in Windows Explorer. This is because the CD-ROM is written in a format that Explorer does not recognize.

    Note

    The El Torito CD Image Preparation Tool does not enforce the character set restrictions imposed by ISO-9660 because most modern devices do not adhere to these restrictions. If you are concerned about character set restrictions, check with your hardware and firmware vendors. For more information, consult section 8.4.6 and Appendix A of the ISO-9660 specification.

  1. Open a command prompt window, and change directories to your Windows Embedded utilities folder, for example, cd C:\Program Files\Windows Embedded\utilities.

  2. Run HD2iso.exe.

  3. From the Main menu, select Option 1, Create an ISO-9660/ELTORITO bootable image file.

  4. From the ISO Image menu, select Option 2, Set physical drive and type a physical drive number as a hexadecimal value (0 through F).

  5. From the ISO Image menu, select Option 3, Select partition(s) and type the partition number.

    The first partition of the ISO image must always be the boot or system partition that is protected by EWF. You must copy this partition from the first partition of the source hard disk. Two additional partitions of any size and type are supported; however, the fourth partition on the hard disk must be free for EWF.

  6. From the ISO Image menu, select Option 4, Set image file path. Type the full path and name of the ISO image file.

    The drive must be large enough to contain a 650- to 700-MB file. Type a fully qualified path to the target file. Paths that include spaces must be enclosed in quotation marks.

  7. If you need to specify any of the following options from the ISO Image menu, select Option 5, Advanced Options:

    • Specify the default target media size (74-minute CD or 80-minute CD). An 80-minute CD can accommodate approximately 50 MB more data than a 74-minute CD.
    • Change the default disk signature from 0x4F544C45 to another value. Use the same value for the disk signature as the one you specified in the El Torito CD configuration settings in Target Designer.
    • Change the default volume ID, Windows XP Embedded (El Torito), to another ID.
    • Specify a binary file for inclusion in the System Data Area of the CD if the system BIOS or software uses the first 16 sectors (32 KB) of the ISO-9660 CD. The binary file should be 32 KB in size or less. It is written starting at offset zero of the ISO image.
    • Mark one partition as bootable if necessary.

  8. From the ISO Image menu, select Option 6, Create Image to package the ISO image. This process takes several minutes to initialize and complete.

  9. Burn the ISO-9660 image to a CD by using software that is ISO-9660 compliant.

    The resulting CD-ROM will appear to be empty if it is viewed in Windows Explorer. This is because the CD-ROM is written in a format that Explorer does not recognize.

    Note

    The El Torito CD Image Preparation Tool does not enforce the character set restrictions imposed by ISO-9660 because most modern devices do not adhere to these restrictions. If you are concerned about character set restrictions, check with your hardware and firmware vendors. For more information, consult section 8.4.6 and Appendix A of the ISO-9660 specification.

See Also

Tasks

Running FBA on the Bootable CD-ROM Run-Time Image
Deploying the Bootable CD-ROM

Concepts

El Torito CD Image Preparation Tool
How to Create a Bootable CD-ROM

Other Resources

Bootable CD-ROM