Making an XP hard disk bootable without re-formatting (All)

[dssolr]

I have a related "format/make disk bootable" two-fold query:
1. Previous versions of windows FORMAT command had a "/s" switch which copied the system files (boot files and command interpreter) to the formatted disk (after the format process is completed).
Since this switch is no longer available in XP version of windows can I safely assume its a default build in capability?
In other words it gets done automatically now when you format an XP based hard disk without having to specify the switch?
2. Previous versions of windows also allowed you, within windows (right click on a drive designation, then FORMAT selected)
to select "copy system files only" which would copy over the system files (boot files) to the hard disk that was ALREADY formatted without erasing any of the files already on the disk. This was quite useful especially when a drive had already been formatted but refused to boot up.
Does XP have an equivalent to this? I can't seem to find this in XP. I would not like to have to resort to the installation disk and have to select fix or restore just to have to make the drive bootable. Its too time consuming and seems to load a bunch of other stuff I don't really care about (setup seems to do a mini re-install when you use it for this)

Thanks to all ahead of time!

[BertImmenschuh]

1. WinXP [and Win2000] do the configuring and formatting as part of the installation.

2. The /s switch copied the System files to the drive to make it DOS-bootable.

WinXP [and Win2000] don't do DOS. The Command Prompt window in those is a DOS Emulation.

Neither version can boot to a floppy disk like Win9x/ME does, however it's said you can create such a boot disk to read NTFS-formatted drives but I've not had the need to do it.

WinXP does allow making a Startup disk but when checking the version it is Millenium, still can read the NTFS drive.

<font color=blue>Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.</font color=blue> <font color=green>Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.</font color=green>

[dssolr]

Yes, I know the "/s" switch was to make it DOS bootable in previous versions of windows. What I was referring/asking was if this switch was a default in XP to make it "XP" bootable and therefore did not have to be specified within your format command.
Still did not get answer on the 2nd part which referred to finding something in XP that you could use to make the drive "XP" bootable without having to re-format the drive similiar to what existed in previous versions of windows.which was a snap to make a drive already previously formatted bootable. There has to be a way to force your drive to be "XP" bootable (put the right files into your boot sector) without having to reformat or use your setup disk which forces a mini re-install which I would like to avoid (takes too long).

Thanks,
appreciate your response.

[BertImmenschuh]

Might be something for you at http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxprcons.htm, taken from the list at http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...=Google+Search.

<font color=blue>Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.</font color=blue> <font color=green>Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.</font color=green>

[dssolr]

Yes, I had looked at similar documentation and undersatand how to do whats necessary.
BUT why the added layers of complexity to do something so simple which virtually took a single mouse click in previous version of window to do (make a drive bootable without re-formatting)?

ERR
Thanks for the response.

[BertImmenschuh]

I don't see it so much as complex as it is different. Win2000 and WinXP are truly 32-bit systems [only run DOS in emulation] where Win95/98/ME are still partially 32-bit and partially 16-bit systems and still have a lot of underlying DOS [has the ability to boot to DOS].

Things just work differently with Win2000 and WinXP and have to be accepted as such or not used in favor of something more to a person's liking or desire.

Or maybe someone could come up with a better OS if sufficient money existed to hire programmers/developers and marketing resources. But then there's always Linux and Lindows.

I still like MS-DOS and use it on occasion for particular purposes, having started with version 5 back in '92, when Windows 3.1 was an Operating Environment/Graphical User Interface, not an Operating System as Windows 95 was.

By the way, a single mouse click doesn't by itself may not make a drive bootable, may have to run FDISK outside of Windows [no mouse support] to make the drive/partition Active.

<font color=blue>Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.</font color=blue> <font color=green>Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.</font color=green>