Create Bootable USB Flash Drive

Requirements
# A computer with a BIOS that allows for booting from a USB port.
I used a Dell Optiplex GX260 that has a Phoenix ROM BIOS Plus version 1.10 r
evision A05.
# A Bootable floppy disk or CD.
I used a Windows 98 bootable CD. For those who have Dell systems, you can al
so use the bootable Dell Optiplex Resource CD that is used to reinstall your sys
tem with Windows 98.
# Utilities with the ability to create a master boot record, create partitions,
set active partitions, and format and transfer boot files to the active partitio
n
I used the DOS FDISK and FORMAT that are on the Windows 98 CD.
# Of course, the USB drive that you want to make bootable
I used a 256MB SanDisk Cruzer Mini USB Flash Drive.
Directions
1. Make the USB drive the first in the drive sequence.
Why?? fdisk does not allow for a partition to be set as ACTIVE (bootab
le) unless it is the first drive. It is most likely that your hard drive(s) is s
et as the first drive. This needs to be changed.
How?? Setting your USB drive to be the first in the drive sequence can
be done by following ONE of the methods below. No matter which method you follo
w, the computer MUST be booted with the USB drive plugged in into the computer.
Take a note of how the options that you are about to change were set before, as
they will need to be changed back later.
Method # 1. BIOS drive sequence option.
Depending on your BIOS, there may be an option to change the drive seq
uence. On mine, there was an option labeled "Hard-Disk Drive Sequence". If your
BIOS has this or a similar option, make sure you change the sequence so that the
USB Drive is listed first.
Method # 2. Disabling other hard drives.
Again, this is done from the BIOS. Different BIOS's may have different
options to disable the hard drive. On mine, the system had just one hard drive.
I changed the option labeled "Primary Drive 0" to "OFF".
Method # 3. Unplugging the hard drives.
If your BIOS doesn't have an option to change the drive sequence or to
turn off the hard drive, you can turn off your computer and unplug your hard dr
ive(s). Make sure you know what you are doing here. Opening your computer case m
ay result in voiding your computer warranty if you have one.
2. Boot the computer from the boot floppy/CD into the command prompt with the
USB Drive plugged in.
3. Run fdisk
4. Use fdisk's "Set Active Partition" (option 2) to set the primary partition
on the USB Drive to ACTIVE.
This step assumes that a primary partition already exists on the USB D
rive. If this is not the case, use fdisk to create one. As noted in step # 1, fd
isk will not allow for setting the the partition to ACTIVE unless the drive the
partition is on is the FIRST in the drive sequence.
5. Exit fdisk.
6. Reboot the computer from boot floppy/CD into the command prompt with the U
SB Drive plugged in.
7. At the command prompt enter the following command: dir c:
8. This step is just to verify that the C: drive is actually the primary
partition on the USB Drive. Regardless of the result that the command generates
whether it be a listing of files or an error message, what is important here is
to make sure that the size of the primary partition on the USB Drive is roughly
equal to the sum of the empty space and the used space. Format and copy the boot
files to the primary partition.
9. At the command prompt, from the directory where FORMAT.COM is located,
enter:format /s c: Run fdisk /mbr
10. "fdisk /mbr" writes the master boot record, in this case to the USB dr
ive, without altering the partition table information. Restart the computer and
choose booting from the USB Drive. If all goes well, you should see a C:> comman
d prompt.
11. Change the computer settings back to what they were before step # 1.
I had a few people e-mail me with an error message "No fixed disks present..." w
hich they encountered when they ran fdisk.. Personally, I did not run into this
issue or know what is causing it on other people's machines. A simple Google sea
rch and this link can provide more information. Good luck.