Your Own Windows Laboratory

Preparing the Tools

Setting up and backing up your new disposable copy of Windows is an eight-step process. We begin by creating a utility floppy disk.

Step 1: Create a Bootable Floppy With CD-ROM Support

If you have Windows 98, this is extremely simple. Select Start, Settings, Control Panel. Double-click Add/Remove Programs. Click the Startup Disk tab, then the Create Disk button. Follow the prompts from there. If you have Windows 95, see "Give CD-ROM Drive the Boot" for details.

Step 2: Install the Programs

Both PartitionMagic and DriveImage are easy to install: Just pop in the CD-ROM while running Windows and follow the prompts.

Installing Ghost is more complex, since it doesn't come with a regular installation routine. Start by putting the Ghost floppy in drive A:. In Windows Explorer, go to C:\. Right-click a blank spot in Explorer's right pane and select File, New, Folder. Name the new folder ghost.

Now, still in Explorer, go to A:\client. Click the right pane and press Ctrl-A to select all the files. Drag them to C:\ghost.

Go back to C:\ghost. Click-drag ghost.exe to the desktop to create a Shortcut. Right-click the Shortcut and select Properties. In the Properties dialog box, click the Program tab, then the Advanced button. Check "MS-DOS mode," then click OK twice.

Step 3: Put PQ Boot on a Floppy

You'll need this DOS program, which comes with PartitionMagic, on both partitions. Put a floppy in the A: drive. If you're in Windows 95, you can use the bootable floppy from step 1. If you're in Windows 98, you'll have to use another floppy.

In Windows Explorer, go to C:\Program Files\PowerQuest\PartitionMagic4\UTILITY\DOS (the path may vary if you didn't use PartitionMagic's defaults when installing the program). Hold down Shift and click to select Pqboot.exe and Pqboot.pif. Right-click the selected files and select Send To, 3 1/2 Floppy (A). When the copying is done, remove the floppy.