Most computers will automatically attempt to boot from a RescueBoot CD if it the CD is placed in the CD-ROM drive and the computer is restarted. If your computer does not automatically boot from the RescueBoot CD, you may need to change the ROM-BIOS settings on your computer to instruct the computer to attempt to boot from the CD-ROM drive before booting from the hard disk. Changing the ROM-BIOS settings on your computer will normally involve pressing a special key to bring up the ROM-BIOS setting menu while the computer is starting up. From the ROM-BIOS settings menu you should be able to change the boot order to have the ROM-BIOS look for a bootable CD in the CD-ROM drive before allowing the computer to boot from the hard disk. Check the documentation that came with your computer for information about how to get to the ROM-BIOS setting on your computer. You might also be able to find this information on your computer manufacturer's website.
On some computers you may have the option to select the boot device when the computer starts up. On computers with this option you should select to boot from the CD-ROM drive when you want to boot from your RescueBoot CD.
The Windows Firewall is fully configured and automatically enabled in the rescue directory and CD environments on Windows XP SP2. The XP SP2 Windows Firewall control panel applet is fully functional for modifying the Firewall configuration after booting into the Rescue Environment.
The Windows Firewall is fully configured and can be manually enabled after booting into the rescue directory and CD environment on Windows XP and XP SP1. If a computer is located on a LAN that uses a router to access the internet it is not necessary to enable the firewall and if it is enabled it will prevent the user from seeing and accessing other computers on the LAN. The firewall only needs to be enabled if the computer connects directly to the internet through a direct connection with a cable modem or a dialup connection. If the firewall is enabled when the rescue directory is created it will also be enabled in the Rescue Environment. These are the step to manually enable the firewall on XP and XP SP1 after booting into the rescue directory.
It is sometimes possible for you to enable additional Windows functionality within the RescueBoot Windows environment. For example you may want to include some additional Windows console utilities or a something like the Windows calculator program. There are two ways that you can do this.
The easiest way to include the additional functionality is to allow the RescueBoot validation software copy the necessary files for you when you do your first boot from the RescueBoot directory. If during the first boot from the RescueBoot directory you start the program you wish to include, the RescueBoot validation software will automatically copy the program and all of the associated files into the RescueBoot directory environment. For example, while you are booted from the from your RescueBoot directory for the first time you could click on the "Start" button and select "Run" and then type in "Calc" and hit enter. This would cause the RescueBoot software to copy the necessary files into the RescueBoot environment and the program will immediately load and run.
Using the described method will only work if the program you wish to include can be started using the Run command when you are running Windows normally. If this is not the case you can still get the RescueBoot software to copy the necessary program files by specifying a complete path within the RescueBoot environment. For example if you want to include a program that is normally located in the directory "C:\Program Files\Accessories" you can select "Start" and then "Run" and then type in the entire path relative to the RescueBoot environment, "C:\RescueBoot\Program Files\Accessories\Program Name". It is important to note that if you use the original path name instead of the relative path you will be starting the program in it's original location and it will not be copied to the RescueBoot environment.
The second method of including the additional functionality can be done anytime you are booted from the Rescue directory and does not have to be done during the first boot. To use this method you will need to know the names and location of all of the files associated with the program you wish to add to the RescueBoot environment. Next you will need to start Windows from the RescueBoot directory and then copy all of the necessary files from their original location to a relative location within the RescueBoot environment. For example if you wish to include the program "C:\Program Files\Some Directory\Some Program.exe" you would need to copy "Some Program.exe" to the relative directory "C:\RescueBoot\Program Files\Some Directory". After copying the program files to the new location you should start the program from the new location to ensure the program loads and functions correctly.
When RescueBoot creates an ISO CDROM or hard disk image file, the files are normally created in a directory named "ImageFiles" within the directory location where you installed the RescueBoot program. Normally this would be "C:\Program Files\RescueBoot\ImageFiles". If you would rather have the files created in a different location you can specify the new location by changing the registry string value "ImageFile Directory" under the registry key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\RescueBoot".
If you choose to change the image file location you must be sure that RescueBoot will be able to write to the specified location or else it will result in an error being encountered when RescueBoot attempts to create the image file.
Copyright 2006 John Alan Hensley. All rights reserved.