How To Boot From a CD, DVD, or BD Disc Easy, 5 MinYou might have to boot from a CD, DVD, or BD to run certain kinds of testing or diagnostic tools, like memory testing programs, password recovery tools, or bootable antivirus software. You also might need to boot from a disc if youre planning to reinstall the Windows operating system or run automatic Windows repair tools. When you boot from a disc, what youre actually doing is running your computer with whatever small operating system thats installed on the CD, DVD, or BD. When you start your computer normally, youre running with the operating system installed on your hard drive, like Windows, Linux, etc. Follow these really easy steps to boot from a disc, a process that usually takes around 5 minutes Tip Booting from a disc is operating system independent, meaning that booting from a CD or DVD in Windows 7 is the same as in Windows 1. How-to-Create-a-Linux-Installation-Disc-or-USB-for-any-Distribution-07.png' alt='Make Slackware Usb Installer' title='Make Slackware Usb Installer' />This page provides general information about notable Linux distributions in the form of a categorized list. Distributions are organized into sections by the major. This page is part of the documentation for the rEFInd boot manager. If a Web search has brought you here, you may want to start at the main page. Easy File Locker Windows 7. Placeholder for ads Just like you, I wish this site could exist without them. I first ran into what turns out to be a recurring problem when I installed Pardus 2009 last fall. The installer would lock up. Since then I have run into an almost. Make Slackware Usb Installer' title='Make Slackware Usb Installer' />Windows 8, etc. How To Boot From a CD, DVD, or BD Disc. Change the boot order in BIOS so the CD, DVD, or BD drive is listed first. LinuxMint-12-USB-Installer_01.png' alt='Make Slackware Usb Installer' title='Make Slackware Usb Installer' />Some computers are already configured this way but many are not. If the optical drive is not first in the boot order, your PC will start normally i. Note After setting your optical drive as the first boot device in BIOS, your computer will check that drive for a bootable disc each time your computer starts. Leaving your PC configured this way shouldnt cause problems unless you plan on leaving a disc in the drive all the time. Tip See How to Boot From a USB Device instead of this tutorial if what youre really after is configuring your PC to boot from a flash drive or other USB storage device. The process is fairly similar to booting from a disc but there are a few extra things to consider. Insert your bootable CD, DVD, or BD in your disc drive. How do you know if a disc is bootable The easiest way to find out if a disc is bootable is to insert it into your drive and follow the remainder of these instructions. Most operating system setup CDs and DVDs are bootable, as are many advanced diagnostic tools like the ones I discussed above. Note Programs downloadable from the internet that is intended to be bootable discs are usually made available in ISO format. Gta Vice City Full Game Cnet. See How To Burn an ISO File for more on that. Hint You cant just burn the ISO image to the disc like you can other files. Restart your computer either properly from within Windows or via your reset or power button if youre still in the BIOS menu. Watch for a Press any key to boot from CD or DVD. When booting from a Windows setup disc, and occasionally other bootable discs as well, you may be prompted with a message to press a key to boot from the disc. For the disc boot to be successful, youll need to do this during the few seconds that the message is on the screen. If you do nothing, your computer will check for boot information on the next boot device in the list in BIOS see Step 1 which will probably be your hard drive. Most bootable discs do not prompt for a key press and will start immediately. Your computer should now boot from the CD, DVD, or BD disc. Note What happens now depends on what the bootable disc was for. If youre booting from a Windows 1. DVD, the Windows 1. If youre booting from a Slackware Live CD, the version of the Slackware Linux operating system youve included on the CD will run. You get the idea. What to Do if the Disc Wont Boot. If you tried the above steps but your computer still isnt booting from the disc properly, check out some of the tips below. Recheck the boot order in BIOS Step 1. Without a doubt, the number one reason a bootable disc wont boot is because BIOS is not configured to check the CDDVDBD drive first. Do you have more than one optical drive Your computer probably only allows for one of your disc drives to be booted from. Insert the bootable CD, DVD, or BD in the other drive, restart your computer, and see what happens then. Clean the disc. If the disc is old or dirty, as many Windows Setup CDs and DVDs are by the time theyre needed, clean it. A clean disc could make all the difference. Burn a new CDDVDBD. If the disc is one you created yourself, like from an ISO file, then burn it again. The disc may have errors on it that re burning could correct. Ive had this happen to me more than once. Still Having Trouble Booting From a CDDVD See Get More Help for information about contacting me on social networks or via email, posting on tech support forums, and more. Be sure to let me know exactly what is and isnt happening with your CDDVD booting and what, if anything, youve already tried.