If you face any problems like forgetting your windows password, you need to boot your computer from a CD/DVD or USB drive. Placing the CD or DVD into the drive and rebooting the computer is necessary. A computer automatically tracks the disc needs to be booted and conducts the necessary files while booting. If you face any interruption at the time of booting like screening error messages or others, you may take help from this article. This article will enlighten you about ‘How to boot from a CD or DVD in a computer?’
- Tap any key to boot.
You’ll be prompted to press a key while booting from a CD. Otherwise the computer won’t boot from the CD or DVD and perform boot on its own. So concentrate when you boot from a CD or DVD. Like
a) Insert the CD or DVD into the CD-ROM or DVD drive.
b) Press any key.
c) Perform booting. - Take a bootable CD or DVD.
As different CDs or DVDs hold different features, you may not find bootable feature in all types of CDs. You need to remember that CDs of early Windows 95 are not bootable. However, CDs after Windows 98 are more likely to boot. - Configured BIOS
Your computer may seem straightly ignore the inserted CD or DVD along with the CD-ROM or DVD drive as a bootable choice. It’s a sign of not precisely set up BIOS. To set up BIOS you can use the following keys while conducting the booting process-
! F1
!! F2*
!!! F10**
!!!! Del
!!!!! Esc
Here, all the function keys like F1, F2 andF10 can be found on the top of your keyboard. Things you need to know-
a) When you press F2 and it opens a diagnostic tool then F10 can be your set up key.
b) For the boot menu, you can use the button F10.
c) After pressing F10, if it opens the boot menu, then F2 probably your setup key.
While booting up, the computer may want you to press setup keys. Most of the users see messages that show directions of pressing keys. Besides, some computers with older windows versions may display messages where it indicates to tap F1 or F2 buttons.
You may also use the boot option setup like the sample given below. If the previous one fails, making the CD-ROM as the very first bootable option.
a) CD-ROM or DVD drive.
b) Network
c) Hard Drive.
If you use CD-ROM as a second option while booting up, then it’ll use the device you’ve chosen as a first option to boot up. Like if you select the hard drive as a booting option before CD-ROM, you should verify the hard drive first.
- Disc drive needs to be selected from the boot menu.
The user has to enter the Boot menu while the computer performs booting. Here the computer may show you options like- Press the F9 key. If you see such a message-
! Press the required key.
!! Enter the Boot menu.
!!! Navigate to CD-ROM and DVD drive.
!!!! Select the Booting option. - Damaged CD or DVD.
If you want to boot from CD or DVD in a computer, a corrupted CD or DVD may interrupt into your work. To test if the CDs or DVDs remain readable or not, you can access it through the windows or use another PC. The CD or DVD tends to be either damaged or not readable. If you notice while being read , the CD or DVD shows errors then the Cd or DVD needs to be cleaned first. Let’s not look for an immediate replacement.
- Set the jumpers properly.
The jumpers need to be set properly for a not interrupted booting (all disc drive unlikely to boot with loose jumpers). Users of portable computers like- Laptops with removable disc drive should choose CD-ROM as a primary device on the secondary controller. This way the users may avoid such problems.
- Multiple disc drive.
Some computers contain multiple disc drives. Like a computer with a DVD drive, it also has a CD or CD-RW drive also. If a computer with multiple disc drive tries to boot from the disc, it should disconnect the other one. Because if the drive is not selected as the first drive, it may create obstacles when the drive wants to boot. If you face such an interruption then check if the drive is the first one on the cable.
Booting from a CD or DVD in a computer is an easy process unless you face any obstacles discussed above. Usually people boot their computer from the main drive. But sometimes, you may need to boot from a CD or DVD in a computer. Though the process is different for each computer, we’ve tried to discuss in a way that goes with most of the computers.