cd burning question

[Shan]

I've already searched hi and low for an answer to this and either the answers are way to complex for my non-techy mind to wrap itself around or they just dont answer my question. Hopefully someone here can help me out...

I have some iso files that I want to burn to cd and I need the cd to be bootable.

I use NTI CD-Maker pro. There is a box to select to make the cd bootable then it pops up a window saying I need a blank floppy...ect...(I canceled as I honestly have NO clue what I'm doing....)

Then I tried just burning the file without clicking the bootable option. It then pops up a window asking for me to change the name.

I know that an iso file is basically like a zip file..but I have read of ppl going ahead and burning then not being able to boot from the cd...I'm almost out of blank cd's :( and I'd like to get this done this weekend, just not into making a bunch of coasters...

What are the steps I need to take in order to make the cd's bootable?

Thanks in advance :)

[Anaconda]

If it's a bootable .iso image, you only need to burn the image to hte CD. just be sure that your burning application supports iso images (most do, but not all), otherwise you may end up with a data cd, with a .iso file as it's contents. I am not familiar with the application you are using, so I don't know it's capabilities. Try looking for an option like 'create disk from image' and then select your iso file as the source image file. Note that you will not need to tell your application that it's a bootable CD, as all that information is already contained in the iso image, along with the bootimage itself, so you don't need to add one.

Note that if the iso image is not a bootable image, making it bootable then is more difficult. You will likely need other tools to do this.

[Shan]

hmm...ok..next question...

how do I know the iso file I d/l'd is bootable?

damn you noppid for getting me into this! lmao

[Dave420]

if it is a os disk (like linux or windows)chances are it is bootable already -the only way to know for sure will be to burn it then restart the comuter with it in the drive,if it says to hit any key to boot to cd then it was bootable(keep in mind your bios on the computer have to be set to boot to cd before the harddrive or it will never boot to the cd)I like to use nero better then nti for burning image files.

[Shan]

ok...I gave up trying with nti...it kept locking up partway through the burn..so far I have two new coasters...

reinstalled nero and I'll try with that..except that now the file associations are messed up. Think I will just start over from scratch next weekend after I purchase more blank cd's..lol

thanks guys for the advice :)