Create Your Own Ultimate Recovery CD

Have problems with Windows? Many times Windows can't solve the problem by itself or something is preventing Windows from booting. Luckily, there is hope. The Ultimate Boot CD for Windows is a recovery CD with tons of useful software for repairing or fixing almost any Windows problem. The Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD4Win) is based on Windows, so things should be mildly familiar. Here is how to build your own custom Ultimate Boot CD.

The first thing you would want to do is go to UBCD4Win's website and download and install the Ultimate Boot CD software. This is not the actual boot CD, just the toolkit for making your own Ultimate Boot CD. 

After installing UBCD4Win, you’ll be prompted on the first launch to search for the Windows XP installation files. You should choose no. (Many computer manufacturers will add the contents of the Windows XP Install CD to the root of the hard drive. The folder should have the name "i386" or similar. Just search for a folder named "i386".) On the next window, you should see an option where your source Windows XP Installation files are. If you put the CD in your CD drive, set the source as the root of the CD drive. (For example, if my CD drive was D, I would set the source as D:\ ) In other cases you would add the source as C:\i386 or C:\WINDOWS\i386 depending on where the Windows Installation files are.

After you select the source, you should see some options at the bottom of the window titled "Media Output". You can create an ISO Image, or just burn directly to a CD/DVD. The "Plugin" button at the bottom lets you turn features on the boot CD on or off. We are not really worried about that, so just leave it as it is. Now if burning directly to a CD/DVD, put in your disc now. Now you should make sure all your options are set as you desire and click the "Build" button. After the build, if you set to build an ISO Image you should see it where you set the destination to be. (For instructions on how to burn an ISO Image to a CD/DVD, check out my guide here. Be sure to skip to Step 2.) Anyways, no matter which path you took (burning directly to a disc or creating an ISO Image you should be left with a custom Boot CD. Stick it in your CD drive and boot from it. (For instructions on how to boot from your CD drive, see my guide here. Be sure to skip to step 3.)

Be sure to select "Launch "The Ultimate Boot CD for Windows" on the menu. Once it finally boots you should see a Windows Xp-like desktop. Be sure to explore and see which utilities you would want to use! There are many useful utilities such as creating backups of your hard drive, Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware utilities, and fixing boot issues.