Introduction

Once upon a time you bought a PC and it came with a proper, bona-fide Windows CD. When you needed to reinstall Windows you were in full control of the process, enabling you to have a sleek, stable operating system that ran only the software you wanted.
   Nowadays, an increasing number of PC manufacturers are shipping what’s known as recovery CDs with their computers. A recovery disc basically contains a disc image that returns your PC to its factory state, which is great for quickly getting up and running again, but not much good for anything else, especially if you find yourself spending time uninstalling all the “useful” extras the manufacturer has bundled with it.

Your own Windows CD
There are plenty of good reasons for getting a Windows CD then, but how do you go about it? The simplest way to generate your own Windows installation CD is burn your own - on this site we’ll show you how to do so whether you’re running Windows 98, Me, 2000 or XP. If you’re running Win2000 or XP we’ll even reveal how to slipstream the latest Service Pack into your installation files, so you don’t have to install it after Windows.
    Note that your installation disc won’t necessarily contain the useful extras bundled with Windows CDs - if they're not included by your PC manufacturer check the downloads section of its Web site to see if these have been supplied as free downloads for your model. If this doesn't yield success, look for alternatives. If you’re an XP Home user looking for the Backup tool, for example, check out the cover discs of magazines like PC Answers where alternative back-up tools are frequently given away for free. Failing that,  try the 30-day trial of Genie Backup Manager (click here).

Legal questions
It’s at this point that the thorny question of legality rears its head. Just how legal is this process? The answer is found in the Windows user agreement, which - if you’re running Windows XP - can be read here (Home Edition) or here (Pro version) - both are links to PDF documents. It states that “you may also store… a copy of the Product on a storage device”, enabling you to make a backup of your Windows installation files. You may not use this CD to install Windows on another PC unless you acquire additional licenses - in other words, you can only follow this tutorial if the files you use to create your Windows CD are only used on the PC you’ve taken them from.

Getting started
The annotation below reveals what you’ll need for your new Windows CD - you’ll have at least 150MB spare on your CD, which should be ample for a few extras like drivers, but if you want to include loads of useful files on there we’ll show you how to burn your perfect Windows DVD instead. Click here for a detailed look at what you'll need.