# how to tell what operating system a computer is if it won't boot up



## rutica (Oct 28, 2004)

My husband's company was disposing of an old computer and some outdated security video cameras. The computer contains the software to control the video cameras. So he took all the equipment home. 

But when we try to boot up the computer, it says: Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in select boot device.

I want to make a boot disk, but I don't even know what operating system the computer is. Is there a way to tell? 

Thanks


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## cwwozniak (Nov 29, 2005)

Have you looked inside the computer to make sure the company did not remove the hard drive? Even if the hard drive exists, the company may have wiped the drive as a security measure before disposing of the computer. In either case, there may be no operating system on the computer.


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## Ed999 (Aug 19, 2008)

Assuming the computer still has a hard drive, one means of starting the system (where the hard drive is not booting) would be to boot from a floppy disk in Drive A:

You can download a selection of bootable floppy disk images from www.bootdisk.com but you will need a working computer to create a bootable floppy disk on. This requires that you insert a blank floppy disk in Drive A, then double-click on the disk image file that you downloaded. Those images from that website are typically executable programs designed to write a copy of the disk image onto the floppy disk in A: (regardless of whether it is actually blank).

You might start by trying a disk image for the Windows 98 version of MS-DOS. 98 is the most popular version of pre-XP Windows, so if it's an old computer that's the most likely O/S. If the system rejects it (because of an incompatibility with the Operating System on the hard disk), you'll know that the hard disk isn't using Windows 98 or Windows ME.

If so, try a disk image for the Windows 95 version of MS-DOS.

Once the system is up and running, and you have a working A: prompt, you will find that you have access to the hard drive (probably as Drive C), if there is one. There are lots of disk tools you can then use to analyse the first 95 sectors on the hard disk, where the details of the Operating System are to be found.

If the hard disk is a Windows 95/98/ME disk, it will use the FAT32 file system. In that case, the Operating System particulars will be located in the Boot Sector, which is the 64th sector on the disk.

Here is a page with information that will help you examine that sector, and which has links to disk tools you might need. And it can help you repair the FAT32 hard disk if it's got a problem that is preventing it starting up normally.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/bridip/recovery.htm


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## bp936 (Oct 13, 2003)

http://www.amazon.com/External-Floppy-FD05PUB-KIT-TI/dp/B0002EZU5O

or

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicati...DE=CANWGOOCACOM&cm_mmc_o=mH4CjC7BBTkwCjCECjCE

in case you have no external floppy, I have the TEAC USB external for emergencies and kept a few floppies back, already formatted.

Also, can you at least get to DOS?

just write
C: ver

and it shows what version of Windows you have or gives you some error message, then you have to get ED's instructions to do things.
http://www.bootdisk.com/


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## Ed999 (Aug 19, 2008)

The comand VER (which can only report the version of DOS or Windows that is currently running) should be treated with caution.

Under MS-DOS or Windows 95/98/ME it will report the operating system and o/s version that was used to start the machine, i.e. the version of DOS which is installed on the bootable floppy disk. It won't report the version of DOS installed on Drive C, if the computer is booted from Drive A.

Admittedly, I know nothing of Windows XP. But, in my experience, if the computer is using DOS or any pre-XP version of Windows then the VER command can only tell you what version of DOS is on the bootable floppy disk; or, if you boot the computer from the CD-ROM drive, using a bootable CD or DVD, the VER command can only tell you what version of DOS or Windows is on the bootable CD.

A disk sector editor is needed, such as Norton Utilitities 2002, to examine the Boot Sector of the Primary DOS partition on the hard disk (typically LBA sector 63, otherwise known as sector CHS 0-1-1), in order to read the identity of the Operating System that was used to create that partition.

Even that is not an infallible guide: there is no rule that says you must install (for example) Windows 98SE on a partition which you have created using 98SE. But it would be pretty unusual to partition and format the hard disk with, say, 98SE and then install something else on that partition. I mean, why would you bother to do that?

The link I posted includes examples of a typical Boot Sector for Win98SE and for WinME that can be compared with the actual boot sector found on the problem disk.


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## TheOutcaste (Aug 8, 2007)

Boot with a Vista/Win 7 DVD and check the version of the *Explorer.exe* file


Boot with the Vista/Win7 DVD, or RE CD.
Select your *Language*, click *Next*
Click *Repair your Computer*
It will scan for Vista/Win 7 installations, but won't find any, just wait for it to finish.
If using Win7 Disk, select *Use recovery tools that can help fix problems starting Windows.* at the top.
Click *Next*
 Click *Command Prompt*.
Type *Notepad* and press *Enter*.
Click *File | Open*
Click *Computer* on the left.
This will let you see what drives (partitions) Windows sees,
The *X:* drive is the RAM drive the CD created.
Change the *Files of Type* box to *All Files*
See if there is a *Windows* or *WINNT* folder, then point to *explorer*
Choose the one that shows a type of *Application*.
You should get a tool top that lists the Version, Size and Date
Back in the Command Prompt you can type *Dir /A C:* to list the files in the root directory.
NT, Win2K, Win2K3, and XP will have *ntldr*, *boot.ini*, or *ntdetect.com* files in the partition that boots the system.
Win9X only systems will not, they _will_ have *io.sys* and *msdos.sys* files.
Vista and Win 7 will have a *bootmgr* file, a *Boot* folder, and a *Users* folder, but they should also have been recognized by the CD when it scanned the system.

You could also boot with a Linux CD to see what files/folders are there, and check the date and time of the explorer.exe file, that will pretty much tell you what version of Windows it's from.
These are the dates, times, and sizes for XP:
Explorer.exe versions for the Different XP Service Packs:


> NoSP
> 08/23/2001 05:00 AM 1,000,960 explorer.exe
> SP1
> 08/29/2002 03:41 AM 1,004,032 explorer.exe
> ...


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## bp936 (Oct 13, 2003)

I assume the OP's computer is completely erased but if I remember it right, if the computer starts up, I was able to enter : C: ver and I was shown info.
I can also do this with XP running cmd and then ver.
At least something might show up. I have to look for my A drive to test this.
I think she just wanted to know, if there is anything on the drive. 
Then they could decide, what Operating system disk to buy and that would take care of installing it. 
If the computer already says, enter proper boot device, wouldn't a new Windows7 for instance, be able to be installed?
One would have to find out, how this computer can be SETUP in BIOS to enter boot from CD drive.


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## Ed999 (Aug 19, 2008)

One tip with regard to using a bootable floppy disk that loads any version of MS-DOS, or a bootable CD that loads any version of MS-DOS or Windows 95 / 98 / ME.

Neither MS-DOS nor any version of Windows prior to WinXP can recognise an NTFS disk. They all use (i.e. require) a FAT16 or FAT32 disk.

Therefore, if the computer is started using MS-DOS or Windows 95/98/ME and the BIOS reports that there is a hard disk present (press e.g. DEL or F1 or F2 on startup in order to enter the BIOS screen), but the operating system (i.e. MS-DOS or Windows 95/98/ME) can't recognise it, then the hard disk must be formatted as NTFS. This tells you that the hard disk must have at least Windows XP (or later) installed on it.

If MS-DOS or Windows 95/98/ME does recognise the hard disk (i.e. if it can access Drive C) then the hard disk must be a FAT disk, not NTFS, and thus probably has Windows 95/98/ME installed on it.

Windows XP can be installed on a FAT32 hard disk, but usually only on a partition smaller than 32 GB, so if the Drive C: partition is bigger than that it's unlikely to be a Windows XP partition.

But if the hard disk is identified anywhere as being larger than 137 GB then it is almost definitely using Windows XP (or later), because MS-DOS and Windows 95/98/ME can't normally function on a hard disk larger than 137 GB (except in very, very restricted circumstances, not usually encountered).


Note:- It would probably not be prudent to install Windows Vista or Windows 7 in an older system. The system's hardware would not be powerful enough to run that level of bloatware.


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