Can I use an .IMG boot floppy image to burn a Boot CD ?

[Sorcerer]

I am using Nero 5.5.10.20

I have no problems burning a Boot CD when reading the floppy from my 3.5" drive. However, when I tried to use a .IMG boot floppy image of the same floppy that I had previously generated with Floppy-Image-v1.52, the resulting CD would not boot. I own a laptop with no floppy, so I need to figure this one out to burn Boot CDs with it.

I have found previous posts that point to .IMA boot floppy images as working fine with Nero, but I would not like to have to buy WinImage.

If any of you has successfully used .IMG boot floppy images to create a Boot CD under Nero 5.5 please let me know. If you used custom settings either in Nero or Floppy-Image please post them here.

Thanks

[BurninMan921]

Only 1 thing I can think of: Download the trial version of UltraISO here:

http://www.free-downloads.net/programs/UltraISO

Then use it to make a a bootable ISO image file. Then burn the image with Nero. It can insert/extract IMA/IMG images to/from ISO's. Or just use it to insert the IMG, and extract it as an IMA file.

Hope that helps!!

I've gotta do something similar soon, too. Gonna make a new bootable disk with Windows on it so I can install it faster (an HD-BURN disc, which my drive can read at 80x).

[Sorcerer]

Thank you for your reply BurninMan921.

You are right. Your idea would work. Problem is, (long term) I would have to buy the program, since it is not freeware but shareware. Anyway, I think it would be better to spend US$30 on UltraISO than on WinImage.

I am still looking for a way to coax Nero into accepting the .IMG boot floppy format. Strange thing is when it first asks for the boot floppy image location its default is C:\IMAGE.IMG, but when you BROWSE the hard disk for a new location it switches to the .IMA format. Maybe it is just a bug. I haven't had the time, but I am thinking on upgrading my Nero 5.5 to the last version and trying again....

If I find a way, I will post it here.

[BurninMan921]

I have 6.3, and it only uses IMA files

UltraISO is a nice program; I've been trying to find a conversion program for IMG <-> IMG, but no luck so far

6.3 is nice, though!

[Sorcerer]

OK, I got it.

Changing Nero versions did NOT help.

Manually RENAMING the .IMG files that "Floppy Image" generates, to .IMA did the trick.

So, if you want to use "Floppy Image" to generate boot floppy images that are compatible with Nero ( 5.5 and, I assume, 6.x ) just select the "Compatible" setting from the Settings menu and rename the resulting .IMG files to .IMA.

Now I can burn Boot-CDs with my floppyless laptop and it didn't cost me a penny.

[BurninMan921]

Cool...I didn't know the file types were the same. Neat trick!
I don't have a floppy on my system either. I usually just get my boot disk images here:

http://www.drd.dyndns.org/index2.html