Configuring the CompactFlash Device

  • Article

5/10/2007

If you are using the FAT16 file system, a CompactFlash device must be made bootable with the BootPrep utility. For more information, see BootPrep. The following procedure shows how to configure a FAT16 formatted CompactFlash device.

If you are using either the NTFS or FAT32 file systems, you do not need to run BootPrep. Only basic partitions are supported on CompactFlash devices. Dynamic partitions are not supported.

Note

You should not repartition your CompactFlash media with Windows XP Pro partitioning tools. If you want to partition your CompactFlash, contact your CompactFlash manufacturer for their supported CompactFlash tools. You can also create an MS-DOS bootable floppy disk with a previous version of Microsoft® Windows®, such as Windows 98 or Windows ME. This boot disk includes fdisk. You can use fdisk to partition your CompactFlash media.

Additionally, some CompactFlash media is marked as removable. This prohibits you from configuring partitions on your media. If you want to delete, add, or change the partition structure of your CompactFlash device, contact your CompactFlash manufacturer for any supported partitioning utilities.

To configure the CompactFlash device

  1. Create an MS-DOS boot disk from Windows XP Professional. This boot disk is used to run the BootPrep utility.

    1. Insert a blank, floppy diskette into the system.
    2. From Windows Explorer, right-click the 3 1/2 Floppy (A:) drive and choose Format. The Format 3 1/2 Floppy (A:) window appears.
    3. In the Format Options section, select Create an MS-DOS startup disk. To format the disk, choose Start.
    4. After the disk is formatted, copy BootPrep to the floppy. The BootPrep.exe utility is located in the Program Files\Windows Embedded\Utilities directory.

  2. Connect the CompactFlash device to the primary IDE slot with a CompactFlash IDE adapter. You should unplug all other IDE devices from the system. The CompactFlash device can be attached to the secondary IDE slot only if there are no hard disks attached to the system.

  3. Before you can use BootPrep, the partition on the CompactFlash device must be marked as active. You can use your CompactFlash manufacturer utilities or diskpart.

    For information about using diskpart, see Configuring a Hard Drive with Diskpart and Windows PE.

  4. Insert the floppy disk and boot the system.

  5. At the command prompt, use the BootPrep command to prepare the CompactFlash media. For example,

    bootprep /dC

    For more information about the BootPrep command syntax, see BootPrep Commands.

  6. To continue, type Y. The boot sector of the drive is rewritten. This allows the CompactFlash device to boot.

  1. Create an MS-DOS boot disk from Windows XP Professional. This boot disk is used to run the BootPrep utility.

    1. Insert a blank, floppy diskette into the system.
    2. From Windows Explorer, right-click the 3 1/2 Floppy (A:) drive and choose Format. The Format 3 1/2 Floppy (A:) window appears.
    3. In the Format Options section, select Create an MS-DOS startup disk. To format the disk, choose Start.
    4. After the disk is formatted, copy BootPrep to the floppy. The BootPrep.exe utility is located in the Program Files\Windows Embedded\Utilities directory.

  2. Connect the CompactFlash device to the primary IDE slot with a CompactFlash IDE adapter. You should unplug all other IDE devices from the system. The CompactFlash device can be attached to the secondary IDE slot only if there are no hard disks attached to the system.

  3. Before you can use BootPrep, the partition on the CompactFlash device must be marked as active. You can use your CompactFlash manufacturer utilities or diskpart.

    For information about using diskpart, see Configuring a Hard Drive with Diskpart and Windows PE.

  4. Insert the floppy disk and boot the system.

  5. At the command prompt, use the BootPrep command to prepare the CompactFlash media. For example,

    bootprep /dC

    For more information about the BootPrep command syntax, see BootPrep Commands.

  6. To continue, type Y. The boot sector of the drive is rewritten. This allows the CompactFlash device to boot.

See Also

Concepts

How to Configure EWF for CompactFlash
EWF RAM Reg Mode

Other Resources

CompactFlash