free bootable cd image?

[Kaz]

Where might I find a cd image that allows me to run chckdsk and such? I need to fix an "Unmountable boot volume" error on a Vista machine.
I tried bootdisk.com, but apparently you need to pay.

[+JuggerNaut+]

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

i believe ntfs4dos which is part of the cd, has chkdsk

[creep]

":Unmountable Boot Volume" is usually the product of either hardware failure or windows fuckery. chkdsk is unlikely to help you, but I guess it's worth a shot.

[AmIdYfReAk]

have you tried to boot the vista disk and go into recovery mode and run chkdsk or fixmbr?

[Kaz]

I don't have any installation discs, xp or vista. I downloaded the ubcd and ran ntfs4dos's chkdsk but it didn't seem to do anything (I couldn't really tell, the screens were in german). It had a boot.ini editor (which seemed as though it was specifically for this problem), but it said it was unable to open it. I just want to be able to go through the steps of troubleshooting (at this stage from what I've read it would be a corrupted boot.ini, and i'm supposed to run chkdsk /r from the windows recovery console)... should I just go on and download the vista install cd?

[AmIdYfReAk]

yea, your best bet would be to get the install disk.

You do have the Key written someware, right?

[Kaz]

I don't own the computer, I'm fixing it for a friend that lives in another state, he mailed it to me.

Would an xp disc work?

[AmIdYfReAk]

it may work, to be honest i dont know.

i dont recall Vista changing anything about the NTFS Structure, so you should be able to repair it through the XP repair console.

[Kaz]

okay, i obtained an xp pro sp2 disc and ran the recovery console chkdsk and it boots up to the login screen, so i'm pretty happy

thanks for the replies

[AmIdYfReAk]

good to hear man,