How to boot Windows from a CD

[soulman]

I've got the legendary "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM" error on my XP Home Edition - and attempted to follow these instructions:

"Boot your system with the Windows XP Install CD, let the system boot into the Setup. Once in the Setup, choose to run the Recovery Console."

However, the system isn't booting via the CD, and any key I seem to press, bar F8 which takes me into the system menu is just rebooting the PC time and time again - do I need to press something specific for the PC at startup to boot via the Install CD?

 

[WorldIndustries]

Check your boot order in your BIOS setup. CD should be first, then hard drive, rest doest matter.

 

[digitaloracle]

You may even take the HD out of the boot order completly, sometimes I will be unable to force xp to boot from CD without doing that.