Making a clean install of Windows 7 on my desktop PC was a nightmare. Each time when I attempted to boot off the disc, I would get this error
CDBOOT: Cannot boot from CD – Code: 5.
It wasn’t the DVD drive as I was able to boot off my old Windows XP and various Linux discs successfully. And I was able to boot off the Windows 7 disc using an old laptop via it’s internal DVD drive.
After some searching on the net, it turns out the Windows 7 installation DVD does not like older PCs (even though it will run on them, once installed). Mine is at least 6 years old … an MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU mainboard with an Athlon XP 2400+ processor; the mainboard has no option to boot from USB either.
The 2 workarounds I came across were:
- http://www.unawave.de/windows-7-tipps/code5-error.html?lang=EN
- http://www.techsideofme.com/2009/05/16/bypassing-cdboot-error-with-windows-7-dvds-on-older-pcs/
I installed Windows 7 onto the desktop using method 1 above and only came across method 2 after installing. LOL wish I had come across these solutions in reverse.
But at least I now have a Windows 7 disc which will boot off on this old PC of mine.
