dban

[russellhltn]

In Windows 7, if I double-click on the ISO a Windows program starts that can do the job. I don't have Win8 handy, but I'd expect it to do the same.

[eblood66]

In Windows 7, if I double-click on the ISO a Windows program starts that can do the job. I don't have Win8 handy, but I'd expect it to do the same.

In Windows 8 it looks like you need to right click and select Burn Disc Image. The default double click action is to open the ISO in Explorer.

[bfromm]

An ISO file is basically just a ZIP file, but the ISO extension is recognized by certain programs as a disk image, not just a compressed group of files. When you just copy the ISO file to a disk, it shows up to everything as a single file. When you burn the ISO's *image* to a disk, it writes the content of the ISO file to the disk as all of the individual files and folders.

If you're running Windows 8, you have the ability to burn ISO images natively (without a program like the one I mentioned earlier). Just right-click on the ISO file and choose the "Burn disc image" right-click option. A dialog box will appear asking you to select your drive and then click Burn.

[RossEvans]

An ISO file is basically just a ZIP file, but the ISO extension is recognized by certain programs as a disk image, not just a compressed group of files. When you just copy the ISO file to a disk, it shows up to everything as a single file. When you burn the ISO's *image* to a disk, it writes the content of the ISO file to the disk as all of the individual files and folders.

If you're running Windows 8, you have the ability to burn ISO images natively (without a program like the one I mentioned earlier). Just right-click on the ISO file and choose the "Burn disc image" right-click option. A dialog box will appear asking you to select your drive and then click Burn.

In addition to ordinary contained files, a bootable iso image also must include the master boot record, boot sectors, etc. Burning the full image to the disk includes those. (Not all iso files are bootable. For example, an audio CD image can also be packaged as an iso file.)

[farwest]

Thanks for all the info. I was able to download and burn the ISO images using the right click and "burned disc image" work out great. Installed XP again but I don't have the driver cd. I will post again to see if anyone knows how to get those drivers. Tried Dell site without any luck.

[bfromm]

Are you re-imaging it to give back to the FM group? If so, you can give it to them without an OS. They will be working with a disposal company to get rid of it anyway.

[russellhltn]

If this is a upgrade to a existing computer, the church is going to want the old one back.

Given that XP is going to "expire" in less than a year, I wouldn't reload XP.