Thinkpads Forum

i have a new x200 with the windows xp downgrade, but don't have an ultrabase or an external optical drive. is it possible to burn the xp recovery discs using a virtual burner and copy the images to another machine to burn to physical media? virtual cd (http://www.virtualcd-online.com) includes a virtual burner, and even offers a free 30-day trial version, so it seems ideal for a one-time use like this.

i'd be interested in hearing if anyone has tried generating the recovery media using a virtual burner.

Hi flip,

Yes, it is possible. I successfully went through the exact process you describe.

Cheers,
Michael

thanks, michael. i just tried it and it worked like a charm for me too. i used virtualcd's iso mode, so now i have nine recovery disk isos that i can just store and burn if i ever need them.

This is a great alternative for ThinkPads and users that don't have an optical drive available.

If it were me and I was depending on these disks as my only full recovery backup I would take the time now to prepare the disks from your ISO's for use. Find a spare hard drive and make sure they work 100% by performing a recovery on your ThinkPad.

This would be in the "don't ask me how I know" category.

Brad

I tried the Virtual CD burner and had a problem after buring the first virtual blank CD. The Virtual burner drive would no longer be available after I started the Lenovo Recovery program so I was not able to load any virtual blank CDs after the first one. So I kept getting just the first recovery CD to burn.

Any help is appreciated.

CHood wrote:The Virtual burner drive would no longer be available after I started the Lenovo Recovery program

that wasn't the case for me. with virtualcd open in one window and the recovery program open in the other, i could burn a recovery disc and let it be verified, click ok to go to the next one, and then when it said "insert blank or erasable disc" switch to virtualcd, right click on the virtual burner driver and create new blank media, and then switch back to the recovery program and tell it to proceed.

Which interface for virtual CD did you use when you put in the blank media? I could never see the drive once I started the recovery program. It would not be available in the blank media wizard.

in the virtualcd control center, i right clicked on the virtual burner drive and selected 'create a blank virtual medium':

http://www.softpedia.com/screenshots/Virtual-CD_4.png

yeah on that place once i started the recovery the drive went away. I think I will just get the optical, kinda need it anyways.