To make a bootable USB memory stick you will need:

0. A bootable USB memory stick that can emulate a USB-ZIP, USB-HDD or USB-FDD device.
0. Software that will format the USB memory stick (provided with most, but not all memory sticks).
0. A computer with a USB port which is running Microsoft® Windows® XP/2000.

To boot from a USB memory stick and emulate a floppy drive (ie Drive A:) you will need:

0. A computer that supports booting from a USB-ZIP device or USB-FDD device.

Note: Some memory sticks can emulate one or more types of bootable device - eg USB-ZIP, USB-HDD and USB-FDD. It is important to make sure that your PCs can boot to the same type of device. For instance, if you have a USB-ZIP device or format the memory stick as a USB-ZIP type, only PCs that have a USB-ZIP option in the BIOS will boot from this memory stick.

Please note:  Most pre-2006 notebooks and Tablet PCs only support USB-FDD compatible devices.

The USB2 RM MiniSafe Pro is bootable as a USB-ZIP or USB-HDD device. RM's Dual-Boot OnlyDisk is bootable as a USB-FDD (emulating a TEAC 1.44 Mb USB floppy drive), or a USB-HDD device. The RM Triple-Boot Only Disk supports USB-ZIP, USB-HDD and USB-FDD standards. The RM NTU208 and U207 supports USB-FDD and is a replacement for the Netac Triple Boot key.

This is a generic article which applies to all types of memory sticks (flash drives), however, you are strongly advised to follow the instructions that accompanied your memory stick, or to follow the instructions available from the manufacturer's support site for that memory stick. In particular, always use the correct manufacturer's format utility. Memory sticks can vary from one batch to the next and the drivers (for Microsoft® Windows® 98) and format utility (Microsoft® Windows® 98/XP) may be different for each batch even though the memory sticks look identical.

A USB memory stick can be used to boot to MS-DOS, however the memory stick must be suitably prepared. This is usually done by using the format utility that is provided with the memory stick (some memory sticks are provided pre-formatted as USB-ZIP or USB-HDD devices).

Once prepared, the memory stick can be made bootable and files can be transferred on to it.

Memory sticks can emulate either a floppy drive or a hard drive:

0. As a ZIP drive it will be seen by MS-DOS as a large drive A: (or B:) [USB-ZIP].
0. As a Hard drive it will be seen by MS-DOS as drive C: (or D:, E: etc) [USB-HDD].
0. As a USB floppy drive it will be seen by MS-DOS as a 1.44 Mb drive A: (or B:) [USB-FDD]*.

*Only some memory sticks support USB-FDD emulation.

As some PCs do not support booting from a USB hard drive (USB-HDD emulation) and even if they do, booting as drive C: often has undesirable side affects; it is assumed in this article that the USB memory stick is required to boot as drive A:. On many PCs, this is also known as USB-ZIP emulation.
A USB-ZIP drive is essentially a large floppy drive and is treated by the system as a ZIP drive but boots as drive A:.
USB-FDD devices can only be 1.44 Mb is size (when they are used to boot in USB-FDD mode) and usually appear to the system as a 1.44 Mb 3.5" 'TEAC' floppy disk drive. They cannot be larger than 1.44 Mb as they mimic a USB floppy disk drive.

Very few types of notebook or Tablet PC support booting from USB-ZIP or USB-HDD devices. For these computers, a USB-FDD flash memory stick (such as the 16 Mb RM Dual-Boot Only Disk) can usually be used, as this device emulates a 1.44 Mb USB floppy drive. RM systems made after 2006 all support booting from a USB-HDD device to WinPE (CC4).

Customers with Connect 2.x and Community Connect® 3 networks - please note: If you have a Connect 2.x or Community Connect 3 network you will require a bootable flash drive/memory stick to boot as Drive A: (USB-ZIP or USB-FDD). If your memory stick boots as Drive C: you cannot use it as a replacement for a Connect 2.x or Community Connect 3 floppy workstation build disk because the software assumes that is is running from the A: drive and that the C: drive is the hard disk.

0. The BIOS boot option USB-FDD refers to a USB Floppy Disk Drive. A few types of memory stick have a switch which allows them to emulate a USB floppy drive or a USB-HDD drive (eg RM Dual/Triple-Boot memory sticks) - these can be booted as a 1.44 Mb USB-FDD device when switched to USB-FDD mode.
0. Many notebooks' BIOS have limited support for booting from alternate devices such as USB-HDD or USB-ZIP devices. Check first!

16 Mbytes is sufficient for the purposes of floppy emulation as only 1.44MB is accessible.

It is highly recommended to ensure that your device is formatted as FAT (FAT16) if you wish to boot on as wide a variety of systems as possible. This means that a 2GB maximum size should be used. For best compatibility, use a 512MB FAT (aka FAT16) device.

It is important to check that the device is bootable, and in particular that it can emulate a USB-ZIP drive (or USB-FDD drive). The RM MiniSafe Pro and the RM NTU208 are examples of bootable USB-ZIP and USB-FDD devices respectively.

The RM 1GB NTU208 has a small switch on the side. In the normal position it is a 1GB USB-ZIP/USB-HDD drive, when switched to the 'floppy' position it emulates a 1.44MB USB 'Teac' floppy disk drive. The switch should be changed only when the device is disconnected from the computer.

USB memory sticks that only support USB hard disk emulation can be booted from, but only by systems that support USB-HDD booting. Many older PCs (including many RM PCs before 2007) do not support booting from a USB-HDD device, but do support booting from a USB-ZIP device. As USB-HDD devices will boot as drive C:, software that is expecting to be run from a floppy drive (A:) may not work correctly on these devices (eg Connect build disk software).

The target PCs must support booting from a memory stick. You can check this by going into the BIOS Setup menu on the target PC and checking through the Boot order options for USB-ZIP or USB-RAM or similar. You must also check that the USB ports and controller are enabled and that USB Legacy/Kbd support is enabled in the BIOS options.

The list below shows the settings that might be required for an RM Entry level SIS650/651 mainboard (eg MX46-533V) in a PC which has no standard floppy drive fitted. Default means that the setting is the BIOS (Turbo/Optimal) default setting.

Important: Some PCs will detect a USB Memory Key when powered on, and will then present the user with extra options in the BIOS Setup menu. For this reason, it is best to insert the USB Memory Key before you switch on the system to check that the BIOS menu options listed below are present.

Advanced BIOS features

First Boot Device	[USB-ZIP]	boots to the memory stick as drive A: if present***
Second Boot Device	[USB-FDD]	boots to a USB Floppy drive as drive A: if present
Third Boot Device	[HDD-1]	boots to the first hard disk as drive C: if present
Boot Other Device	Enabled	*(default)

Integrated Peripherals - SIS OnChip PCI Device

SIS USB Controller	[Enabled]	(default)
USB 2.0 Support	[Enabled]	(default)
USB Keyboard Support	[Enabled]	**Required
USB0 Access Interface	[EDB Bus]	(default)
USB1 Access Interface	[EDB Bus]	(default)

*Note: Boot Other Device will enable booting from many other types of device not listed in the boot order menu. For instance, if you have a bootable USB CD-ROM device connected, this may be booted from if no other boot device can be found by the BIOS during startup. If however you have a bootable hard disk in the system or floppy drive and disk, then this may be booted from first, before the USB CD-ROM device is booted from, even though these devices are not in the BIOS boot order.

**Note: USB Keyboard Support is also listed as 'USB Legacy Kbd' on some systems. It is often essential to enable this setting even if you do not have a USB keyboard, as this often enables detection of all USB devices by the BIOS. Many systems will not detect or boot from USB devices unless this option is enabled.

***Note: Some BIOSes will boot from a USB-ZIP device even if they do not have a USB-ZIP option in the BIOS menu. Try USB-HDD or some of the other available options (eg the RM nBookT 3000 will boot from a USB-ZIP device if the USB-HDD options is selected).

Tip: Try setting the BIOS to USB 1 speed rather than USB 2 if the device does not appear to boot successfully of crashes/hangs whilst attempting to boot.