How do I repair an invalid boot.ini without the Windows XP CD?

Question

I don't know what information I need to give, please comment to indicate what I need to tell you in order to help me.

Answer 1

You can boot from an Ubuntu Live CD and edit the file C:\boot.ini, You just open it in notepad and this is an example of it's structure:

[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect

Answer 2

From "Invalid Boot.ini" error messages when you start your computer:

To resolve this issue, start the computer from the Windows XP CD, start the Recovery Console, and then use the "Bootcfg.exe /rebuild" tool to rebuild the Boot.ini file.

See the above article for step-by-step instructions.

EDIT:

You can use the DiskInternals Boot CD to boot and do some repair operations.

If you need an Emergency Boot CD (XP SP2 Pro & XP SP2 Home), there is apparently also a mini-iso here, but I haven't tried it.