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The following files are required on a Boot disk:
Boot files of an Operating System: The boot disk must contain whatever files the operating system needs to boot up such as COMMAND.COM, IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS. They are core operating system files that are needed for a successful BOOT.NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, and Boot.ini are the files used in Windows start up disk.
CD-ROM Driver and MSCDEX: To use the CD-ROM drive from the command prompt a driver is needed for it. The drivers for most common CD driver are loaded on a DOS startup kit when it is created. The driver file MSCDEX.EXE, which is loaded using AUTOEXEC.BAT file, is used in MS DOS & Windows 3.0 to access the CD-ROM drive from DOS. The vendor specific CD-ROM driver is loaded using the CONFIG.SYS file.
Hard Disk Partitioning and Format Utilities: Utilities like SYS.COM, FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.COM are recommended to be a part of a startup disk. These utilities are used for partitioning and formatting of the hard disk drives and can also be used to fix minor errors.
