Create a Bootable MS DOS USB Flash Drive

Before I knew the easy way of turning an ordinary USB Flash Drive into a Bootable USB Drive with the MS DOS operating system, I searched for hours looking for a good tutorial that worked.  This is good for those who need to perform tasks such as flashing BIOS and other tasks of that nature.
This tutorial will guide you through this process, and provide links to the relevant resources and tools you'll need.

Preparation:

You will need the HP USB Disk Format Tool to perform the actual "transformation". You may download that here. Download and install this tool.

You will also need the Windows 98 Setup files, which can be found here. Download these files and save them to a spot you'll remember. Usually saving it in My Documents (or Documents in Windows Vista and 7) is the easiest place to remember.

A USB Flash drive will be required. If you currently have data on the drive you would like to use, you will need to back that data up because the drive will be formatted and all data will be erased. I recommend using at least a 2GB drive.

Step 1:

Insert your USB Flash Drive into an available USB port.

Launch the HP USB Disk Format Tool by clicking it's icon on the desktop, or the Start Menu. If you are running Windows Vista or 7, you will need to run this program as an Administrator by right clicking the icon and choosing "Run as Administrator".

Step 2:

Once the tool has loaded, select the drive letter of your USB Flash Drive. If you are unsure which letter is the USB drive you want to use, the easiest way to check is to open My Computer ( Computer in Windows Vista and 7 ) and locate the USB drive you want to use. The letter displayed next to the label of that drive is the one you want to select in the HP Disk Format tool.

Beware of which drive you select as that drive will be formatted!!

Step 3:


After you have chosen the correct drive letter,  choose 'FAT 32' as the file system, then check the 'Quick Format' box to save a little time.

Now, we need to specify the Windows 98 System files we would like to use. Check the 'Create a DOS Startup Disk' box, then choose the '...' button and browse to the location you saved the Windows 98 System Files. Choose the folder that contains the system files, then choose 'OK'.

Your window should look similar to this now:

Final Step:

Press 'Start' to turn your USB Flash Drive into a bootable USB MS DOS Disk.! This may take a few minutes, depending on the size of the drive. After this completes, you are finished and can now boot your MS DOS USB Drive!!

Conclusion:

That's it! You have now just created your very own bootable MS DOS USB Drive!

If you require any further assistance, or have any questions, comments or concerns about this tutorial,  please feel free to comment below.