Creating Live CD help

[cratkins]

Hello all, I'm new to the Mint forums and Linux in general. While I'm not a computer engineer, I'm by no means a windows noob.

I'm having trouble making a live cd (in xp). I made one last night for PCLinuxOS 2007 no problem, but something isn't working for Mint 4.0 Daryna (full).

I downloaded the torrent, and verified the checksum, so the download was good. Then I extracted the archive with WinRAR. The archive created 3 folders: .disc, casper, isolinux.

I used ImgBurn for windows to make an image from files. I used the directory that contained the 3 folders above to make the image. ImgBurn asked if that one folder was the root folder, so I said yes, since it contains the 3 subfolders created in the extraction. This is what I did for PCLOS 2007 and it worked. But of course, the mint cd won't boot. Also, I defraged the folder where I extracted mint.

Does anyone know if I did anything wrong? What folders/files should I use to build the image/ISO? Do I even need to extract them?
How can I verify the checksum of the disc with that of the ISO file so I know if the burn was good?

Here's my specs:

Win XP SP2
DFI Lanparty UT 250GB mobo
Athlon 64 3200
2 gigs PC3200 Kingston hyperX ram
HP 740b DVD RW
2x 80 gig HDD

[Fred]

cratkins,

You were doing good right up until the time when you opened the file. When it downloaded it should have had an iso extension. You don't need to open it. Open your burn software and select burn iso file. Then select the file you downloaded and burn it to a cd as an iso file, not a data, or audio file. Burn the cd s-l-o-w. On a new newer cd burner no faster than 8x. I usually burn mine at 4x or 6x, just to be on the safe side. Verify the md5 sum when you are finished burning.

Hope that helps,

Fred

[cratkins]

Thanks Fred that's exactly the answer I needed.

What threw me off is that the ISO file was associated with WinRAR (not sure if you're familiar with that app). So I assumed I needed to extract the files. Guess I was wrong, won't be the last time lol.

So I'm off to try to make the live cd again. Next time I post hopefully I'll be able to share my mint experience, looking forward to it!

[muskratmx]

What threw me off is that the ISO file was associated with WinRAR (not sure if you're familiar with that app). So I assumed I needed to extract the files. Guess I was wrong, won't be the last time lol.

You weren't wrong to trust the file associatation, it's just another example of windows programers goofing bigtime and fell flat on thier face, but does any body blame windoz? Oh No

An iso should always be associated to an image. And what ever software your system uses to manage images, not zip files.