burn CD using Windows XP

Burning DVD/CD with Windows Operating Systems:

Tools you will need:

• CD/DVD burner for burning CD/DVD respectively.
• Blank CD/DVD discs.

Note:

• Windows XP is limited to burning CD only.
• Windows Vista and Windows 7 can burn DVD as well as CD.

1.How to burn CD using Windows XP

(Applies to all Editions of XP):
Preparation:

• To burn CD with XP you need a blank CD-R or CD-RW format disc.
• If the files you want to burn are in a CD or DVD, first copy it to your Computer's Hard Drive.

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Prep your CD Recorder settings(Very Important):
Step 1: Go to My Computer and right click on your CD Recorder Drive and choose ‘Properties’.

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Step 2: In the Properties window select the ‘Recording’ Tab.
Step 3: In the ‘Desktop CD Recording’ area, tick the ‘Enable CD recording on this drive’ checkbox. Click ‘Apply’ and ‘OK’ buttons. See image on the right.

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Burning the CD:

Step 1: Put a blank CD-R or CD-RW in the CD burner. It will open an empty CD Drive folder

Step 2: Copy the files you want to burn and put them into the CD folder. There are many ways to do this:

• Go and open up the folder where the file is. Select and Right Click your mouse on a file or set of files and choose ‘Send to’ – ‘CD Drive(G:)’ (Tip: To select more than 1 file - click the one file, then press ‘Ctrl’ key and pick the other files while keeping the ‘Ctrl’ key pressed down till you finish selecting. If the files are in sequence, click the first file, press ‘Shift’ key and then click the last file.)
• Copy the file/files using the file menu (the horizontal menus on the top of the window)– Click ‘Edit’ – ‘Copy’ or keyboard shortcut ‘Ctrl C’. Then paste(‘Edit’ –‘ Paste’ or ‘Ctrl V’) them into the open CD Drive(G:) folder.
• Select the files, use the file menu – ‘Edit’ – ‘Copy to Folder...’ – Select CD Drive (G:) and click ‘Copy’.
• If the files are in My Picture, My Music or My Videos, you can use ‘Copy to CD’ or ‘Copy all items to CD’ which is in the task area on the top left corner of the window.

Step 3: After you copied all the files you wanted, go to the CD Drive(G:) folder. If you are following from the start it should be already opened. If not, go to My Computer and double click on the CD Drive(G:). You should see the folder like the image below:

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Step 4: Now you should go ahead and check if your copied files exceed the capacity of your blank CD (Normal blank CD’s capacity is 700 megabytes. High-capacity CDs hold up to 850 MB). To do this select all the files – you can use keyboard shortcut ‘Ctrl’ A or ‘Edit’-Select All. Then go to file menu – ‘File’ and click on ‘Properties’. This will open up the ‘Properties’ window – See Image on the right. Make note of the 'Size' i.e. the total size of your files.
Step 5: Edit your files - If your files exceed the capacity of the CD, click on the file/files you want to unload and click the ‘Delete’ button. If you want to add more files go again and copy the files as in Step 2. Note: Leave a little room for the CD information area used by the programs e.g. if capacity is 700mb add up to 690mb of files.
Step 6: After you finish your editing, click on ‘Write these files to CD’ – you will find this in the ‘CD Writing Tasks’ which are on the top left corner of the CD Drive window. Now the ‘CD Writing Wizard’ window will pop up. First Window is for the CD name or title. Give the name & click next. The burning/writing process will start. When finished, it will give you the window ‘Completing the CD writing wizard’. Click ‘Finish’. Your CD is ready!