A startup disk created during a Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows 98 setup that can be used to troubleshoot Windows 95 and Windows 98 boot problems. Having a current copy of the emergency startup disk for each machine running Windows 95 or Windows 98 on your network helps with disaster recovery if these machines fail to boot properly.
The emergency startup disk contains files necessary to load a command-line version of Windows 95 or Windows 98, plus other useful system-recovery utilities, including a real-mode registry editor. When you insert an emergency startup disk into your computer and reboot, the computer starts from the disk instead of from your hard drive.
You should create a new emergency startup disk whenever you make a configuration change to a machine running Windows 95 or Windows 98 - for example, when you install new hardware or update device drivers.