Create the bootable CD on someone elses computer

*I got the email from someone whose computer could not burn the CD on their computer, but the floppy and usb solution wouldn't work for them, so my solution was to just find someone else's computer.
*I want to draw attention to this since this come up in technical support circles sometimes. If a certain "thing" works on someone else's computer, but not your computer, there are 3 basic possiblities:
1. Your software configuration is different: Backup, format, reinstall -or- backup, format, install like they have.
2. Your hardware configuration -or- hardware failure: Replace the hardware.
3. A special mix of how your hardware differs from their hardware, extending from network cards to where your computer is in relation to interference, to where you live in the country, to certain hardware not supporting certain specifications.
*The answer to #3? Voodoo. Or at least that's what it will seem like the first 100 things you try randomly that seem to have no effect, and then 101 magically fixes everything. If you run into this situation, your best bet is to try a 3rd party, see if it works for them, then try and eliminate as many variables as possible.
*Anyway, I'm digressing, I got this email on February 20th:
PLEASE help me…I’ve tried the downloads, I’ve looked inside to make sure everything is connected, I don’t have a disc to boot up with and I am utterly desperate…. I just need to get this thing up long enough to back up some files.

Basically – I think I was able burn the ISO image on to a disk but I’m not sure….are there any other options besides that image? I’m working from my work laptop and so therefore cannot download the ISO recorder. But everytime I load the cd into my laptop and look at the properties of the file it does list it as an MS ISO Image.

My computer is ancient so I think that it doesn’t recognize the USB when I put it in or I can’t figure out what the name of it is to change the booting up sequence.

Finally – If I have the Windows XP CD – its none of the ones I put into the CD-ROM because that did not have any effect.

Please…..I’m desperate….do you have any solutions that aren’t going to cost me $300????

*I responded with this later that day:
You best and cheapest bet is to find a computer that can burn the ISO
image onto the disc uncompressed. (IE: find a computer that you can
install iso recorder to). Its possible you can ask your company IT to
do it for you in exchange for a soda (at least that's what I do).

After burning the ISO image onto a cd, it should actually display as
several files, and the properties should not say ISO.

I sympathise with this being difficult, unfortunately it must be an
ISO so that it can make the CD bootable.

You don't have to respond: but what lead up to this?

*I got this reply later that day:
Thank you sooo much for getting back to me. I actually thought of seeing if the IT folks will help.

I didn't really do anything new. The last real update was when I had it updated to Windows XP but that was over 4 months ago so I don't know.

Thanks again....I'll let you know if it gets fixed.