Patrick,
You're so confused.
Did you intend to "boot" off CD similar to booting off a media containing
Operating System 0e.g. Windows or command.com).
You you intend to make it Autorun/Autoplay which is much simpler and should
NEVER be called "bootable disk" - this is a gross misapplication of the term
"booatble".
I suspect you intended to make a real bootable disk - similar to Operating
System, and not disk with Autoplay feature.
In this case you placing "autorun.inf" has zero effect.
A bootable media is distinguished by a special data structure in which
logical arrangement of, for example CD disk, sectors, bytes and their
absolute addresses conform to industry-wide format.
These format(s), depending on media type are quite old, established for
harddisks and newer for optical media.
Now to cut the technical B.S. off, you might be just wondering "so how do I
do it without getting a degree in computing".
Well, ideally you would use a a quality CD/DVD mastering software - me and
many pros have favored for years Sonic RecordNow over more commonly known
Roxio and Nero, which used to be Veritas and Stomp before they all
acquired/sold to each other. Often a smaller, less-agressive company makes
a better product than a large, established one.
But now that Roxio monster acquired even Sonic, it's the same thing.
And it's expensive.
BUT it does let you create bootanle CD/DVD/BD (BD = BlueRay Disk)
Nero does the same, but we had more stable results with Roxio.
And finally if you got no money - there many almost free utilities that let
you make a bootablr CD/DVD/BD,.
Of course you get what you pay for - in this case not much.
If you have money, try Roxio. Heck they may even offer a free 30-day trial
during which you can make enough bootable CD's.
So again, placing 'autorun.inf" on a CD disk does NOTHING in terms of
telling BIOS "I am bootable, start reading me to load essential command
routines".
Autorun/inf is COMPLETELY for a different reason - it's used in
Autoplay/Autorun feature after OS e.g. Windows is ALREADY BOOTED INTO.
Don't mixup two things.
Have a nice day.
Stan S. in NYC