F6 disk is a colloquial name for a floppy disk

Floppy disk

A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...

 containing a Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

 Windows NT

Windows NT

Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix. It was intended to complement...

 device driver

Device driver

In computing, a device driver or software driver is a computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a hardware device....

 for a SCSI

SCSI

Small Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...

 or RAID

RAID

RAID is a storage technology that combines multiple disk drive components into a logical unit...

 system. F6 disks are used by all NT-based versions of Windows, including Windows 2000

Windows 2000

Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...

, Windows Server 2003

Windows Server 2003

Windows Server 2003 is a server operating system produced by Microsoft, introduced on 24 April 2003. An updated version, Windows Server 2003 R2, was released to manufacturing on 6 December 2005...

, and Windows XP

Windows XP

Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...

. Starting with Windows Vista

Windows Vista

Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...

, floppy F6 disks are obsolete; its setup process supports loading third-party drivers from USB drives

USB flash drive

A flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus interface. flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g...

 and CD-ROMs

CD-ROM

A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....

.

Usage

An F6 disk is named after the manner in which it is used. During the installation process for Windows, the Setup program must load device drivers for the disk system on which Windows will be installed. Unless the disk system has been established on the market before the finalization of the particular Windows release being installed, the drivers are not included on the Windows installation discs, and they must be loaded by means of an F6 disk. An F6 disk is loaded in Windows setup by pressing the F6 key

Function key

A function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions...

 immediately when Windows Setup starts. The message "Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver..." is briefly flashed on the screen every time Windows Setup starts.

An F6 disk contains device drivers in its root directory

Root directory

In computer file systems, the root directory is the first or top-most directory in a hierarchy. It can be likened to the root of a tree — the starting point where all branches originate.-Metaphor:...

. Prior to Windows Vista, F6 disks were always floppy disks because, at the point the F6 prompt is shown, Windows Setup has not loaded the drivers for any media type other than floppy disks. Support for USB drives and CD-ROMs was added in Windows Vista. Device drivers for RAID and other disk controllers are often provided on CD-ROMs by the manufacturers, but they must be copied to an F6 disk if they are to be used during Windows Setup. An alternative approach is to slipstream

Slipstream (computing)

In computer jargon, to slipstream updates, patches or service packs means to integrate them into the installation files of their original software, so that the resulting files will allow a direct installation of the updated software....

 the required SATA/SCSI/SAS/RAID/EIDE drivers into the Windows installation files directory (e.g. i386 for the x86 variety) by means of software like nLite

NLite

nLite and vLite are freeware applications which create customized installation CDs or DVDs for Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista. nLite lets users customize and remove components from their Windows installation disc thus creating a custom version, this is...

 and then create an ISO image

ISO image

An ISO image is an archive file of an optical disc, composed of the data contents of every written sector of an optical disc, including the optical disc file system...

that can be burned to CD or DVD media.