Installing Windows XP Using A USB Flash Drive

Posted on November 5th, 2008 by Jason

Removable flash memory sticks are pretty much one of the most handy little pieces of technology to come along in the last couple of years. They come in various shapes and their storage size can range from a measly 128 MB to a whopping 32 GB. And you’re not restricted by what you are able to put onto these devices either. Which got me thinking today. I am regularly installing fresh copies of Windows onto new built PCs, so I look for any way to increase the speed at which my work gets done without compromising quality, of course.

So I thought, with the speed of flash drives today, it could be possible to install Windows XP onto those PCs in a much faster time than with optical media (CD/DVD). Plus with all the motherboards I use, I always make sure that the motherboards support booting from USB as it’s a very handy feature. So I decided to look into the various guides that can be found on the Internet. Originally meant for the EEEPC, I found a guide that I was able to understand. Because of the way it was written it took me longer than 10 minutes to understand the whole procedure and I’m sure the average geek would be completely confused before they had reached the second line, simply because of the total lack of explanation on the part of the guide’s creator for those who do not usually do this kind of thing.

Anyway, as with all guides, you have to realize that there is a certain amount of risk involved with the procedures I am about to give you details for and that you use this guide at your own risk; I will not be held accountable for any damages done to your hardware if something should go wrong. It will involve the use of the command prompt and it has the possibility of damaging your flash drive. Although I believe that the chances of that happening are quite slim, there is always the possibility, so I thought I would warn you before you decide if you’re going to use my guide. Now with the pleasantries out of the way, let’s get down to business. There is some preparation needed before we can start this procedure. First off you need to make sure you have the following available to you:

1. An unmodified, legal copy of Windows XP Home or XP Professional
2. USB memory stick (2 GB recommended – 1 GB minimum)
3. A motherboard that is capable of booting from a USB drive (check your motherboard manual if not sure)

As long as you have all three points above met, then you are ready to start. Just so you know, in this process your USB flash drive will be formatted, so do not use a USB that contains data vital to you. As for a motherboard that is capable of booting from a USB drive, most modern motherboards offer this as a standard feature. If your motherboard is less than two years old, chances are that the motherboard you have supports this feature.

Okay, now we have made sure that your computer is capable of installing XP from a USB disk. The next thing we need to do is to download and extract three tools that are going to help us in this procedure. You can find download links to these files below:

1. USB_Prep8
2. PEtoUSB
3. Bootsect

I suggest you download these files directly to the root of your hard drive. In other words save them to a folder on the same drive that contains your operating system — for most people this will be the C: drive. Once they are all downloaded, go ahead and extract PEtoUSB and USB_Prep8 to separate folders. Once this is done you should take the contents of the PEtoUSB folder and copy them into the USB_Prep8 folder. Once this is done, you should go back to the root of your drive and extract Bootsect to the root of the drive (program files and Windows folder is stored in this area). We do not need to worry about the Bootsect program for now, however that is simply preparation for later. And as another matter of preparation I suggest you insert your Windows XP CD, create a folder on the root of your drive, name it XP, and then copy the contents of your Windows XP CD into that folder as you will need these files soon.

Okay, now that all the preparation is out of the way, we’ll start the process. It will take on average about 20-25 minutes to complete this process depending, of course, on the speed of your PC and of the USB stick you are going to be using. I must warn you now that you should NOT close any of the windows generated by the programs I am showing you how to use until you reach the point in this guide when I tell you to do so. This is quite important because, if you happen to close any of the following windows, it is possible that you can screw up the procedure and you will have to start again. With that out of the way, as long as you follow the instructions below, everything will run smoothly.

1. Go into the folder named USB_Prep8 and double-click the following: (usb_prep8.cmd)
2. Make sure you select the newly created command prompt window and click any key to continue
3. A new program is started (PeToUSB). Do not change any of the settings; just click start and let it run
4. Once PeToUSB is finished, DO NOT CLOSE any of the windows the program created
5. Go to your start menu and click run if you’re using the classic start menu
6. Enter the following command into your run window: (CMD)]
7. Once you have run that command, a new window will appear with the words command prompt
8. Provided that you have used the file setup I suggested, input the following: ( cd \bootsect )
9. Type in the following: ( bootsect /nt52 :R ) Replace R with the drive letter of your USB drive
10. You will see the message (Bootcode was successfully updated on targeted volume) if it worked right
11. You may NOW close all the windows except for the window that was created when you ran USB_Prep8
12. Providing you closed all the right windows, the USB_Prep8 Window will now contain seven options
13. Press 1 on your keyboard — this will bring up a window. Locate your XP folder and highlight it. Click OK
14. Press 2 on your keyboard — the program will ask for a unused drive letter (example: T or Z)
15. Press 3 on your keyboard — the program will ask for your USB Stick drive letter; enter it now.
16. Press 4 on your keyboard to start the USB_Prep8 process
17. The program will ask you if it is OK to format a drive contained in the letter you gave in #14; click yes
18. The program will start to copy the needed files; be patient
19. The program will then ask you if you wish to copy these files to the USB stick; click yes.
20. Finally, once it has finished copying the files, it will ask you if you want to make the stick the preferred boot drive. Click yes, after which it will ask if you wish to un-mount the USB stick. Click yes

And that’s all there is to it. The USB flash drive is now ready to install XP to any hardware that is supported by the Windows XP CD. However there are some minor differences to installing Windows XP this way than if you would with an optical drive, which I am going to go into. Of course, as I have said before, the speed at which Windows XP installs is MUCH faster when installing using a USB stick than if you were using an optical drive (CD/DVD). But the speed comes at the price of you needing to pay a little more attention to the install itself. Now from this point on, I am going to assume that your motherboard does in fact support booting from USB and that you have gone into your BIOS and have set the USB flash drive as the first drive to be booted from (make sure the flash drive is connected before you turn power on — it helps). I cannot give a generic answer to where that option is in your BIOS; I suggest you look up in your motherboard’s documentation.

Providing it boots from the USB flash drive, you will now be shown two options. One with the words GUI and one with the words Text Mode. Choose the Text Mode option first. Now you will see what you normally would see during a CD install of XP. Just follow the on-screen instructions as always. One note is that, if you need to create a new partition for your new Windows XP installation, once the partition is fully formatted, instantly turn off the PC as the install will need to be restarted so the flash drive can recognize the layout of your partitions correctly. Follow the instructions below:

1. Create a new partition and format it as normal
2. Once the partition is formatted, restart your PC and when the options come up again choose Text Mode
3. Highlight the newly formatted partition, press enter, move down to make no changes, and press enter

Okay, now after that all goes through and the PC restarts, simply chose the GUI option on the menu and let the Windows XP install go along as it would normally do. I must advise that you DO NOT REMOVE the USB stick until you’re actually past the setup stage. Once you have just booted into Windows XP for the first time, you can go ahead and remove the USB stick. Congratulations! You have just installed Windows XP without the need for a CD/DVD drive.

The benefits of installing from USB are plentiful and, providing you take the time to follow the instructions above, you need never worry about scratching your Windows XP CD again. I hope that the time I spent writing this guide will help you all to decrease the amount of time you spend having to install Windows XP when you have to. Peace!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Windows XP. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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76 Responses to “Installing Windows XP Using A USB Flash Drive”

  1. Zoheb on 16 Nov 2008 at 6:55 pm #

    hi friend, you article was very helpful as i was able to install windows xp thru these notes. But, there is one thing that has happened in my case. After installing and starting up windows using the bootable flash drive i cam into windows, then i removed the flash drive and restarted the laptop. To my amaze it did not start up, neither it gave any message, only the cursor blinked thats all. Then i inserted the flash drive and restarted the laptop and selected GUI. It boot well. Now each time i startup windows i have to boot from flash drive then boot into windows.

    Please help me!

  2. the lesser geek on 16 Nov 2008 at 9:39 pm #

    the Elder geek would be proud, but he may already know of your work. I’m going to mention it to him, if I don’t see any such thing when I get there..

    I’m not a relative, just younger or less geekier.

    I think if you had a lack of pizza, I would fedex you some, or maybe send you beer, regardless of the quantity you may already have or whether you want some or not. Relax and have a beer on Us. ( all of US)

    p.s.

    There is an option I had to use on bootsect
    H was my usb drive letter, of course
    bootsect /nt52 /H /force

    then it worked, for me. I must have had a file handle or window open to it recently, or been using windoze management drive manager too recently
    they WERE closed already, Honest!!

    in addition you should mention

    “PEtoUSB folder and copy them into the USB_Prep8″

    should have all the files in the same folder

    there is a folder WITHIN a folder from the source I downloaded that contains the files.

    c:\bootsect\bootsect
    etc etc for these three programs it’s the same.

    thawt I shood varn yew.

    OK, Cheers and happy thanksgiving, merry Christmas, Happy chanukkah, Happy Fatwah ( or such), Happy new Year, etc. good tidings and dont forget to toss out your pumpkins for the forest creatures (in the forest).

  3. Top 10 - November 2008 Popular Tips | Tips on 01 Dec 2008 at 6:15 am #

    [...] Installing Windows XP Using A USB Flash Drive [...]

  4. Triz on 04 Dec 2008 at 3:24 pm #

    ( bootsect /nt52 :R ) is wrong
    ( bootsect /nt52 R: ) is right

    but lovely information thanks alot =)

  5. bijoy on 10 Dec 2008 at 4:03 am #

    This is very helpful to me.
    I have tested its working fine.

  6. samady on 17 Dec 2008 at 7:40 pm #

    Lovely work but I hAVE THIS ERROR
    “FAILED TO COPY tempimge.img”
    ANY IDEAS
    THANX INADVANCE

  7. sirmaroc on 19 Dec 2008 at 1:04 am #

    Hey guyz, just some notes on this install, and how some people might be getting errors…

    1. the usb drive you are using should be in the upper case letters of the alphabet, I tried using letter Z did not work, because T to Z are reserved for virtual drives.

    2. The command bootsect /nt52 :R should look like this

    bootsect /nt52 R:

    3. You might get some problems, like I did when dealing with post Text Installation,
    if you go into the XP USB INSTALL DRIVE
    and edit the boot.ini you might see this:

    default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
    [operating systems]
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS=”Microsoft Windows XP Professional” /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

    now this is a problem, because when it will make
    your boot.ini it will use this same structure,
    and if your installing XP on a new machine,
    the RDISK needs to be set as zero, so if you get
    errors like:

    Error message: “Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem”

    What you can do to fix this is go into a good pc
    copy their boot.ini into the usb drive under another folder other than the root,
    then using the USBXP load the os into System Recovery, and paste the boot.ini

    and voila sa marche

  8. Spin on 21 Dec 2008 at 9:44 am #

    Thank you, it really works!
    Especially with help of sirmaroc’s comment

    I followed above installation steps but got “Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem”, so I just loaded my LiveUSB with Gentoo, mounted win partition with ntfs-3g and changed C:/boot.ini by hand =)

  9. Kam on 24 Dec 2008 at 11:11 am #

    I followed the instructions and prepared the usb boot disk with windows XP sp3. When I booted the
    computer with the usb and selected the TEXT mode,
    the setup started to run widows setup and then sudenly a blue screen with Stop error 0X000007B occurred. I tried to boot several times but same
    error. Please help!!

    thanks
    Kam

  10. TaZ on 08 Jan 2009 at 2:43 pm #

    My problem is when I go into the windows install the only partition listed is the usb flash drive itself and none of my real hard drives are there why is this?

  11. Subvert on 03 Feb 2009 at 12:35 am #

    Note that in addition to the above corrections, if you’re running this on Vista machine (obviously to set up XP on another computer), you must turn off UAC.

  12. amir on 07 Feb 2009 at 4:22 am #

    Anyway, as with all guides, you have to realize that there is a certain amount of risk involved with the procedures I am about to give you details for and that you use this guide at your own risk; I will not be held accountable for any damages done to your hardware if something should go wrong. It will involve the use of the command prompt and it has the possibility of damaging your flash drive. Although I believe that the chances of that happening are quite slim, there is always the possibility, so I thought I would warn you before you decide if you’re going to use my guide. Now with the pleasantries out of the way, let’s get down to business. There is some preparation needed before we can start this procedure. First off you need to make sure you have the following available to you:

  13. josh on 10 Feb 2009 at 6:41 am #

    i really appreciate it if somebody help me quick! i can’t figure out what happened when i already input the target USB drive!!! it always says “Target USB-Drive t: does NOT Exist” i need help what should i do? I need an answer now please!!!

  14. marvin on 20 Feb 2009 at 8:44 am #

    hi mate..you’re such a genius! thanks a lot

  15. billy powell on 21 Feb 2009 at 11:49 am #

    i tried wot u said an i keep gettin error when installing saying no ntldr found or windowsroot>\system32\hal.dll. is missing or corrupt please help me solve this thank you 4 ur time

  16. billy powell on 21 Feb 2009 at 11:51 am #

    it also says that the bootsect.zip may hav missing files or b corrupt.please help my daughters notebook is now unusable until i resolve the problem .thanx again 4 ur time

  17. dissidia on 05 Mar 2009 at 2:36 am #

    thanks bro, it’s really helpful

  18. Anton on 05 Mar 2009 at 4:32 pm #

    I have done the above steps I can boot just fine however when I try to install to my latpot harddrive the only drive that I have the option to install to is my flash drive.

    Any help would be much appreciated thanks.

  19. Jesse on 05 Mar 2009 at 7:23 pm #

    How long must I be “patient” for? It has been stuck at “Copying Custom files and XP root files to temp drive” for over 10 minutes now.

    I also see a few “Invalid number of parameters” in different portions of the cmd line.

    And going all the way back, when I went to find my XP folder and chose it, it told me that there were no XP setup files located in the folder, when there clearly is.

    Any suggestions?

  20. Alok on 13 Mar 2009 at 4:14 pm #

    i have a promble which not short out in the you
    promble is “Windows could not start becoz the following file is missing or corrupt:
    \system32\hal.dll.
    please re-install a copy of the above file.”

    plz tall my the solution i have dell lapot & my cd rom is not working

  21. Tynan on 14 Mar 2009 at 3:24 pm #

    Thanks for this, short and simple and sweet

    I failed using a 8Gb drive (fair enough) and a crappy PBY stick from Curries, two different Vista laptops failed to mount that let alone boot from it, all working perfectly so far with a 2GB ScanDisk stick (formatting) and an Inspiron Mini 12

    fingers crossed!

  22. karl on 18 Mar 2009 at 4:23 pm #

    Great Job!!

    it worked for me!

    but the problem is, when i boot from the HD it gives me 2 options;
    Windows XP Professional
    USB Repair not to start Windows

    i temporarily fixed it by changing the boot.ini so it doesnt give me the choices anymore and boots straight to xp.
    but of course the problem is still there i just changed how it boots.\

    how i know its still there?

    well, when i tried to boot using the flash drive and choose text mode, it tells me there is a problem on the installation under “USB Repair not to Start Windows”

    can the author give his feedback pls.
    thanks!!

  23. john on 26 Mar 2009 at 5:22 pm #

    the virtual disk driver does not work on 64 bit windows there for this will not work with out a 64 bit version of the driver…. and for those who would question compatibility mode… it doesnt work either…

  24. sanjeev on 09 Apr 2009 at 4:29 am #

    hi,…….the idea is great. I tried it but the problem is coming during installation process…..an error hal.dll file not found error is appearing and computer asking to restart using ctrl+alt+del….after restarting again the same problem…..anybody having solution of this…..

  25. hotmix on 11 Apr 2009 at 6:06 am #

    this great tools. thank so much

  26. RossP on 22 Apr 2009 at 12:40 am #

    Like Cam I too have a blue screen with Stop error 0X000007B occurring during win setup. Already changed rdisk values from 1 to 0 in the boot.ini to cure the hal.dll error. I s problem perhaps due to my tablet PC having flash drive instead of a hard drive ?

  27. rav on 01 May 2009 at 9:32 pm #

    the is very helpful..but my problem is everytime i select txt mode setup but biosinfo.inf could not be loaded error comes out..

    please help me i have deadline to work on, and i have no option to install windows xp on my laptop coz my cd rom was defective!!!

    can i know solutions as soon as posilbe?
    thx

  28. alejo on 20 May 2009 at 4:05 am #

    i just did follow all the instructions above but after booting in usb stick and start installing xp then after deleting and creating new partition, setup is looking for the installation cd,”if you are installing using cdrom drive make sure that the cd is in the cdrom drive” something like that and there is no option just retry, f3=quit, skip.
    any advice to make it work

  29. Dins' on 22 May 2009 at 6:56 pm #

    Hi,

    I have created and tested it successfully on the system which have the CD/DVD ROM connected, But when I tried to install on the System with No CD/DVD ROM it just failed to install stating no CDROM Found!!!;

    After loading all the required files from TEXT SETUP when it asks to Press “Enter” to continue, “R” to REPAIR and “F3″ to Quit;
    When I press Enter Button it Throws an error stating – “No CD-ROM Found to continue the Setup,Bla Bla Bla….. Press “F3″ to Quit”

    When again I cheked it on the system with CD/DVD Connected it worked simply fine…
    I’m unable to figure it out if what is the problem???

    If have any solution to this Please suggest ASAP…

    Dins’

  30. Stall Vilbrun on 27 May 2009 at 1:35 pm #

    GREAT JOB! thanks.

  31. marco on 09 Jun 2009 at 11:13 pm #

    PeToUsb the program wont find my usb it says no disk found(or something like that)

  32. Pedro on 13 Jun 2009 at 8:48 am #

    WORKING 100% but have some problems..
    im done installing windowsXP sp3 in my notebook, but when i install some softwares (MSOffice2007&uniblue) it shows an error..
    i suspect that installing windows from a USB doesn’t give you the full installation of a normal WindowsXP..when i boot the usb and installed windows, it doesn’t ask for the username and other informations..the product was directly registered to UserXP..

    but the instructions above worked fine except for the errors that ive encountered during new software installations..

    tnx for this one..

  33. marko on 13 Jun 2009 at 7:31 pm #

    Hey, lovely info, worked flawlessly, but one problem…
    When my PC is booting, i get 2 options to select:
    1. Microsoft XP Professional
    2. USB Repair…(don’t recall the rest)
    How to avoid this? I mean avoid it and make XP boot without selecting one of the 2 options.

  34. Dan on 02 Jul 2009 at 11:18 am #

    Was notable to get this to work. Everytime it gives me an error message, “\$WIN_NT$.~BT\biosinfo.inf could not be loaded. The error code is 14.” If I manually add this file it still prompts for another & another. Can anyone help? Really need to be able to do this.

  35. Aaseem Sufi on 03 Jul 2009 at 7:02 am #

    Thanks alot.
    I have wasted 2 days for this but your trick solved my problem in half an hour.

  36. KOKE on 08 Jul 2009 at 10:56 am #

    Thanks a lot, Pal. The USB winxp setup was successfull,however,on the start menu “RUN” does not showup.

    Second issue is that system security could not be set on xp, this makes it difficult for the intallation of MSOffice 2007(as it complains of security issues). Any fix? :-)

  37. Jack on 10 Jul 2009 at 7:10 pm #

    Thanks, I installed with no problems but then when I turn on my PC, I always get 2 options to boot XP or the USB boot thing. Can I get rid of that and just skip to booting XP or not?

  38. Lindsay on 23 Jul 2009 at 4:33 am #

    I am having the same problems as jesse – it keeps telling me the location where my XP install files are does not contain any install files. I am trying to install an english language version of XP Lite on my german language netbook.. Maybe I will try with a full version of XP to see if that works first… any suggestions would be appreciated though!

  39. Lee on 29 Jul 2009 at 5:42 pm #

    what do you mean on step 3 and 4?
    Format the drive?

  40. sadman on 03 Aug 2009 at 2:25 am #

    the file biosinfo.inf not found …. when the pd boots second time for installing XP..

  41. alana on 03 Aug 2009 at 10:16 pm #

    Hello, so when running usb_prep8, whenever I hit option 1, it tells me that

    “‘CSRIPT.EXE is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

    Error: The path does nto contain Windows XP Source Files”

    However, this command DOES work if I don’t extract the download to my root but run it straight from wherever firefox keeps its temporary files or whichever… although in this case, I cannot make a Tempimage. I’ve been struggling with this for days… any suggestions? My CSCRIPT.EXE is intact and located in the win32 folder.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you so much, my friend’s eeepc will loooove you!

  42. lewis on 06 Aug 2009 at 2:38 pm #

    hello im also getting the Stop error 0X000007B (blue screen of death) just after the drivers load in text mode and it says at the bottom loading windows. i cant get any further. im supposed to me fixing my partners laptop and this is really bugging me any help would be really appreciated. :s

  43. Ismadi on 08 Aug 2009 at 6:09 am #

    Hi! Hope anyone could help me out. Im using PEtoUSB to reformat my USB but it fails to format. Im using 8Gb USB stick.
    Thanks

  44. Jacob on 09 Aug 2009 at 7:47 pm #

    As per the instructions in this site, i have created successfully usb bootable disk with PeToUSB, USB_prep8 and bootsect, all of which were reported to have been completed successfully.
    When I boot from the memory stick, I get the option to choose “text mode setup” as per the tutorial but immediately after making the choice I get the error: “file \$win_nt$.~bt\biosinfo.inf could not be loaded. The error code is 14″.
    From what I have read, the install should not be looking there for the biosinfo.inf, but after trawling the internet and reading lots that I don’t think is relevant anyway, I have decided that it is time to get help.
    Then i copied from the file from other folder to ~bt folder , then gets ntkrnlmp.exe not found.
    Could you please help me

  45. joj on 11 Aug 2009 at 6:35 am #

    i have a problem with this, step-13 gives error like that,(input error: there is no script engine for file extension “vbs”
    plz any one help me to solve

  46. Kazi on 15 Aug 2009 at 11:05 pm #

    Hi

    I am facing prob at Step-13.The message is ”

    Error: The path Input Error: There is no script engine for file extension “.vbs
    “. does not contain Windows XP Source Files.

    Any Idea?

  47. Robert on 18 Aug 2009 at 5:41 am #

    I have gone through all these steps and everything seemed to go very smoothly… When I go to install xp on my laptop it doesn’t show me my hard drive to install xp on. The only device it shows is my usb drive… Any help would be appreciated…

    Thanks.

  48. John Hennebery on 18 Aug 2009 at 2:30 pm #

    As per the instructions in this site, i have created successfully usb bootable disk with PeToUSB, USB_prep8 and bootsect, all of which were reported to have been completed successfully.
    When I boot from the memory stick, I get the option to choose “text mode setup” as per the tutorial but immediately after making the choice I get the error: “file \$win_nt$.~bt\biosinfo.inf could not be loaded. The error code is 14″.
    From what I have read, the install should not be looking there for the biosinfo.inf, but after trawling the internet and reading lots that I don’t think is relevant anyway, I have decided that it is time to get help.

  49. Ansh on 22 Aug 2009 at 9:39 am #

    Hi

    I followed all your steps successfully but after selecting 1st boot priority from USB-FDD it w’nt boot. how to solve this issue

  50. Will on 28 Aug 2009 at 4:17 pm #

    Finally got it working!

    Great guide, however when I ran the text mode setup I could only see my USB drive listed.

    To solve this, I entered the BIOS setup and changed the Sata mode from AHCI to COMPATIBILITY. When I then rebooted and ran text mode setup my HDD was listed. Some people may find they need to change from AHCI to IDE mode.

    To those who say they reboot and then the USB drive isn’t recognised, it’s probably because you formatted the USB partition when running text mode – I almost did this, thinking it was the only option since my HDD wasn’t listed.

    Hope that helps people who are stuck!

  51. Greg on 02 Sep 2009 at 7:59 pm #

    Greetings,
    I’m getting the same error problems as lewis above on aug 6 2009. I’m not sure as what to do some help would be great. Thanks in advance.

  52. gotohell on 03 Sep 2009 at 11:12 am #

    go to hell moron, this doesnt work and the download links for 3 files are not available. i’ve been trying to download for 3 days and all i get is max user limit reached.
    stop spamming people with false info

  53. roberto flores on 05 Sep 2009 at 7:24 pm #

    Todo funciono perfecto. Tardo como media hora en copiar los archivos de la carpeta de instalacion de XP al flash drive. Pero al final todo resulto bien.

    Ahora me salen dos opciones para iniciar Windows XP, o con el Flash drive. Pero no importa.

    Lo que me preocupa es si podre instalarle softwar adicional.

    Veremos que pasa.
    Muchas gracias por todo. Excelente tutorial.

  54. roberto flores on 06 Sep 2009 at 6:11 pm #

    o.k. it worked very fine for me. Thank you very much.

    Now, when my PC is booting, i get 2 options to select:
    1. Microsoft XP Professional
    2. USB Repair NOT to Start Microsoft XP profesional.

    Here’s the answer how you can avoid this. I mean avoid it and make XP boot without selecting one of the 2 options.

    Just edit your boot.ini and get rid of that line.
    You can do this with your Wordpad.

    1) Search for boot.ini (normally it’s located on c:\ )
    2) Open the boot.ini
    3) Delete tha line that refer to USB Repair bla,bla (it should be the last line)
    4) Save and exit.

    If you can’t see the file boot.ini with your wordpad, select “All files”, (not only RTF files). And remember this boot.ini file es hidden, so maybe you must unhidden it first.

    I don’t speak much English, but hope this advice can help you.

  55. sahil on 12 Sep 2009 at 7:59 am #

    Hey Man U r Gr8 thank bro its working fine …

    thank 4 all this

  56. SaKaY on 14 Sep 2009 at 1:52 pm #

    Thanks, this if very useful information…
    Cheerssss…..

  57. Mr. T on 20 Sep 2009 at 9:40 am #

    Hey… thank you, thank you, thank you. This process and these tools should be in any systems’ guys toolbox. I’ve spent days trying to find a solution to getting XP on a flash. Tried Unetbootin, Live USB Creator, copying floppy boot, and more and nothing worked until this. Thank you so much for sharing your insight!

    Mr. T

  58. mohammed on 22 Sep 2009 at 7:07 am #

    thanks for this information.
    i advice you to read about Islam.
    to change your life to the best.
    with my regard.
    and thank you again.

  59. Jareth on 25 Sep 2009 at 7:16 pm #

    Actually, after running the installer again ( The steps where I copy the xp files to a tempdrive, it says the virtal driver is not loaded. Why? I have UAC off and everything. I know T and Z are reserved, so I tried choosing another letter. And nothing. Also, it says tempdrive directory not found, or some sort. Any help would be appreciated =/

  60. Jedi_KNIght on 01 Oct 2009 at 1:47 pm #

    Guys, i installed xp using flash drive, it work but the problem is i cant install microsoft office 2007, it has errors, i tried to a diff pc, same problem. is there any fix for this error. thanks

  61. Troy on 03 Oct 2009 at 10:13 am #

    In the command window after typing what the author has written 6 or seven numbers are displayed. When 1 is clicked author says that a window pop ups where we have to locate the XP setup. But when I click 1, no pop ups are diplayed and it shows an error under option 1. What’s the problem? and why cant we just copy the setup and paste directly into the pen drive?

  62. liars on 03 Oct 2009 at 8:30 pm #

    The PeToUSB does not see any of my usb sticks.. tried 4 diffrent ones 1,2,4,8 GB on 3 diff computers…
    Liars and Cheaters .. I challenge any one to prove that this works….

  63. dave on 12 Oct 2009 at 10:55 pm #

    error during the gui part of the install…

    copy error:
    Setup cannot copy the file sapisvr.ex_.

    Ensure that the disk labeled “Windows XP Professional CD-ROM’ is in the drive selected below, or provide the location where the file can be found.

    Copy files from:
    and in the box it says…
    D:\$WIN_NT$.~LS\i386

    does anyone know how to fix this. thanks.

  64. Roomi on 24 Oct 2009 at 6:27 am #

    here i am getting one error massage while installing windows xp from usb pen drive to laptop ,error
    File\ $WIN_NT$.~BT\biosinfo.inf could not be loaded
    The error code is 14
    Setup cannot continue.Press any key to exit

  65. Kingsley on 26 Oct 2009 at 2:56 am #

    Hi Jason,

    I followed your instructions and i created a bootbale USB flash and i have successfully installed WinXP Pro.

    Cheers man.

  66. Zim on 26 Oct 2009 at 4:32 am #

    Hello,
    I had a strange problem while doing this.
    I was able to create the bootable SD memory disc for Windows XP, for my ACER ASPIRE ONE D250. It started XP installation. It showed 2 options in the boot menu. I selected boot from the memory disc. At the end when it reaches the window where it shows the partitions, I could not see the computer hard disc drive. Instead only the SD memory disc(4GB)was shown there. That means if I proceed, it will install the OS in the SD card.Could you please tell me which settings do I miss, to be able to see the computer hard disc here?

  67. James on 26 Oct 2009 at 8:23 pm #

    anybody can help me : at step 13 getting followong error: not contain Windwos XP source files..
    please help

  68. nh3 on 06 Nov 2009 at 9:44 pm #

    Hello,
    I had a strange problem while doing this.
    I was able to create the bootable thumb drive memory disc for Windows XP, for my HP MINI 2140. It started XP installation. It showed 2 options in the boot menu. I selected boot from the memory disc. At the end when it reaches the window where it shows the partitions, I could not see the computer hard disc drive. Instead only the thumb drive memory disc(4GB)was shown there. That means if I proceed, it will install the OS in the thumb drive.Could you please tell me which settings do I miss, to be able to see the computer hard disc here?

  69. jong on 09 Nov 2009 at 5:42 am #

    i am having problem, I followed the tutorial but when i press enter to choose install to the drive, it says cannot continue because the cd rom xp cd is not found. please help

  70. PASHA on 09 Nov 2009 at 6:04 am #

    PLZ SEND ME

    LATEST SOFTWARE AND TIPS

    PLZ

  71. Gregory Dearth on 10 Nov 2009 at 9:58 am #

    Cannot load file \$winn_nt$.bt\biosinfo.inf error code 14

    Cannot get past this error. I am attempting an install on an eeepc that currenty has linux on it. I got tired of my hardware not working with the os, so I am sadly returning to windoze. Syncing my cellphone and internet sharing with it will be nice. Countless months wasted trying to make linux do it.

  72. Nick on 12 Nov 2009 at 6:11 am #

    Problem: hal.dll is missing or corrupt

    Fix: Delete all partitions and create a new one in the XP Setup.

    I had Windows 7 installed and was trying to install XP over it (quick format) but I got this error when it started the GUI setup.

    I deleted all the partitions (Windows 7 creates 2 by default) and then recreated one that spanned the entire disk, and this problem goes away. Maybe its to do with not installing in first partition on the disk?

  73. Gary on 12 Nov 2009 at 10:57 pm #

    When I hit the #1 key, I get the message Please give the location to your windows XP setup source files ‘CSCRIPT.EXE’ is not recognized as an internl or external command, operable program or batch file.
    Error: The path does not contain windows XP source files.
    Thank You,
    Gary

  74. Prateek on 13 Nov 2009 at 7:23 am #

    Hii..
    I have a problem while installing xp with USB…when my installation was complete..and then when i start PC again..
    It displays that (1)Start windows normally
    (2) USB repair not to start Microsoft Windows XP professional..
    SO wat to do..Coz i want to start my start normally evrytime..and dont want to asked any questions…Plzz help me out as quickly as possible..and reply on my gmail…

  75. William on 18 Nov 2009 at 3:52 pm #

    Hello Guys! An awesome tutorial, but…

    When it comes to setting the options of usb_prep8 in Command Prompt, I can’t pass the 4th option which is “Change Target USB-Drive Letter, currently []“. Now my USB drive is “D:\”, but when I try to set it to that, I get an error “***** D: is not a valid Drive *****”. How could I fix the problem?

  76. arthur on 22 Nov 2009 at 11:37 am #

    “Will on 28 Aug 2009 at 4:17 pm #
    Finally got it working!

    Great guide, however when I ran the text mode setup I could only see my USB drive listed.

    To solve this, I entered the BIOS setup and changed the Sata mode from AHCI to COMPATIBILITY. When I then rebooted and ran text mode setup my HDD was listed. Some people may find they need to
    change from AHCI to IDE mode.”

    Thanks a lot Will!I thought i’m stuck!

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