Setup Windows XP From USB Flash Disk

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Last week, one of my friends asked me to reinstall his netbook using genuine Windows XP with SP3 on it. The problem is, it doesnt have any cd/dvd drive, external nor internal. So, i tried to install it from USB flash disk and it worked like a charm. Now, i’m gonna show you how to make that bootable Windows XP Installation USB Disk. You will need some tools to make this happen, they are : USB_PREP8, PeToUSB, and Bootsect.exe

I have already packed these applications into one downloadable archive. You can download them HERE. After downloading the file, extract all the files into one directory on your computer, then, follow these instructions bellow carrefuly :

1. Go to the directory where you extract the files
2. Execute usb_prep8.cmd, you can just double click the file through windows explorer. Then a command prompt dialog will appear
   screenshot :
   
3. Press any key, then another dialog box will show
   screenshot :
   
4. Choose the destination drive, which will be your usb flash disk, and set all the options just like shown on the image above, then click start
5. *Important, when the format process is complete dont close the application, let it open and we will continue to the next step
6. Open another command prompt, start – run : cmd, press enter. change directory (CD) to switch folders to where you extract the files. ex : cd c:\usbsetup (depends on where you extract the downloaded file)
7. type : bootsect.exe /nt52 H:
   note : H: is your usb flash disk drive, if it’s E: then change it to E:
8. It will say : “Bootcode was successfully updated on all targeted volumes.”
9. Now close the command prompt (type exit) and also close PEToUSB window as well, then another command prompt dialog box will show
   screenshot :
   
10. Press 1 then enter : type your cd/dvd drive letter where your windows xp installation cd exist, ex : E:
11. press 3 then enter : type your USB flash disk drive letter, ex: H:
12. Now we’re ready to copy the windows setup files from cd your pc then to the usb disk, just press 4 then enter, this will take several minutes to complete
13. You will then be asked whether to format drive T: or no (the temporary dive), just press Y
14. Once the process is done just press enter to continue, then yes (Y) again till the last process
15. Quit usbprep8, press q then enter, now you already have a bootable windows xp installatin USB disk

You can now use that USB Disk to do the windows setup without using any CD/DVD drive, make sure to set the BIOS setting to make the USB Disk as the first boot option, when you’re booting from the usb disk, it will show you two option, choose 1, usually at line 2 to setup the windows for the first time and after restart choose 2, usually at the first line. Dont remove the usb disk till setup process is really complete (the desktop shows). The setup process might take you several times to restart. When you can see windows XP desktop, it’s done, you can now safely remove the usb disk and boot from harddisk as the first boot.

Hope this information will help you a lot as many netbook around doesnt have internal CD/DVD drive. Happy trying

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14 Responses to “Setup Windows XP From USB Flash Disk”

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1. 11
   Joy Says:
   May 2nd, 2011 at 4:18 pm

   @mutandi
   no i’m not, i’m just a curious coder
   thx for visiting and drop the comment

2. 12
   dnald Says:
   August 31st, 2011 at 12:35 pm

   10 . Press 1 then enter : type your cd/dvd drive letter where your windows xp installation cd exist, ex : E:

   what if i dont have cd installation… but i download xp intallation ..what im gonna do?… thnx..

3. 13
   rehan Says:
   September 7th, 2011 at 9:32 am

   dis is nice

4. 14
   jaypee Says:
   May 4th, 2012 at 12:26 pm

   can i use this in reformating?

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