Installing Win XP Pro via UFD (Universal Flash Device)

45 Responses to “Installing Win XP Pro via UFD (Universal Flash Device)”

1. 
   Tim
   August 22nd, 2008 at 7:34 pm

   Great walk through! You’re geek card has been returned.

2. 
   Chua Eng Hock
   September 18th, 2008 at 1:09 am

   Any idea where can I get a working copy of USB_prep8.zip? I searched through all the website that provided link, after downloading - all aren’t working, so not sure if it is unique problem for me.

   Thanks.

3. 
   shawn
   September 26th, 2008 at 7:34 am

   Hey Chua,

   The files are linked to this article. Just click on them in the list of items needed at the top. If these don’t work for you then let me know, maybe I can email them to you.

   Shawn

4. 
   Alex
   September 28th, 2008 at 9:30 am

   Hey man,

   great tips, and it almost works for me…however, when I get to the installation screen, only my flash drive is being found, not my local hard drive where I want to install xp to…what could be going wrong here?

   Thanks, Alex.

5. 
   shawn
   September 30th, 2008 at 6:57 am

   Hey Alex,

   First question, are you at the point where you are trying to copy the files for installation to the UFD or are you at step 34-35 where you are actually trying to install the OS to your local hard disk?

   If you are at the former(step 24), then check to make sure you are using the correct drive letter for the UFD.

   If it is the later then exactly what step of the installation are you at? Have you booted the pc and chosen the text mode setup (This is Option #1 but is actually the scond option on the list)? Are you at the point where you are deleting and creating partitions?

   Shawn

6. 
   ben dover
   October 9th, 2008 at 1:29 pm

   flash drive not being found error - happed to me when i used vista
   switched to an xp pc and the program detected the UFD drive fine!

   Ben.

7. 
   cameti2
   October 23rd, 2008 at 9:14 pm

   hello,

   nice tutorial.

   get everything done except when reaching step 25 - getting en error messagem when atempting to run virtual drive:

   “….the virtual drive is not installed…tempimage.img was not found….FSUTILutility requires that you have adm privileges…”

   any ideas how to get trough???

   running pc with vista home.

   thnks in advance,

   cameti2

8. 
   Shawn
   October 24th, 2008 at 7:29 am

   Hey cameti2,

   First, make sure you are entering the same drive letter that you assigned on step 14. If you know that you are using the same drive letter then think back to Step 11 and ensure that you closed the explorer window that displayed the temp drive contents that popped-up after the format was complete.

   These are just precautionary measures but I believe your problem may be rooted in Vista itself. That message seems to be an issue with the UAC (User Account Control) in Vista. I believe that you may need to disable the UAC and complete the operations and re-enable it when done.

   Try that and let me know if that solves the issue.

   shawn

9. 
   Kevin
   October 30th, 2008 at 8:13 pm

   Hi Scardog,

   Can we copy that UFD to another UFD?

10. 
    Duong
    October 31st, 2008 at 8:01 pm

    Hi !

    Thanks Shawn
    I have following instruction to make UFD boot successful buthave proble when try installing
    It is errors after select Option 1:
    file\$WIN_NT$.~BT\biosinfo.inf could not be loaded
    error code is 14
    Set up cannot continue. Press any key to exit.

    Could you please help? why it missing that file or can not loaded…

    Thanks in advance

    Duong

11. 
    bastian
    November 1st, 2008 at 7:36 am

    very very good.

    thanks for scartech.

12. 
    Shawn
    November 3rd, 2008 at 8:58 am

    To Kevin:
    I am sure you can can copy over the files but not sure if it will be recognized as a bootable device. That would be interesting to see. Try it out and reply back here to share. I would like to know, as I am sure our reader will as well.

    To Duong:
    That error can be caused by many things. First use the version of the files posted here, as they are known good. Second, at Step 11 did you make sure to close all windows display the UFD closed. Third, is the Windows XP disk a copy that you got or is it an OEM or PC Manufacturer Disc. The reason is that certain burned discs will not work with this process. Check these things and reply here with the answers and we can move forward.

    To bastain:
    Thank you for the comment and reading our post.

    shawn

13. 
    rakesh uniyal
    November 21st, 2008 at 11:46 am

    after entering 1, i got msg ” error: the path g:\does not contain windows xp source files”
    what is that!!! i have winxp in cd-rom and even winxp.iso file in drive.
    plz solve probs. thanx a lot.

14. 
    Ray
    December 21st, 2008 at 3:48 am

    You save my live (my laptop)

    my acer travelmate 6291 using HD sata, i need to create windows instalation with nlite to include the sata driver, then the main problem is my optical drive is broken, can’t to used for instalation.

    you save me with instalation through the flash disk.

15. 
    Hruza Rudolf
    January 6th, 2009 at 4:54 pm

    Hello,first my compliments too this great topic.

    My answer is,everything is going smoot,but my eeepc asus 701 8GB don’t recognised my KINGSTON usb stick in the bios,did i do something wrong!!

    Kind regards from Belgium.

16. 
    Robert
    January 7th, 2009 at 8:39 pm

    Thank you so much for your instructions on installing xp via a ufd. I tried with numerous other sites and they never worked. Your instructions were detailed and easy to follow. Thanks again. You are a lifesaver.

    Cheers,

    Robert

17. 
    Shawn
    January 8th, 2009 at 7:54 am

    Hey Hruza,
    I would try to just run through the usb_prep8 install to format the UFD and see if your bios will recognize it. It may be something with the UFD itself. I used a Kingston 1gig and I tried a PNY 4gig. Both worked for me.

    Try the usb_prep8 and let me know if it works or not.

    Also, thank you to all who have commented on our post. It is very appreciated to get comments from readers.

18. 
    Jason
    January 16th, 2009 at 2:12 am

    hi there,im using an ibm x21 thinkpad.my laptop still continues loading as usual,ignoring booting up from the flash drive..please help me.thanks.

19. 
    Jason
    January 16th, 2009 at 2:38 am

    cont’d

    Hi there,i just tried to boot from my compaq presario desktop and it works..still doesnt boot up for the ibm x21..at startup i pressed F12 and theres a selection of boot devices.i selected removable devices(options are removable devices,cd-rom drive,hard drive,network boot).but it still boots from the hard drive..hope u can help me..much appreciated and thanks..

20. 
    shawn
    January 16th, 2009 at 8:48 am

    Hey Jason,

    What BIOS version are you running on the x21? It looks like the BIOS did not support booting from a UFD until version 1.14 (IZET59WW). Check here (http://dag.wieers.com/howto/thinkpad/x20/spsuiz99.txt) for BIOS details. That was a pretty early version of the BIOS so I would think it has been upgraded, but it never hurts to check.

    Also, what OS is currently installed on the machine?

    Reply back with that info and we can take it from there.

    Shawn

21. 
    Jason(x21)
    January 16th, 2009 at 11:54 pm

    hi shawn..thanks for yr reply..the bios version is 2.25 IZET9DWW 17 Apr 2003.currently whats installed on the x21 is windows xp pro sp2…but i want to reinstall a clean install of xp pro..thanks shawn…hope this helps..

22. 
    Jason(x21)
    January 16th, 2009 at 11:57 pm

    cont’d

    but the problem is there is no cd drive nor diskette drive attached to the laptop..dats y i intend to use yr method using a usb flash drive..

23. 
    shawn
    January 19th, 2009 at 1:10 pm

    Hey Jason,

    Just let me check a few more things:

    You successfully configured the up through step 33

    You set the pc (x21) to boot from removable devices and saved configured changes - but it still boot from the normal c:

    You tried it on another pc and it went into the install from the UFD

    What type of UFD are you using? Try to use a different UFD and see if that works. Also, try using the HP tool to format a drive and see if the x21 recognizes it then. Download it here (http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&swItem=MTX-UNITY-I23839&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN).

    There really is no good reason that this should not work. Try these and see if it works. Post back and let me know.

    Shawn

24. 
    west
    January 27th, 2009 at 9:01 am

    hello

    thank s for this, it really help me, I did everything and its work good for me, but unfortunately I got small problem during installation XP.
    In the part, where I creating partitions, system write me
    “Setup can not crete a new partition in the space you selected because the maximum number of partitions already exist on the disk”
    my partitions are follows:
    first about 15 gb - unpartitioned space where I want to install XP
    e: partition1 - root for ubuntu
    g: partition4 - swap
    f: partition2 - home
    c: partition3 - fat32
    can you help me please how to solve this??? I dont want erace or format other partitions. anyway my grub was erased, when I tried create this new partition for XP, so I cant use linux, and I can boot just with UFD, because my mechanic for DVD is broken.

    any ideas please???

25. 
    pencilcake
    February 13th, 2009 at 2:55 am

    Hi,

    At first Thanks a lot for this post! It is perfectly useful!

    I just want to share one problem I have encountered and maybe somebody else might face it as well.

    if you copy your XP in a folder on your desktop, the folder path is too long so that when you point the source folder of XP in step 20 above, you get a message that says “XP set-up files does not exist.”

    If you move that folder to your C:/ or to a path that does not have that long path, it works. (Serkan, thanks for your help!)

26. 
    hk
    February 14th, 2009 at 5:23 pm

    I am stuck on step 13..I get thru the step where I type cd desktop
    but then when I try to do cd usb os load workspace.. its telling me the system cannot find the path specified grrr,, I do have the folder on my desktop named as usb os load workspace of course,, what am I missing?? help! lol

27. 
    PbF00T
    February 18th, 2009 at 2:16 pm

    I can’t get it to work on a SanDisk 8GB (yes, the U3 junk is gone), I figured it was because I was running on VMWare Fusion, but I can format a 256kb and 1GB stick just fine. I’m guessing usb_prep8 does not like anything bigger than 4GB.

    Lots of posts on other blogs about trouble with 8GB sticks.

28. 
    Bruce Erlichman
    February 18th, 2009 at 6:30 pm

    Best of all the (many) sites on the subject!!
    Now for the hard question:
    Instead of creating an XP installation UFD, is there any way to install XP on the UFD itself so that one could boot any PC and have XP available?
    Much thanks!

    Bruce

29. 
    hk
    February 19th, 2009 at 7:20 pm

    ok nm my last problem i got thru that lol, but now im on step 25,, no matter what letter i use to try to make the vitrual drive it wont work, it says failed to assign the drive letter to disk 1 partition 0,device is not ready,, then is says created, lets format it but then says it does not exist,,tempdrive not formatted, program will end sighhhhh..
    tried it for an hour now,, i also was using the eee pc recovery xp at 1st n it wasnt letting me pick that as an xp source , so i tried a reinstall cd of xp n got thru that step,, but i just cant do this virtual drive part, and i do have my usb drive as g, same as in step 14.CAN ANYONE HELP???? I WAS SOOO CLOSE LOL

30. 
    shawn
    February 27th, 2009 at 9:06 pm

    Hey Bruce,

    Yes. You can run WinXP on a UFD and use it like a pocket computer. It uses part of the flash memory as a HDD that stores files and programs just like your normal PC.

    I think you have just given me an idea for a new post. Thank you.

    There are also a couple of versions of Linux that do the same thing. Who knows, I may do a post on one of those too.

31. 
    shawn
    February 27th, 2009 at 9:14 pm

    Hey hk,

    First question is did you make sure to close all open windows after Step 11. Check to make sure that you close the window that opens after that step. It will automatically open a window and sometimes may be behind other windows. Check this out and let me know.

    I promise I will be quicker to reply next time. Sorry….

    Shawn

32. 
    andy
    March 3rd, 2009 at 1:19 am

    Worked fantastic. Absolutely brilliantly laid out guide, if followed correctly it’s impossible to stuff up. Very impressed!

33. 
    Dennis
    March 11th, 2009 at 12:05 am

    I am stuck on step 13.

    Don’t know how to Navigate via “CD” to folder where bootsect is stored.

34. 
    Shawn
    March 11th, 2009 at 7:54 pm

    Hey Dennis,

    The easiest thing to do here is to open my computer and navigate to where you have the bootsect file stored. Now look at the top and take note of the address bar. Click on start and go to run. In the run box type “cmd” (minus the quotes). This will open a black-box type window. Look at the line that shows “C:\Documents and Settings\…>”. Click on the end of that line and type cd (for Change Directory) and type in the location that is in the address bar in the window displaying the bootsect file. Only use the cd command to navigate to the location on one slash at a time. i.e.

    cd desktop

    cd usb load os workspace

    cd …

    Use the cd command until you get to the location of the bootsect file. Then type the command to run the program, see step 14.

    I hope this helps.

    Shawn

35. 
    Dave
    March 29th, 2009 at 12:18 am

    Shawn,

    For those of you having problems with the “CD” or Change Directory command in the cmd window…

    you can open windows explorer, browse to the folder, and drag it into the cmd window, rather than typing the folder path out manually.

    type “cd ” (without quotes, with space)then drag the folder into the cmd window. The folder path should properly be inserted into the window.

    press enter to change the directory to the desired folder, and type in the *.exe (plus switch command)

    just my $0.02, as I grew up with GUI, not command line.

    cheers, hope this helps someone.

36. 
    SHUNN
    April 2nd, 2009 at 9:47 am

    I HAVE COMPLETED THE STEPS SUCCESSFULLY BUT WHEN UFD IS PLACED IN AND RECOGNIZED IN THINKPAD R51 THE FIRST TIME THERE WAS A FILE MISSING OR CORRUPTED HOW CAN THIS BE? (KINGSTON 1G DATA TRAVELER) THIS IS THE SECOND TIME COMPLETING AND THIS TIME (LINE 1023 OF THE INF FILE \TXTSETUP.SIF IS INVALID SETUP CANNOT CONTINUE. PRESS ANY KEY TO EXIT.) PLEASE HELP THIS LAPTOP IS SONS IN COLLEGE AND NEEDED BAD

37. 
    SHUNN
    April 2nd, 2009 at 9:51 am

    SORRY I DID MEAN TO SAY THANKS FOR POST IS GREAT IF I CAN GET IT TO WORK RIGHT

38. 
    shawn
    April 2nd, 2009 at 2:27 pm

    SHUNN,

    hey, the WinXP disk you used, was it an OEM disk or a retail version disk? Sometimes the OEM Disks (ones that came with a PC like Dell or HP) have been modified. These discs will not work with this tutorial.

39. 
    SHUNN
    April 3rd, 2009 at 5:37 am

    IT IS AN ORIGINAL XP PRO CD I HAVE USED BEFORE ON OTHER PC’S AND LAPTOPS. THE UFD IS STILL SOMEHOW MISSING SOME TYPE OF FILE I FOLLOWED ANOTHER METHOD FOR AN EXTENAL WITH THE SAME CD AND NOW IT IS MISSING NTDRL FILES SO I DON’T KNOW IF IT IS A DIFFERENT PROBLEM PLEASE HELP

40. 
    Trevor
    April 5th, 2009 at 10:17 pm

    When I try to install XP SP 1 from OEM disk it always stops and says:

    ***stop 0×0000007E ( oxc 0000005, oxf9a380bf, oxf9e84208, oxf9e834208, 0xe9e83f08

    *** PCI.SYS address f9a380bf base at f9a31000, date stamp 3b7d8ssc

    Any advice on what I can do to get around this or solve the problem? I am trying to install XP because my workplace website only works on Internet Explorer and I cannot seem to get IE4linux to work.

    I own a Eee PC 900 4GB Linux purchased at Target. Any help would be appreciated.

41. 
    cbwillia
    April 22nd, 2009 at 9:45 am

    I followed the instructions, and can now boot from a 2GB UFD. Thank you very much.

    My question now is: where can I store the XP key so the installation will not prompt for it.

    Another question: where do I tell it to run certain programs after installation is done?

    Thanks again. You are great…

42. 
    tpinet
    May 10th, 2009 at 7:43 am

    I recently did an nLite WinXP install onto my Dell Mini 9 and your guide was the only one that worked for creating a bootable USB key for the install. I have written about my experience at http://tpinet.wordpress.com/20.....things-up/ and added some steps to the end of your guide such as correct USB boot order to not get the hal.dll error (1-2-2) and how to remove the input screen during boot to choose between the “Microsoft Windows XP Professional” and the “USB Repair NOT to start Microsoft Windows XP Professional” OS options so that the machine quick boots into Windows. Thanks again!

43. 
    Patrick,
    June 10th, 2009 at 1:58 pm

    Your tutorial is easy to follow thanks! i have tablet edition 2005 on two cds, i am currently doing the burn to usb, do i need to do everything all over again for the second disc? or is there a way to fit it onto the same usb stick??

44. 
    Stylus
    June 26th, 2009 at 2:56 pm

    Thanks for this guide, it has worked well for me on my Dell Mini 9 and HP Mini 2140.

    I ran in to trouble on the mini 9 when I got to windows my boot partition was actually D:. I ended up following a microsoft article that editied the registry and swapped the drives around. After that XP wouldn’t load (BSOD) so I ran the install a second time which the setup found the USB stick to be drive D: so C: was available to format and reinstall on.

    With the HP Mini 2140 I had to go to the HP website and download the sata drivers so that I could use nlite to slipstream them into the cd. I left the nlite-ed image buried on my c: drive so when I went through this tutorial it failed. Moving the image I wanted to use to
    “c:\xp” solved the problem because before it was getting lost at c:\program (doesn’t have quotes around it so the space kills the path).

    Also a word to the wise. If you notebook came with Vista Business Downgrade to XP Pro…you will have a vista business label and no XP key. So before you wipe your drive use the MagicJellyBean KeyFinder to get your XP Pro cd key your gonna need it!!!

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