Hello all,
This small tutorial is designed to help those in need of installing Microsoft Windows XP on any PC that is capable of booting from a UFD (USB Flash Device). Hopefully, you will find this as easy and problem free as I have.
I must send out thanks to the people at EEEguides.com, as that is where I learned how to perform this installation technique. Please, visit their site and instruction guide at:
http://www.eeeguides.com/2007/11/installing-windows-xp-from-usb-thumb.html
The site includes hundreds of posts with problems and answers, as well as some technical details that I have left out.
For my experiment, I used the following:
· PNY 4 gig UFD
· Kingston 1 gig UFD
· Frankenstein home PC – running legit copy of Win XP Pro
· Win XP Pro – store bought (this makes sense if you understand the technical problems with copied discs as described on the EEEguides.com site)
· Compaq TC1000 Tablet PC – as the first installed to system
· Sony Vaio PCG-FRV37
I hope you have fun with this! I did.
Scardog
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Prior to starting your work you will need to gather the following files/hardware:
- usb_prep8
- petousb_3007
- bootsect
- A properly functioning windows PC
- 1g UFD (USB Flash Device)
- A Windows OS CD or image
1. Insert UFD to any open USB port
2. Create a workspace folder
a. I created a folder on my desktop called – USB OS Load Workspace
3. Extract the following files to your workspace folder
a. Bootsect.zip
b. PeToUSB_x.x.x.x.zip (I used v3.0.0.7 for my install)
c. Usb_prep8.zip
4. Copy the PeToUSB executable file into the USB_prep8 folder
5. Within the USB_prep8 folder run the usb_prep8.cmd file by double clicking
a. Running the file will give a window that looks like this:
6. As instructed press any key to continue resulting in the following window:
7. Click “Start”
8. Click “Yes” to continue popup
9. Click “Yes” to format warning popup
10. Click “OK” to successful completion popup
11. After format is complete DO NOT close the window for PeToUSB
NOTE: When format is complete it will open a window displaying the contents of your flash disk. Close this window. An open window will prevent bootsect.exe from locking the drive and writing the bootsector correctly
12. Click on Start menu and click run – type cmd and press enter
13. Navigate via “CD” to folder where bootsect is stored (see step 2 and 3)
14. Once in your folder where the bootsect files are stored enter the following command
a. Bootsect.exe/nt52 J:
i. NOTE: in line of code above substitute the J: for the drive letter of your UFD that you want to copy OS setup files to
15. Press Enter
16. Ensure that “Successfully updated FAT filesystem bootcode.” message appears
17. Type Exit and press Enter to close cmd window
18. Click Close on the PeToUSB window
19. Within the usb_prep8.cmd window enter 1 and press enter
20. Within the Browse For Folder window navigate to drive where Win XP CD or .iso is located and click OK
21. Within the usb_prep8.cmd window enter 2 and press enter
22. Enter any UNUSED drive letter to create a Virtual Temp Drive
23. Within the usb_prep8.cmd window enter 3 and press enter
24. Enter the drive letter of your chosen UFD – pay attention to enter same drive letter as you entered in Step 14 – and press Enter
25. Within the usb_prep8.cmd window enter 4 and press enter
26. Enter “Y” at command line to proceed with format and press enter
27. Ensure that you get message that formatting you Temp Drive was successful – Steps 21 and 22
28. Press any key to continue operation
29. Select “Yes” to Copy to USB Drive popup window
30. After setup files have copied to drive click on “Yes” for Change Migrate.inf popup window
31. Click on “Yes” to unmount virtual drive
32. Within the usb_prep8.cmd window press any key to continue
33. Within the usb_prep8.cmd window press any key to exit
34. Now take the newly formatted UFD and set target PC to boot from UFD and install
35. At first boot select Option 1 (the second option oddly enough) for text mode setup
36. From here it’s the same as a normal Win XP setup – when the text mode setup portion completes and system reboots select Option 2 (the first option) for GUI setup
37. DO NOT REMOVE THE UFD FROM USB PORT UNTIL YOU SEE THE WINDOWS START MENU
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Great walk through! You’re geek card has been returned.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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
October 30th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Hi Scardog,
Can we copy that UFD to another UFD?
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
November 1st, 2008 at 7:36 am
very very good.
thanks for scartech.
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
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.
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.
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.