Unfortunately creating a USB installation of Windows XP can be a daunting task, with the amount of misleading guides on the internet. Certain guides and tools only support certain USB drives, which limits the usefulness of the information available.
In this tutorial I will demonstrate how you can load an XP installation from a USB memory pen, independent of the make / model of the drive.
In order to get started we will need the following:
– USB Memory Pen (at least 1GB in size)
– Windows XP USB Installation Creator
Step 1:Â We will download the Windows XP USB Installation Creator, and install the software.
Step 2: We now browse to C:\WinSetupFromUSB and launch WinSetupFromUSB_0-2-3.exe
1. Select the source of Windows XP – you can’t use ISO files, hence you must either mount an ISO and use the drive or use an original disk.
2. Select the appropriate USB Memory Pen
3. Click on “RMPrepUSB”, this tool will format (delete everything!) on your USB Drive, in preparation for the installation. Note: This step is not essential, BUT STRONGLY recommended.
3.1 Select the USB Disk that you are using for the XP Installation.
3.2 Make sure “FAT32″ is selected for the filesystem.
3.3 Click on “Prepare Drive”, the process usually takes around 2 – 3 minutes, make sure you wait for the process to complete before proceeding.
4. Click on the “Go” button, on the WinSetupFromUSB application. Please be patient as the process can take up to an hour to complete in some cases.
Once the process has completed you should safely remove the USB Drive and restart the computer and go into your computers BIOS utility.
If your motherboard supports USB boot, you should simply select the USB Drive to be loaded first in the Boot Device Priority list.
Of in the case that your motherboard is not recognizing the USB Disk (make sure you put the USB disk in before you switch on the computer!). Go to the USB Configuration and make sure “USB Legacy Support” is enabled.
The final step to get around this problem would be to force the USB disk to act as a hard drive, again you can usually do this from the USB Configuration with the BIOS utility.
Press F10 to save the settings and restart the computer. You should now be presented with a setup screen asking you to start the “First Part of the Windows XP Installation”, once you have completed that part, leave the USB stick in the computer and when it reboots after finishing the first part it will boot up again and you must select “Start the Second Part of the Windows XP Installation”.
If you have any questions or feedback please feel free to drop a comment!
Repository of my experience on Windows Azure Office 365 Intune Teams Exchange Server 