Installing Windows XP Using A USB Flash Drive. 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 1.
Ensure that your computer can run Windows XP. Your computer will need to meet or exceed the minimum system requirements in order to run Windows XP. Installing Windows XP in DOS Over a Previous Windows 9x Installation Version 1.09 Windows XP is a cool new operating system. Notes. If you purchase an upgrade copy of Windows 7, you'll need to install Windows 7 on a computer running Windows XP or Windows Vista. For more.
![Installing New Windows Xp Installing New Windows Xp](http://justlikeamagic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Installing-IIS-Windows-XP.jpg)
MB to a whopping 3. 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 1. 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.
![Installing New Windows Xp Installing New Windows Xp](http://www.pctechguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/anhw3.gif)
Learn how to install Windows 7 on a computer running Windows XP.
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.
![Installing New Windows Xp Installing New Windows Xp](http://www.partition-tool.com/images/resource/Fdisk.gif)
An unmodified, legal copy of Windows XP Home or XP Professional. 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.
![Installing New Windows Xp Installing New Windows Xp](http://www.pctechguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/anhw6.gif)
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_Prep. 82. PEto.
USB3. Bootsect. Update: New Links: 1. Usb prep. 8 2. PEto. USB 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.
This is an install tech-recipe for Windows XP. It describes how to install Windows XP from the hard drive. Requirements: Windows 98SE Boot Diskette w/smartdrv.exe. How many times you faced with a customer who need to install windows XP to his desktop after you finished installing windows 7 and loaded all the drivers and. Hi, Just a quick note to say thanks for the excellent article. I followed the instructions and got a tad confused after downloading :-A1. USB_Prep8.Zip ( unpack/UNZIP.
Once they are all downloaded, go ahead and extract PEto. USB and USB_Prep.
Once this is done you should take the contents of the PEto. USB folder and copy them into the USB_Prep. 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 2. 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. Go into the folder named USB_Prep.
Make sure you select the newly created command prompt window and click any key to continue. A new program is started (Pe. To. USB). Do not change any of the settings; just click start and let it run. Once Pe. To. USB is finished, DO NOT CLOSE any of the windows the program created. Go to your start menu and click run if you’re using the classic start menu.
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. Provided that you have used the file setup I suggested, input the following: ( cd \bootsect )9. Type in the following: ( bootsect /nt. R ) Replace R with the drive letter of your USB drive. You will see the message (Bootcode was successfully updated on targeted volume) if it worked right. You may NOW close all the windows except for the window that was created when you ran USB_Prep.
Providing you closed all the right windows, the USB_Prep. Window will now contain seven options.
Press 1 on your keyboard — this will bring up a window. Locate your XP folder and highlight it. Click OK1. 4. Press 2 on your keyboard — the program will ask for a unused drive letter (example: T or Z)1. Press 3 on your keyboard — the program will ask for your USB Stick drive letter; enter it now. Press 4 on your keyboard to start the USB_Prep. The program will ask you if it is OK to format a drive contained in the letter you gave in #1.
The program will start to copy the needed files; be patient. The program will then ask you if you wish to copy these files to the USB stick; click yes. 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. Once the partition is formatted, restart your PC and when the options come up again choose Text Mode. 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.
Installing and reinstalling Windows - Windows Help. You can use the following procedure when performing a clean installation of a 3. Windows. В Vista. When you perform a clean installation, your existing version of Windows, including all of your files, settings, and programs, is automatically replaced. You can back up your files and settings, but you must manually reinstall your programs and restore backed- up files when the installation is done. For information about how to restore your files after a clean installation, go to How to restore your personal files after you perform a custom installation. Perform a clean installation if your computer has no operating system installed, or you want to delete your current operating system and replace it with Windows.
В Vista, or you want to partition your hard disk and install Windows. В Vista on a specific partition.
Before you install Windows, check your hardware compatibility. Go to the Windows.
В Vista Upgrade Advisor on the Microsoft website. Alternatively, you can run the Windows. В Vista Upgrade Advisor during installation by clicking Check compatibility online on the Install Windows page. If you start the installation from the installation disc, this link to the Windows. В Vista Upgrade Advisor does not appear on the Install Windows page.
Note. You cannot install an upgrade copy of Windows. В Vista on a partition unless a copy of Windows. В 2. 00. 0 or Windows. В XP is already installed on that partition. Depending on which version if Windows you are upgrading to and from, you might have to perform a clean installation. Turn on your computer, insert the Windows installation disc into the computer's DVD or CD drive, and then do one of the following: If your computer already has an operating system installed, and if you do not want to create, extend, delete, or format partitions, go to step 2.
If your computer does not have an operating system installed or if you want to create, extend, delete, or format partitions, you need to restart your computer with the installation disc inserted in your CD or DVD drive. This will cause your computer to start (or "boot") from the installation CD or DVD. If you are asked to press a key to boot from DVD or CD, press any key. If the Install Windows page appears, go to step 2. If the Install Windows page does not appear and you're not asked to press a key to start from DVD or CD, you might have to specify that your computer use its DVD or CD drive as the startup device. This means that you need to set the DVD or CD drive to be the first startup device in the basic input/output system (BIOS).
To learn how to do this, see Start Windows from a CD or DVD. After you select your DVD or CD drive as the startup device, restart your computer, and then start Windows from the installation DVD or CD as previously described. On the Install Windows page, follow any instructions that are displayed, and then click Install now.
On the Get important updates for installation page, we recommend getting the latest updates to help ensure a successful installation and to help protect your computer against security threats. You will need an Internet connection to get installation updates. On the Type your product key for activation page, we strongly recommend that you type your 2. Note. If you have an upgrade copy of a 3. Windows. В Vista, you will see a message telling you to restart your computer and start Windows installation from within your existing operating system. On the Please read the license terms page, if you accept the license terms, click I accept the license terms.
On the Which type of installation do you want? Custom. Note. After you click Custom, if you have an upgrade copy of a 6. Windows. В Vista and do not have a version of Windows that can be upgraded, the installation cannot continue. You will need to install a copy of Windows. В 2. 00. 0 or Windows. В XP to proceed with this installation method. On the Where do you want to install Windows?
Windows. If you don't partition your hard disk, click Next. The installation will start automatically. You might see a compatibility report that lists which programs and software drivers won't work after the installation. You can resolve any issues after the installation is complete. If you have an existing partition and want to have more than one operating system on the same computer, you can install Windows on a specific partition. This is called a dual- boot or multiboot configuration.) If you do this, be sure to install Windows on a different partition from the partition where your current version of Windows is installed.
To install Windows on an existing partition, select the partition you want to use, and then click Next to begin the installation. You might see a compatibility report. If you want to create, extend, delete, or format a partition, you must start Windows from the installation DVD or CD.
If you did not begin the installation process this way, follow the instructions for starting Windows from the installation DVD or CD that appear in the first step of this procedure, and then follow the instructions on each screen. On the Where do you want to install Windows? Drive options (advanced), click the option you want, and then follow the instructions. Click Next to begin the installation. You might see a compatibility report.
Follow the instructions. Note. Be sure to enable existing, or install new, antivirus software after the installation is complete.