# [Tutorial]Installing XP from a pendrive.



## Neuron (Apr 29, 2011)

Well ,this is a totally new method for installing Windows XP from a usb drive and this must be the most simplest and most successful method for doing it.I modified a method used to install Windows 7 to facilitate XP installation and this is my first tutorial ever.For this to work you'll need a pendrive having a capacity of atleast 1GB.

Things you will need.

1.Download the bootable part of Windows 7 image from here.
2.Download EasyBCD from here
3.The entire i386 folder of XP that you are going to install.

Alright so here are the steps.

1.Format your pendrive.Then copy the above Windows 7 image,EasyBCD and the i386 folder into the drive.

2.Install and open EasyBCD.

3.Click *Bootloader setup.*
Under the *Create External Bootable Media* section,select your pendrive as the partition.and then click *Install BCD.*
When this process is successfully done a dialogue box will appear asking of you want to change the current BCD store to the newly created one.Click yes.

4.Now if you click *Edit Boot Menu*you'll see that the boot menu is empty.It should be if step 3 went well.
Click 'Add New Entry'.
Under *Portable/External Media* section,select the *Iso Boot* tab.
Click the browse button right to*Path* and select the Windows 7 image on the pendrive.
Check mark *Force Portable Entry.* and finally click *Add Entry*.
If everything went well, after this process is completed you should be able to see a new entry under the *Edit Boot Menu Section.*
Now your pendrive is bootable.

NOTE:To boot from the pendrive the BIOS of the target system must support booting from USB devices.If it does ,during post choose to boot from the pendrive or give booting from usb the highest priority under the boot section of the BIOS.

5.When booting from the usb,you will get a message like 'Press any key to boot from the dvd'.Just press any key and windows 7 setup will load(We are going to run Windows XP setup by means of Windows 7 setup program.)

6.*Once the setup has loaded, press 'shift+F10'*
Now you will get a cmd window.

7.Follow this step only if the target system has no windows bootloader installed.If you already have Windows 7 or Vista installed skip this step.
This step is used to write the windows bootloader to the MBR.
Enter *x:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 c:*

8.Now to start Windows XP setup enter *y:\i386\winnt32.exe*(Replace y with the drive letter of the usb drive.This will definitely be different from the drive letter used in step 7.That's it,Xp setup will start,after copying the necessary files for installation it will restart and continue the installation.

NOTE:If you already had any Windows 7 or Vista installations,you will notice that the XP installation will overwrite the nt60(bootloader used by win7&vista)by nt52(that of xp).Don't panic,you can multiboot entry for the newly installed XP and the 'already present' OS once you finish the Xp installation using EasyBCD as described below.

9.Install and open EasyBCD in xp.
Goto *Bootloader setup*.
Under *MBR configuration options* Check mark *Windows 7/Vista bootloader to the MBR.* and press *Write MBR*.
Goto *Add New Entry*.Under *Operating Systems* section and *Windows* tab,select *Windows NT/2k/Xp/2k3* from the drop box.
Uncheck *Automatically detect correct drive*.Select the correct drive from the drop box and click *Add Entry*.Check under *Edit Boot Menu* to see if the desire boot entries are present.

And that's it.Thanks


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## cute.bandar (Apr 29, 2011)

isn't it just simpler to use wintoflash Or Sardu ? to make a bootable xp installation media ? or am i missing something


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## Neuron (Apr 29, 2011)

Well, I did try that.It was giving some BSOD error before entering setup.I also tried methods like creating RAM disks and such.None of them worked form me.


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## cute.bandar (Apr 29, 2011)

well you are right wintoflash gave me errors as well. But Sardu worked just fine.


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## sygeek (Apr 29, 2011)

Wow, some people still use XP! Anyways, thanks for sharing


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## cute.bandar (Apr 29, 2011)

> Wow, some people still use XP!


 thats not really surprising considering how vista/7 brought nothing really revolutionary to the table.


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## sygeek (Apr 29, 2011)

cute.bandar said:


> thats not really surprising considering how vista/7 brought nothing really revolutionary to the table.


Use it as much as you want....until 2014 when microsoft ends the support for XP.


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## cute.bandar (Apr 29, 2011)

i do have plans to do that actually.


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## nims11 (Apr 29, 2011)

thanx neuron for the tutorial, helpful for me as i am too a XP guy.


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## hdsk.23 (May 8, 2011)

cute.bandar said:


> isn't it just simpler to use wintoflash Or Sardu ? to make a bootable xp installation media ? or am i missing something



yeah missing something..
wintoflash is problem..
Well method which i feels simplest is here. Posted on my blog!
JUST UPDATE YOURSELF! » Blog Archive » Install Windows XP using USB Flash Disk/ Flash Drive – Step by Step Guide

its an step by step guide!


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## Garbage (May 8, 2011)

You also might want to give a try to UNetbootin.


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## rahulonmars (Aug 28, 2012)

Can't we just follow the foloowing easy steps :

1. Format the pen drive.
2. Copy all the files from the Windows XP .iso image.
3. Copy the "boot" folder from your Windows 7 iso image/directory to your desktop 
                                  OR
   you can also download the boot folder. 
  Link - *www.sumedh.info/files/bootsect.zip
  Password - 123
4. Open cmd and point to the directory where you have copied boot folder. Lets say its C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\boot
5. Enter the followinf command:
    Bootsect.exe /nt60 H:
   'H' is the letter of your pen drive.

Voila ! Its done


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