Preparing the Bootable USB Drive to Install Windows XP from It

After going through the following steps, you can make your USB drive ready to start
setting up Windows XP from it. Then you can start the steps to install Windows XP.
Follow the step-by-step guides.
Requirements:
1. Manage to get a USB drive with at least 1 GB memory.
2. Download the file, XP_FROM_USB.rar from this download link.
Update: You should use a XP installed computer to prepare the USB stick.
The procedure:
Step 1:Extract the file XP_FROM_USB.rar in a folder, say, Softslas in
your C:drive and open C:>Softslas>PeToUSB. Double-click on the peToUSB.exe file.

A dialog window appears like this:

Set the following values (refer to the screenshot above):
Click on the USB Removable radio button under the Destination Drive section.
Tick the Enable Disk Format check-box.
Check the boxes Quick Format and Enable LBA (FAT 16x).
Finally, put XP-Softslas (or whatever you want) as the Drive Label and click the Start
button. Once clicked, a message box appears, click Yes.

Another message box appears again asking you to confirm the formatting of your USB
stick. Click on the Yes button.

Wait for a few seconds and the USB disk will be formatted.
Step 2:Open the Windows command prompt (press Winkey+R, type cmd
and hit the Enter key) and execute the following commands one-by-one.
cdc:\softslas\bootsect
bootsect/nt52I:

Type cd.. and press the Enter key to change the base directory and run the following
command.
cdusb_prep8

And finally, execute this command to initiate the preparation.
usb_prep8

Press any key to continue and the command prompt window will look like this.

PreparesWindowsXPLocalSourceforCopytoUSBDrive:

0)ChangeTypeofUSBDrive,currently[USBstick]
1)ChangeXPSetupSourcePath,currently[]
2)ChangeVirtualTempDrive,currently[T:]
3)ChangeTargetUSBDriveLetter,currently[]
4)MakeNewTempimagewithXPLocalSourceandCopytoUSBDrive
5)UseExistingTempimagewithXPLocalSourceandCopytoUSBDrive
F)ChangeLogFileSimpleORExtended,currently[Simple]
Q)Quit
Enteryourchoice:_

Step 3:Insert the Windows XP installation media in you optical disk drive and
perform the following tasks into the command prompt console:
Type 1 and press Enter. Now browse the optical disk drive (CD/DVD drive) as
the source path and click the OK button.
Similarly, enter 2 at the choice prompt. If the letter T is assigned your computer
then change it. Otherwise, do not alter it. After typing 2 in the choice prompt, it
will ask to enter available virtual drive letter. Here, type a letter that is not
associated with any drive letter of your computer hard disk. Lets say, S is not a
drive letter in your computer. So put S and press Enter.
Now, it will prompt for the next choice. Type 3 and hit the Enter key. Put the
drive letter which represents the USB stick in your computer (open My computer
to see) and press Enter. Here, my USB drive label is I so, I put I.

Again, input 4 and press the Enter key. It creates the new temporary image and
makes a copy of it to the USB Flash Drive.
Now you should wait for a few seconds and then follow the steps below. A
warning message will appear like this: WARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-
REMOVABLE DISK DRIVE T: WILL BE LOST! Proceed with Format (Y/N)?.
Type Y and press Enter, you will get the message Please wait. After
completion of the formatting process, it will display Press any key to continue.
Hit any key wait for completing another session. (The Please wait
message is displayed again).
Once completed, the Press any key to continue message appears again. J ust
do that.



Step 4:Once everything go in the right way, a message box will appear showing
Copy TempDrive Files to USB-Drive in about 15 minutes =Yes OR STOP =End
Program =No. Click the Yes button.

After this, a message box appears asking, Would you like USB stick to be
preferred Boot Drive U?. Click Yes again. Another message appears asking,
Would you like to unmount the Virtual Drive?.

Click the Yes button and wait for some times and complete the onscreen
instructions.
Now your USB stick is prepared. You can start the installation process.


Install Windows XP from the USB Drive
1.Insert your USB stick into the USB port and reboot your computer. At the starting,
enter into the BIOS setup and set the first boot preference as USB Hard Disk. Save the
settings and exit from the BIOS console. Your computer will reboot again and the
following screen will appear.

2.Choose the TXT Mode Setup and follow the onscreen instructions. After completion
of the partition process, formatting the hard drive and copying files, the computer will
restart again.
3.Now, choose the GUI Mode Setup option.

4.Wait for a while and your installation will be successfully completed.