Install Windows XP with USB flash drives may be required in different situations, the most obvious of which is the need to install Windows XP to a weak netbook, not equipped with a CD-ROM drive. And if you care for installing Windows 7 with a USB media, Microsoft itself, having released the appropriate utility, then for the previous version of the operating system will have to use third-party programs.
It can also come in handy: Loading from a flash drive in BIOS
UPD: A simpler creation method: Windows XP boot flash drive
Creating an installation flash drive with Windows XP
First you need to download the WinsetupFromusB program - sources from where you can download this program in the network. For some reason, the latest WinsetUpFromusB version did not work for me - I gave an error when preparing a flash drive. With version 1.0 Beta 6 there were never problems, so the creation of a flash drive to install Windows XP will demonstrate in this program.
Win Setup From USB
We connect a USB flash drive (2 gigabytes for normal Windows XP SP3 will be enough) to a computer, do not forget to save all the necessary files from it, because In the process, they will be deleted. We run WinsetupFromusB with administrator rights and select the USB disk with which we will work, after which the corresponding button start Bootice.
Formatting USB flash drive
Select formatting mode
In the Bootice program window, click the "Perform Format" button - we need to format the flash drive accordingly. From the appearing formatting options, select USB-HDD MODE (Single Partition), press "NEXT STEP". In the window that appears, select the file system: "NTFS" agree that it will offer the program and wait for the formatting.
Installing the loader on the USB flash drive
The next step is to create the necessary boot record on the flash drive. To do this, in the still running Bootice, press the Process MBR, in the window that appears, stop your choice on the GRUB for DOS, click Install / Config, then, without changing anything in the settings - Save to Disk. Flash drive is ready. Close Bootice and return to the main window of the WinsetupFromusB, which you have seen on the first drawing.
Copy Windows XP Files on USB
We will need a disk or an image of the installation disk with Microsoft Windows XP. If we have an image, then it must be installed to the system using, for example, Daemon Tools or unpack into a separate folder using any archiver. Those. In order to proceed to the final step of creating a boot flash drive with Windows XP, we need a folder or disk with all installation files. After we have the necessary files, in the main window of the WinSetupFromusB program, we put a tick in front of Windows2000 / XP / 2003 SETUP, press the button with the image of the dots and specify the path to the Windows XP setting folder. In the prompt in the opening dialog, it is indicated that the I386 and AMD64 subfolder should be in this folder - the tip may be useful for some Windows XP builds.
Write Windows XP on USB flash drive
After the folder was selected, it remains to press one button: go, after which it is waiting for the completion of the creation of our boot USB disk.
How to install windows xp from flash drive
In order to install Windows XP from a USB device, you need to specify in the computer's bios so that it is loaded from the flash drive. On different computers, the loading device change may differ, but in general terms it looks the same: I go into the BIOS by pressing Del or F2 when you turn on the computer, select the Boot section or Advanced Settings, we find where the boot devices order is specified and the bootable loading device is specified and as the first boot device. USB flash drive. After that, save the BIOS settings and restart the computer. After rebooting, a menu appears in which Windows XP Setup should be selected and go to install Windows. The rest of the process is the same as with the usual installation of the system from any other media, in more detail in the article Installing Windows XP.