How to install xp system from flash drive. Installing Windows XP on a netbook without a CD-ROM

Installing operating systems using removable media has long ceased to be a big problem. If you don’t have a blank CD/DVD at hand, or the drive itself is faulty or simply doesn’t exist (for example, in netbooks and ultrabooks), then every second person currently has a 1-2 GB flash drive. So, after reading this guide, you can create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows XP (and not only) and thereby greatly simplify the transition from one OS to another.

What do you need?

Download in advance working iso image of Windows XP. It is advisable to choose a distribution that does not have any third-party modifications, which means that the likelihood of its instability is minimal. If standard XP does not suit you, we recommend choosing the assembly from Zver.
Removable disk (flash drive), at least 1 GB. Subsequently, it will be completely cleared, so copy all important data from it.
Program WinSetupFromUSB v.1.3. It can be downloaded absolutely free of charge on the official website of the developer.

Creating a bootable USB flash drive

There are several ways to prepare a removable drive for installing Windows XP from it. But, despite this, we will use the simplest WinSetupFromUSB program and in about half an hour we will get a ready-made bootable USB flash drive. You just need to follow these steps:

BIOS setup

Windows XP in terms of installation is slightly different from its sisters - Vista, 7 and 8. Therefore, you need to pay a little more attention to setting up the BIOS:

The first step is to set the boot priority to the removable drive. Therefore, while starting the computer/laptop, press F2 or Del to get to the BIOS window.
In the Boot section or in the Boot Device Priority list, put your bootable USB flash drive first (depending on the motherboard manufacturer, BIOS versions have significant differences, so these instructions are very general).
Most modern computers work with the S-ATA data interface, while Windows XP only has built-in drivers for the outdated IDE. Therefore, in the BIOS, set Storage Configuration to Compatible.
Save the changes and restart your computer by pressing F10.

Installing Windows XP

After successfully booting from the removable drive, Windows XP will greet you. Following the installation program instructions, press Enter (<Ввод>)
Violation of the Microsoft Product License Agreement is punishable by law. So, confirm by pressing the F8 button that you are confident in your actions and continue installing the system.
This window presents the entire list of hard drives on which it is possible to install Windows XP (by default, only HDDs with IDE data transfer technology are displayed). Select the drive you need and proceed to the next step.
Formatting the hard drive is mandatory, so make sure that all your files are safe and only then select the third option “Format partition in NTFS system”.
After preparing the HDD and copying the necessary system files to it, the Windows XP installation program will proceed to the final processes. First, set the System Language and Input Methods.
Please enter your username. The organization field can be left blank.
Enter the serial code, which looks like XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
Select a computer name and set an administrator password (the latter is optional)
Next, set the date and time, as well as the time zone.
Leave network settings at default
If the computer/laptop is at home, then leave it in the WORKGROUP group. If the organization where you work has a domain network, then check with your system administrator for information.
Congratulations! Windows XP has been successfully installed and is ready for full operation.

Bootable flash drives with operating systems ready for installation are a very convenient and useful thing for any user. Having several of these “little rescuers” in stock, you can quickly and easily help yourself or your friends/colleagues restore a faulty Windows OS or install a new one for them.
Enjoy your use!

How to make a bootable Windows XP USB flash drive yourself

In this article we will look at the following question - how to make a bootable or installation flash drive with the still quite popular Windows operating system version XP.

ATTENTION! We highly recommend the article about dangerous heating of laptops. It is the heating of the laptop that appears over time that is very often underestimated by users. If the laptop is heating up, then you need to take measures, otherwise failure as a result of a burnt-out part is guaranteed

Let's get started...

Introduction

Despite the fact that Windows XP is supported less and less, both by its developer and by the users themselves, it can still serve us well with its speed, reliability and unpretentiousness.

This is proven by many users of personal computers (PCs) who switch from it very reluctantly to new released versions of Windows.

In what cases do we need Windows xp:

For weak office computers
For not new netbooks and laptops
For program users who either work only on xp or just work stably on xp
those who are accustomed to Windows XP and are not yet planning to say goodbye to it
For those who don't play new modern games

Considering that 4 operating systems have already been released since Windows XP, it is not giving up. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the issue of reinstalling Windows XP programs.

It's understandable that Windows XP can perform most of today's everyday tasks on a PC. The only thing is that many new games and some new programs do not work on it.

Benefits of Windows XP

If you have a slow computer, laptop or netbook, then Windows XP is just right for you.

It is very unpretentious to the power of the PC, and if you also find redesigned builds of Windows XP for performance, then you can install it on an almost 15-year-old computer.

So, let's start creating a bootable Windows xp flash drive. It is a bootable flash drive, not a disk, because for some reason sometimes there may be no disk drive in the computer or, for example, if it is a netbook, then there is none at all.

And so we will create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows XP in this order:

Find "Windows xp", usually this is a virtual image of the original disk
Select and install a program to create a bootable USB flash drive
Create a bootable USB flash drive

So, where can I get a virtual image of Windows XP?

Let's start with the virtual image of Windows xp. What is a virtual image to begin with? In short, this is an exact virtual copy of the disk. In our case, we need a virtual image (or otherwise an exact copy) of a Windows xp disk to write it to a flash drive.

This image can be downloaded on the Internet the truth is only, usually, using a special program µTorrent (we write it in a search engine and add “download”, or look more. In order to download an image of Windows xp - we write it in a search engine and add “download”, we will be offered sites where you can download, and it’s better to download it using the µTorrent program you already have - it’s both quick and easy.

Just don’t forget that you need to download everything from trusted and reliable sites., if you choose one, then try to make sure that it is free of viruses and other obscenities. To do this, you need to act systematically - read comments, ask for reviews about it in a search engine, find out about it from friends, write to us and ask for advice, etc. Plus, don’t forget about the presence of an antivirus on your system.

In general, for reference, a disk image or a copy of it is made not by simply copying information from the disk, but by a special program; you can read about this in the article on how to create a virtual disk image.

And so, let’s say you found the “Windows xp” image.

Let's move on to creating a bootable USB flash drive

In general, to create an installation flash drive with Windows xp, we need to use a flash drive with a capacity of at least 4 gigabytes, but to be more precise, it must be no less than the size of the Windows xp image. Having taken the flash drive, insert it into the USB port of the computer or “beech” and see what is on it. It is advisable to remove everything you need, because everything there will be deleted.

Installing the WinSetupFromUSB program to create a reliable bootable USB flash drive with Windows XP

We will make a bootable USB flash drive using the free program WinSetupFromUSB. It is quite convenient and we can perform the operations we need in it in just a few mouse clicks.

But first, let's figure out where to get it. We go to any search engine, in our case it will be yandex.by. We write in it - WinSetupFromUSB download, follow the link to the official website (WinSetupFromUSB.com), so we will download a reliable and working program without viruses and other rubbish:

In this window, simply click “Download”, this will start downloading the program (24 megabytes in total):

So, we downloaded it, now we run this file, a window for unpacking it will appear. Here you just need to indicate the location where to unpack, you can select the desktop (to do this, click on the button with dots on the right and select “desktop”):

But if you don’t want to bother yourself, then simply click on “WinSetupFromUSB_1-6.exe”. The first line of the USB disk should indicate your flash drive, if it is already in usb, if it is not already installed, then insert it and click Refresh:

Now we need to make some small settings, like in the picture below:

First, check the box and select the file system. You can choose the second and third, although NTFS is more reliable and modern
Next, put a “bird” in the first line of the next block. Here we need to specify the path to the Windows XP folder. Just keep in mind that this should be the folder with the operating system, and not the .iso file

If you have a separate .iso file, then you need to unpack it. To do this, you must have winrar or 7zip archiver installed on your system. How to install them, see the note on how to open the .rar file. In general, if the archiver is present in the system, then you just need to go inside the iso image with Windows XP, select everything there and copy it to some empty folder, and we will indicate it in the WinSetupFromUSB program to make a bootable USB flash drive.

During the process of assigning a folder with the OS, a window will appear in which you need to click “I accept”. In general, I think the folder was indicated. Now that’s almost done, check the “Advanced options” box. In it we should put one more “bird” in the line “Prepare Windows 2000/XP/2003 to be installed on USB”.

That's it, then a 5-minute process will begin ( wait until the end until the “job done” sign appears) create a bootable USB flash drive. Upon completion of recording, we receive a ready-made bootable (installation) flash drive with the Windows XP operating system.

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Installing Windows XP on a netbook has two features:

the first is the limitation of installation methods due to the lack of a drive for reading CDDVD discs;
the second is the need to configure the BIOS Setup so that the system can be installed on a hard drive with a SATA interface, which in the vast majority of cases are equipped with modern netbooks.

The first limitation is quite easy to get around by preparing, for example, an installation flash drive with an operating system distribution, which is what we will do. As for the second one, it depends on your luck. The fact is that at the time when Windows XP was released, SATA hard drives did not yet exist. Therefore, the system does not have the appropriate drivers in its distribution, and the netbook hard drive is not recognized by it. The easiest way to solve this problem is to reconfigure the BIOS, and the most correct way is to integrate the missing driver into the distribution. We will consider the first option, but it must be said that it does not always work.

Preparation

To create an installation flash drive with Windows XP you will need:

flash drive with a capacity of 1 GB or more;
distribution of the operating system on CDDVD or as an ISO file;
a computer equipped with an optical drive for reading discs - operations to create a flash drive will be performed on it;
if the system distribution is presented in an ISO image, you do not need a CDDVD reader; you will need a program to emulate a virtual drive, for example: UltraISO, Daemon Tools, Alcohol 120%, etc.
WinSetupFromUSB is a free utility for creating a boot sector on a flash drive and transferring a Windows distribution to it.

Creating a bootable USB flash drive

In order for a flash drive to be recognized by a computer as a bootable device, it must be prepared - formatted in NTFS or FAT32 - both types of these file systems are suitable for installing Windows XP. The second thing you need to do is create a boot sector on the flash drive and write the bootloader onto it. Next comes the stage of transferring the distribution files to a flash drive and testing for performance. We will do all these operations using WinSetupFromUSB.

Formatting

Connect a USB flash drive to your computer, preferably an empty one, and run WinSetupFromUSB.
Launch the Bootice utility built into the program, on the “Physical Disc” tab, click on the “Parts Manage” button - this will create an active boot partition on the flash drive. It will be the only one on a blank flash drive.

Next, you need to format: click “ReFormat USB disc” – “Next” – “OK”. Let all settings remain as default (drive type – USB-HDD).

Creating a Master Boot Record and Boot Loader

Open the Bootice utility window again and click on the “Progress MBR” button.
On the “Master Boot Record” tab, select the bootloader type – Grub4DOS, to install it on the flash drive, click on the “Install/Config” button.

The next window will ask you to change the default configuration settings, but we don't need that. Click “Save to Disc” and close the window.
Next, you will be back in the main Bootice window. Now you need to click the “Progress PBR” button to create a master boot record on the flash drive.
Going further and finding yourself in the “Partition Boot Record” window, check Grub4DOS again, click “Install/Config”, and then “OK”. The bootloader creation stage is complete.

Copying Windows XP to a USB flash drive

If you are using a CDDVD with the system distribution, install it into the drive; if you are using an ISO file, mount it into a virtual drive using emulator programs. The picture shows how to do this in UltraISO.

In the main WinSetupFromUSB window, in the “Add to USB disc” section, check the “Windows 2000/XP2003 Setup” box, click the button on the right and in the Explorer window that opens, select the storage location for the Windosw XP distribution. To start the copying process, click on the “Go” button.

Testing

After the distribution is completely transferred to a flash drive, you need to make sure that you can run a netbook from it. At the bottom of the WinSetupFromUSB window, check the “Test in QEMU” checkbox – testing in the “QEMU” virtual machine, and click “Go”.

If you see the Windows installation process in the QEMU window, everything is done correctly.

Setting up the netbook BIOS

Boot priority order

Connect the USB flash drive with Windows XP to the netbook's USB port and turn on (or restart) it.
To enter the BIOS Setup settings, hold down the key that is intended for this. Most often this is F2, but there may be another - F10, F12, F1, F4, etc. You can find out more precisely by reading the splash screen that appears on the screen immediately after turning on the netbook.
Navigate within the BIOS Setup menu using the arrow keys and confirm the actions by pressing “Enter”, go to the “Boot” section. In the boot device polling list “Boot Device Priority” – “1st Boot Device”, move your flash drive (USB-HDD) to the first place by pressing the F5 and F6 keys (move the selected item up or down).

Switching the SATA hard drive controller to IDE-compatible operating mode

This is the very setting that will help Windows XP recognize the netbook's hard drive.

Using the arrow keys, go to the “Advanced” section and change the value of the “OnChip SATA” parameter from “IDE-AHCI” to “Native IDE”.
If your BIOS version does not have the “OnChip SATA” setting, find the “IDE Configuration” parameter and assign it the “Compatible” value.
To exit the BIOS menu, press F10 and “Y”, which means exit and save the changes.

Installing Windows XP

Reboot your netbook (the installation flash drive must be connected). After turning it on again, the process of copying system distribution files into RAM will begin. When it completes, you will see the Windows Setup Welcome window. It will wait for your response. To continue installing Windows XP, press Enter.

The next screen will prompt you to accept the license agreement. You will have to accept it, without this the system will not install.

Next, you will need to select or create a partition where Windows will be installed. If there is only an unallocated area on the disk, pressing “C” will create the required partition.

The next step is formatting the newly created or existing partition. Select NTFS.

After formatting is completed, the installation process will begin. First of all, you will be asked to select the system language:

Next, provide your details (name, organization):

And enter the serial number. This can be (and even more convenient) postponed until later.

In the next step of installation, Windows creates an administrator account. You will be prompted to assign a password to it. There you also need to set the computer name.

The next screen is to set the date and time. You can install it now, or you can postpone it.

Configuring network parameters is also not a matter of primary importance. We leave it as is, we will configure it later.

The same applies to creating a workgroup or connecting to a domain. The option is relevant for enterprise networks, but it is not necessary to configure this at the moment.

The system will then continue the installation with the settings you specified, which will end with the familiar Windows XP logo screen. This completes the main stage of work.

Congratulate yourself, you did it - installed Windows XP on your netbook yourself. Further actions - setting up account settings and getting started with Windows - is a topic for a completely different story.

Which we ourselves will write down in the simplest and most trouble-free way.

Since in our reviews on the Softobase portal we use only the simplest and most proven methods and programs, the article on installing Windows XP will not be an exception.

Despite the large number of ways to create bootable flash drives, in our example we will use a simple and reliable UltraISO utility, which is guaranteed to work with any USB drives and ISO images.

We launch with administrator rights, for which we right-click on the launch shortcut and select “Run as administrator” in the menu that opens.

Download from the Internet any Windows XP boot image you like in ISO format, be it an original system from Microsoft, or a manual build of a 32 or 64-bit system with integrated updates, exclusive themes and registry tweaks.

Getting ready to write the image to a flash drive

We will need a flash drive with a capacity of at least 4 GB. In our example, a Transcend 32 GB USB drive will be used.

In UltraISO we open the image of the system we downloaded from the disk:

File - Open - specify the image file on the computer disk.

In the window that opens, select the Transcend 32 GB flash drive from the list of disks.

Recording method - USB HDD+

Then click the “Record” button.

In the warning window that all existing information on the flash drive will be lost, click OK. We didn't forget to copy important files to another location, did we?

Now, with a clear conscience, you can drink coffee while the bootable flash drive is being written, since for a 4 GB image it takes, on average, about ten minutes.

Booting from a bootable USB flash drive

An equally important stage in which we need to boot not from a computer disk, but from a bootable USB flash drive that we created earlier.

The order of devices from which a computer or laptop boots - be it an HDD, a USB flash drive, a USB HDD-external hard drive or a CD/DVD drive - is set in the BIOS.

To get into the BIOS, you must immediately press and hold the Delete, Esc or F2 button on the keyboard when you turn on the computer.

Each manufacturer uses one of three buttons to enter the BIOS, so try them one at a time, or simply search online to see which one your PC uses.

After entering the BIOS, look for the option that controls the boot order of devices. Typically this menu line contains the word Boot.

We will show the main existing BIOS and the line for selecting boot devices in the screenshots below.

Go to the item for selecting bootable devices, then press the Enter button and use the arrows on the keyboard to ensure that the flash drive is the first in the list of devices, and then the computer’s hard drive.

Save the BIOS settings by selecting Save and Exit Setup, after making sure that the flash drive is inserted into the PC, and wait for the reboot.

Now, after turning on the system, the message “Press any key to boot from CD or DVD” will appear - press any button to launch the boot menu.

How to install Windows from a flash drive - proceed to the installation stage

Finally, we have moved on to the final stage of installing Windows XP from a flash drive. In the first window we are greeted by the installation program; to continue the installation, press Enter.

In the license agreement window, press F8 to accept it, otherwise the installation will not continue.

In our version, we install the system on a clean hard drive to understand the process. Therefore, we will create two partitions at once - Disk C (the system one, on which we will install WindowsXP) and Disk D - for storing personal files.

In this case, you must select installation on drive C:

Please note that you can install Windows “on top” of your existing operating system without formatting the disk. However, we do not recommend doing this, because this method may leave software errors and unnecessary libraries of the previous OS version. We recommend installing the system on a “clean” disk. In this case, all data will be deleted, so if you have important information stored on the system drive, you need to copy it to another logical drive in advance.

We indicate the partition size in megabytes, for example, if it is 20 Gigabytes, then we need to write 20,000 Megabytes, since 1 Gigabyte is about 1000 Megabytes.

From the empty space on the disk, we will still have an unallocated area, in which we create the next disk D, proceeding in the same way as in the previous paragraph, but indicating the entire remaining amount of free space.

We will have two disks in our system - C and D.

After creating the partitions, select the very first Disk C - Partition 1.

Now we need to format the system partition, for which press Enter and select “Format partition in NTFS system”.

Next, the process of installing Windows itself will begin - depending on the speed of your computer and flash drive, the process will take some time, but definitely, it will be more than it takes to make one cup of coffee.

After the first reboot, you can again enable the computer to boot from the HDD in the BIOS by repeating the steps in the reverse order when we enabled the computer to boot from a USB drive.

The screenshot below shows the progress of formatting the partition.

Copying files to disk.

Graphical Windows XP boot screen.

Windows XP installation process.

In the first window that will require our participation, we need to indicate “Region and Language”.

In some situations, users may need information on how to install Windows from a flash drive via BIOS. Today, the question is relevant due to several reasons, including the need for an emergency reinstallation of the Windows software package. It may happen that the distribution package will be written to the most ordinary USB drive, and not to a disk, because the use of such a source of information storage is convenient. It is worth noting that many modern laptops simply do not have a DVD drive, which has allowed manufacturers to create ultra-thin devices. In this case, reinstalling the version of Windows XP, 7, 8.1, 10 required for operation is possible only from a flash drive or external hard drive connected via USB. Anyone who has installed a software package knows that this process is not complicated, but it requires the user to have certain knowledge and skills, without which it will not be possible to start the process. Installation of the current version of Windows XP, 7, 8.1, 10 begins with entering the BIOS, the parameters of which you need to be able to understand. It should be noted that through BIOS from a flash drive you can not only install a software package, but also carry out a deep scan of the system for the presence of malware, which in some cases allows you to establish the correct operation of Windows XP, 7, 8.1, 10 on a user’s computer or laptop.

When you can't use a DVD drive, a flash drive comes to the rescue

Preparing for installation

If you purchased a laptop with a pre-installed licensed software package Windows 7, 8.1 or 10, then you should remember that it is called a factory distribution. We recommend that you prepare in advance for a situation where you will need to reinstall the operating system and useful programs from the manufacturer. In this case, the distribution is written to a DVD-R disc, flash drive, or external hard drive. In the last two cases, it will be necessary to configure certain parameters in the BIOS.

Installing an unfamiliar version of Windows XP, 7, 8.1 or 10 is very similar to installing a factory distribution. The main task of the user is to start the process, and then the system automatically installs the software package on a computer or laptop. We recommend that you carefully select installation files, since on the Internet you can find a huge number of pirated versions of software packages that do not work correctly after installation.

There are sequential instructions that describe the process of recording an operating system image onto a flash drive, which will be used to install Windows on a computer or laptop. The successful result will depend on the quality of the image and the correct execution of the algorithm.

So, reinstalling the operating system from a USB drive includes the following steps:

Write installation files to a USB drive.
Transferring all files needed in the future from drive C to protect them from deletion.
Installing a flash drive into a USB connector.
Launch BIOS and change settings in the menu. You need to search for information on how to enter the BIOS on a specific computer or laptop.
Starting the installation of the operating system.

Launching BIOS

Before starting the BIOS, all users should understand that the flash drive must already be connected to a working USB connector of the laptop or computer. It is worth noting that the BIOS can be launched using a combination of different keys, for example, repeatedly pressing Del, Esc, F12, F10. This action is always carried out at the moment the device boots. The input method depends on the BIOS manufacturer and the computer model. Users should be prepared for the fact that the mouse will not work in this mode. All control in the BIOS is performed by pressing keys. However, no one has any difficulties with this. The main task after entering such a menu is to launch automatic installation from a flash drive. Once Windows installation starts, no user intervention is required.

Key combinations vary by BIOS manufacturer

Changing BIOS settings and starting installation

Immediately after entering the BIOS, you need to find a tab called Boot. Often the required section is called in one word. Different BIOS versions have different interfaces, but the Boot tab is usually present in all firmwares. After entering the tab, you should select the Hard Disk Drives item, where the order of device recognition will be presented.

Users should understand that to start automatically loading the operating system, the flash drive must be listed in the first place in the BIOS. Opposite the “1 st Boot Device” parameter, a device must be installed that has the word “usb” in its name. Rearranging devices is done using the Enter and Up, Down, Left, Right keys.

After all the changes have been installed, you need to save them. To do this, use the F10 button. The BIOS has many tips that help a newbie navigate. Then all that remains is to restart your computer or laptop, after which the process will begin automatically.

Installing Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 from a flash drive via BIOS will solve the problem of troubleshooting if the device does not have a DVD drive. In addition, flash drives are reliable. Usually, when installing a software package from a flash drive, no failures or difficulties arise.