How to Create an XP Boot Drive on a Multipartition Flash
To create a bootable version of Windows XP on a multipartition flash drive, you must format the partition and install to it a PE (preinstalled environment) version of XP. A Windows XP preinstalled environment comes with many of the same functions of the full version of Windows XP, but the former is much smaller in size and does not include a registry. Preinstalled environments are often used to troubleshoot a computer or to access a hard drive via external means.
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Instructions
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Check your computer's manual, or call or email your motherboard's manufacturer, to confirm that your BIOS is able to boot to USB. Your BIOS may require a firmware upgrade to boot to USB.
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Check your USB drive's packaging to make sure that the flash drive itself is bootable.
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Insert your flash drive into a USB slot. Download and run the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool (see link in Resources).
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From the list of devices, select the flash partition on which you want to create the XP boot drive. Then select "FAT" from the list of file systems. Click "Start" to format your USB partition.
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Click "Start," then "Run," to open the Run dialogue box. Type "%systemroot%" into the box, then hit "Enter."
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Click "Tools" then "Folder Options." Click the "View" tab, then select the "Show hidden files and folders" button. Click "OK" to close the window.
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From the system root folder, copy the "boot.ini," "ntldr" and "ntdetect" files to your USB drive.
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Download PE Builder (see link in Resources), a software designed to create XP boot disks. Extract the folder to your C: drive.
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Insert your Windows XP CD into your CD or DVD drive. Run PE Builder. Take note of the software's version, listed in the title of the program, since you will need this information later.
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Click the "..." button below "Source," then select your Windows XP install files. Click "OK." Leave "Custom" and "Output" as is. Under the "Media output" section, click "None." Click "Build."
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Open Run. Type "cmd.exe" into the box. Hit "Enter." Type "cd C:\pebuilder#\plugin\peinst." Replace "#" with your PE Builder's version (for example, PE Builder v3.1.3 would read as "pebuilder313"). Hit "Enter."
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Type "peinst," then hit "Enter." Next to "Enter your choice," type "1" then hit "Enter."
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Type "C:\pebuilder#\BartPE," again replacing "#" with your PE Builder's version. Hit "Enter." Type "2" then hit "Enter" again.
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Type "<flash drive partition>:" followed by "Enter." Replace "<flash drive partition>" with the actual drive letter Windows assigned your USB drive's partition.
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Type "5" then hit "Enter" to copy a bootable version of Windows XP to a partition on your flash drive.
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Tips & Warnings
Your flash drive's partition should have at least 1GB of space available.
Formatting the flash drive's partition will erase all of the files on that partition.
You must be the licensed owner of the Windows XP CD to copy the files to a USB drive.
