Featured:
Allergies
Tech Know
Grilling Guide
eHow Now Blog

How to Create an XP Boot Drive on Flash

How to Create an XP Boot Drive on Flash thumbnail
Transfer your Windows XP CD to a USB drive for use on a netbook.

Netbooks are smaller laptops, primarily used for browsing the web and reading email. Due to their small size, they typically lack an optical drive. This omission can make installing, reinstalling or troubleshooting a system with the included Windows XP CD quite a challenge. If you find yourself in this situation, you are in luck because you can fairly easily copy the contents of the Windows XP to a bootable USB drive and use it much in the same way you would the disc.

Things You'll Need

  • Windows XP Install CD
  • USB flash drive
  • Bootsect utility
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Download the Bootsect utility via the link provided in the "Resources" below. Unzip the files and move the "bootsect.exe" file to your "C" drive.

    • 2

      Insert the USB flash drive into an open USB slot. Right-click the drive within Windows Explorer and select "Properties." Check to see if the format is the NTFS file system. If it is not, right-click the drive and select "Format" using the NTFS file system.

    • 3

      Open the Windows Start menu and type "cmd" into the Search box. The results will return the Command Prompt utility. Right-click the application and select "Run as Administrator."

    • 4

      Type "diskpart" into the Command Prompt and hit "Enter." Type "list volume" and hit "Enter." The USB flash drive will be listed as "Removable Media." Make note of the drive letter and volume number. Type "select volume #" (using the appropriate number) and hit "Enter." Type "active" and hit "Enter." Type "exit" and hit "Enter."

    • 5

      Type "cd C:\" and hit "Enter." Type "bootsect.exe /nt60 ABC:" (using the appropriate drive letter) and hit "Enter." After the command finishes, the flash drive has been made bootable. Quit the Command Prompt utility.

    • 6

      Insert the Windows XP CD into the computer's optical drive. Open the folder to expose the CD's contents via Windows Explore. Copy the entire contents of the disc ("Edit" > "Select All," "Edit" > "Copy").

    • 7

      Open the contents of the USB flash drive within Windows Explorer and paste the CD's contents onto the drive by selecting "Edit" > "Paste." Once the copying finishes, you have a fully bootable XP-formatted USB flash drive.

Related Searches:

References

Resources

  • Photo Credit usb stick image by Otmar Smit from Fotolia.com

Comments

You May Also Like

Related Ads

thumbnail
Featured