• Boot In Windows Pe
• Windows Xp Download

How to Create a Bootable Windows XP Setup Disk on a Preinstalled / Preloaded Windows SystemIf you have bought an off-the-shelf computer recently, chances are that it came with Windows preloaded onto the system. Unfortunately,many of these systems with Windows preinstalled do not come with a Windows setup CDROM; at best they include a Recovery Disk thatrestores the system to its shipping condition. If you plan to reformat and do a clean installation of yoursystem, you might think that you have to buy another additional Windows XP licence even though you have already paid for one for thatsame machine. This article shows you how you can re-create a usable and bootable Windows XP installation CD using your running system.Why Create a Bootable Windows Setup CD?There are at least a few reasons why you might need a bootable Windows Setup disc:. Very often, people want to reinstall a system to remove the crap that comes preinstalled on their system.If you have bought any PC or laptop from brands like Dell, Acer, HP,etc, you will know what I mean.

The manufacturer typically installs tons of demo and trial software, toolbars and otherjunk that clutter up your system and slow it down. Uninstalling these programs takes a lot of time, and even when it is done, there arestill residual pieces of the previous installation littered across your hard disk and the registry. In such a situation, it isuseful to reinstall a pristine copy of Windows, load the drivers and only the software you actually want to use.

Another possible reason is that you've used your system for some time, and it's become incredibly sluggish and cluttered. You want toreinstall and start from scratch. To simplify the process, you want to integrate (slipstream) all the Windows hotfixes, device drivers,applications, etc, into your Windows install disk, so that when you finish running the Windows installer, your system is good to go, withoutthe need to wait a few hours for Windows Update to catch up with the last few years' worth of Windows Update. For this slipstreaming to take place,you need a Windows setup CD.

Boot In Windows Pe

If you want to do a repair install of Windows, you will need a bootable Windows install disc.I'm sure there are many other possible reasons why you might need a Windows Installation CD, but let's get on with the procedure formaking one.PrerequisitesBefore you can recreate a bootable Windows installation disk, certain things are required:. A Windows XP SystemThis guide only applies to Windows XP systems, be it XP Home or Professional. I have not tested this procedure on other versions ofWindows. An I386 Directory (Folder) on your Hard DiskThis is essential. Without this, the procedure outlined on this page will not work. To find out whetheryou can use the steps listed on this page to re-create your bootable Windows XP setup disk, look for into yoursystem drive (usually the C: drive), and see if you can find a folder named I386 in the root directory.That is, see if you have the C:I386 folder on your hard disk.If your PC or laptop came from the major PC vendors like HP, Dell or Acer, chances are that there is an I386 folder at the root of drive C:,unless you've deleted it.Note that only c:i386 contains the files needed for this operation.

Do not use the files in 'C:WindowsDriver Cachei386' or any other folders. Windows License KeyWhen you bought your PC or laptop, it probably already came with Windows pre-activated, which means that you could use the computer out-of-the-boxwithout having to enter your Windows licence key from Microsoft or needing to activate the machine.However, when you reinstall Windows, you will need a Windows licence key. You can usually find this taped somewhere on your computer (sometimes onthe underside or back of the computer). Without this, you won't get far in the installation. Device DriversSome manufacturers provide you with the device drivers for your system on a CD that comes with your system. Others require you to go to theirwebsite and download these drivers.

Whichever the case may be, make sure you have all your drivers handy before you start. Burn them onto a CD or DVD.Do not leave them on your hard disk, since your clean installation of Windows will probably wipe out everything on your hard disk.If your computer has SATA, IDE, SCSI or other mass storage devices (for your hard disks) that the Windows installer does not recognize out of the box,you will need to create a floppy disk with the drivers for that device. At the appropriate time, when Windows prompts you to hit F6 to load the driversfrom a floppy disk, you will need to so. This is however outside the scope of this tutorial.If your manufacturer has not provided you with any device drivers, or if you have lost the drivers CD or DVD that the vendor has provided you,all is not lost. You can try using a device driver backup program to extract the existing drivers on your currently running system.

Burn the driversonto a CD or DVD before starting. You can get a device driver backup program from thepageon thefreecountry.com. Note that backing up your device drivers in this manner will not help you if your computer has SATA, IDE, SCSI or othermass storage devices (for your hard disk) that Windows setup does not recognise. In such cases, you need the manufacturers' textmode driverswhich the driver backup utility will not recreate. CD/DVD Burning SoftwareYou will need to have a CD/DVD burning software that will allow you to create Bootable CDs. Not all DVD or CD mastering programs allow you todo this, especially the OEM versions that are bundled with new computers or DVD/CD writers.For the purpose of this tutorial, I will use ImgBurn, a free burning software that you can find listed on thepage.You can of course use other software, but since it is difficult for me to write a tutorial that covers every possible burning software around,this guide will assume that you are using ImgBurn.

Since the software is available free of charge, I doubt that this choice will pose significant hardshipfor anyone. Windows Setup CD Boot SectorYou will also need the boot sector of an existing bootable Windows 2000, XP or 2003 setup CDROM. The easiest way to get this is to downloadthe file wxp10.zip from this location (link removed, see below).In fact, you should do this now.

Download the file and save it on your desktop. You will need the file later.Update (2017): the site mentioned in the previous paragraph is no longer available, and I don't know anyreliable alternative locations that provide it. Sorry.I would also strongly suggest that you make a backup image of your entire system before you reinstall it. By entire system, I meanthe whole system and not just your data.

Windows Xp Download

This is important in case there is some glitch in your installation or some fault in the setup CD that you create,resulting in an unusable system. In such a situation, you will be able to restore your working system from your backup image.

(If youare not sure what a backup image is, or think that I'm only talking about saving your documents to another location, or worse, think that'image' refers to some sort of picture, please do not carry on with this procedure.)If you don't have a decent hard disk backup and image software, you can check out thepage. If you are tinkering with your system, you owe it to yourself (and your sanity) to get a good hard disk image (backup) program.Important NoteNote that there are NO GUARANTEES with theprocedure I outline here. It is possible that it does not work - for example, if your vendor has deleted some essential file in the I386 folder(which we will need), your installation may well fail at some crucial point after it has formatted your hard disk! It is also possible that myprocedure will not work on your system, or that I made some mistake in describing it here. So do it all at your own risk.And make sure you have anthat you know works.Steps to Creating a Bootable Windows Setup Disk from the I386 Directory/Folder.Create a temporary working folder at the root (top) of the C: drive called 'XPSETUP' (without the quotes). Actually, you can name it anythingyou want and put it anywhere you like, but for ease of explanation, the remainder of the steps below will assume that you havecreated the XPSETUP folder in the root of drive C. This C:XPSETUP folder will be where you will create the CDROM directory structure for your bootable Windows CD.Copy the entire C:I386 to C:XPSETUP.

When you have finished, you will have C:XPSETUPI386. Notice that I said 'copy', not 'move'.

Do NOTdrag and drop the I386 folder into the XPSETUP directory. If you do so, you may end up moving it into the XPSETUP folder (depending on where you created theXPSETUP folder).

It is important to work from a copy of the I386 directory so that if you make mistakes, you can simply go back and start all over again.If you move the directory or drag and drop it, and you make a mistake, your mistake will be permanent. So once again, COPY the entire I386 folder to XPSETUP.It may take a while for the copy operation to complete, but it's safer this way.If you're not sure how to copy, follow the following procedure: Highlight the I386 folder using Windows Explorer. Right-click the folder and select'Copy'. Then open the XPSETUP folder. The folder should be empty at the moment. Right click the empty space in the window and click 'Paste'.A very lengthy copy procedure will take place.To verify that you have copied the folder and not moved it, return to the top of C: and check that the I386 folder is still there and thatthe original files in that folder are still there.Create an ASCII text file with only the word 'Windows ' (without the quotes and including the final space after the word 'Windows') in it, followedby a new line.

To do this, open up Notepad. Notepad can be found in your Start menu - Programs - Accessories - Notepad. Type the word 'Windows'without the quotes and following my case exactly (that is, 'W' is a capital letter and the rest are in small letters). Then type one additional space.Finally, hit the ENTER key.

Do not add anything else to this file. Do not change anything - for example, do not type everything in capital lettersor anything like that. The contents of the file must be exactly as I said, or Windows setup will issue an error message.Save the file with the filename 'WIN51' ( include the quotes so that Notepad will not add a '.txt' extension behind your back)in C:XPSETUP. Again, the filename's spelling and case must be exactly like mine.If your PC or laptop originally came with XP Home, make a copy of the file you just created and call it'WIN51IC'. If you are using XP Home Service Pack 1 (SP 1), make two copies of the file and call them 'WIN51IC' and'WIN51IC.SP1'.

If you are using XP Home Service Pack 2 (SP 2), make three copies of the file and callthem 'WIN51IC', 'WIN51IC.SP1' and 'WIN51IC.SP2'. All the copies of the files should be in C:XPSETUP.If your PC or laptop originally came with XP Professional, make a copy of the file you just createdand call it 'WIN51IP'. If you are using XP Professional Service Pack 1 (SP 1), make two copies of the file and call them 'WIN51IP' and'WIN51IP.SP1'. If you are using XP Professional Service Pack 2 (SP 2), make three copies of the file and callthem 'WIN51IP', 'WIN51IP.SP1' and 'WIN51IP.SP2'. All the copies of the files should be in C:XPSETUP.Note carefully what I said above. You may be running XP SP 2 now, but if your PC came with XP SP 1, youshould create the files for XP SP 1. There is an exception to this.

If your PC or laptop came with XP or XP SP 1, but you want your Windows install CDto install XP SP 2, create the WIN51 files needed for SP 2 and follow the procedure for slipstreaming Windows service pack 2 (SP 2) into theWindows setup CDROM given in the next step.If your PC or laptop came originally with XP or XP SP 1 (service pack 1) but you want your Windowssetup disk to install XP SP 2, do the following. Otherwise, skip to the next step.Note that even if you have since updated your computer to SP 2, you will still need to do thisstep if you want your setup CD to install Windows XP Service Pack 2. The reason is that updating yourrunning Windows system does not automatically update the I386 directory. Your I386 directory still containsthe Windows setup files belonging to whatever version of Windows you had when you first bought your PC/laptop.Download Windows XP service pack 2 fromSave it anywhere you like except in the C:XPSETUP folder. For the purpose of this tutorial, I will assume yousaved it as C:XPSP2.EXE, that is, in the root folder with the filename 'XPSP2.EXE'.Important: if you did notyou should probably do so before changing the name of the file. Otherwise, you may beinadvertently saving the file as 'XPSP2.EXE.EXE' without your knowing. (That is, you see the filename as 'XPSP2.EXE' in WindowsExplorer but it's actually 'XPSP2.EXE.EXE'.).You will need to update the C:XPSETUPI386 folder to contain the updated SP 2 files.

As a side benefit,the service pack 2 updater will also create a few files (including setup.exe) in the C:XPSETUP folder.This process of integrating the service pack files into the original XP or XP SP 1 is known as 'slipstreaming'.To slipstream SP 2, first open up a command prompt. To do this, click the Start menu, select the Run menuitem, and enter the words 'cmd'. Click the OK button. A black command prompt window will open.Enter the following line into the window and press the ENTER key.C:XPSP2.EXE /integrate:C:XPSETUPAfter the program finishes, you can close the command prompt window. If you look into your XPSETUP folder, you will notice a few new files there.At this point, the C:XPSETUP directory contains all the files that will be copied to yourWindows Setup CDROM. Don't worry if the directory does not contain files like 'setup.exe' whichyou see on the retail CDROMs. You won't need it for a fresh install from the bootable CDROM.

Note: You will only have 'setup.exe' if youhad to slipstream Service Pack 2 as mentioned earlier. The Service Pack 2 slipstreamer creates setup.exe for you.Now open the wxp10.zip file that you downloaded earlier. Simply doubleclicking it in Windows explorer should do the trick. Go into the cdsdirectory and into wxphome (or wxppro; it doesn't matter which) directory, followed by the files directory. Drag the 'w2ksect.bin' fileinto C: (the root directory/folder of drive C:).

Don't get creative and place it in some other directory. If you do that, ImgBurn will not beable to find c:w2ksect.bin later.Burning the Bootable Windows Install CD/DVD.If you have not downloaded ImgBurn, get it now and install it. You will find it listedon thefreecountry.com'spage.The version of ImgBurn I used to create this guide was 2.3.2.0. My cursory test of a later version, 2.4.0.0, found that the resulting disk was not made correctly.Therefore, you should avoid 2.4.0.0.

Either use the earlier version or get a version later than 2.4.0.0, if any, that has the bugsfixed.Open up Notepad, and copy the text from the box below (make sure you select everything - click in the box and type Ctrl+A to select all)and paste it into a blank Notepad window. Save the file as ' XPSETUP.ibb' ( including the quotes,which you need to prevent Notepad from adding a '.txt' extension to your filename) somewhere on your desktop (or anywhere you like).

.For this, the thumb drive needs to be formatted in FAT format and must have the required boot sector file residing on the drive itself.This article will walk you through the process of booting from a thumb drive.Booting from a USB Device Getting Boot SectorsTo be able to boot from a device, you will need boot sectors. Boot sectors contain the information needed by the BIOS to enable it to boot using the device.Using a Floppy Disk Formatted in WindowsBefore you can make a USB device bootable, you will need to get your hands on a bootable floppy. In all current Windows versions (including Windows 2000 and XP) you can do that by formatting a floppy disk.Open Windows Explorer, and right-click the A: drive. Choose Format from the popup menu.In the window that appears, check the Create an MS-DOS startup disk option.Make sure Windows is formatting the right drive: it should show Format 3½ Floppy (A:).

Once you're sure about the drive, click the Start button. Windows will now format the disk and make it bootable.Extracting Floppy Disk Boot SectorsAfter creating the bootable floppy, you will now need to extract the boot sectors from this floppy using Bart's MKBT.To do so, open a DOS Window and go to the directory where you extracted MKBT.Type mkbt -c a: bootsect.bin as shown in the example below:C:WindowsSystem32cmd.exeD:Downloadsmkbt20mkbt -c a: bootsect.binCopy boot sector mode (-c)D:Downloadsmkbt20N.B.: Here a represents the drive that holds the newly made bootable floppy.

Once the command prompt returns, you will have a boot sector stored in the file bootsect.bin. Do not close this DOS window yet; you will need it again later in the process.Using Images from Bootable FloppiesOn the Internet you can find a lot of bootable disks. Take a look at the BootCD.info website, where you will find plenty of floppy disk images and tools to write these images to floppy disk. Most of these disks are specialized, for example direct network access, packed with handy tools and more. One of the best network enabled bootdisks is Bart's Network Boot Disk.Follow the instructions there on how to make a bootable floppy.N.B.: Some.BAT files refer to the A: drive directly. This can cause problems during boot.Preparing the Thumb DriveFormat the thumb drive in the same format that you formatted the floppy disk, i.e.

FAT.Right-click the drive letter of the thumb drive, and select Format. Select the proper format (FAT), and click Start.Copy the Boot Sectors to the Thumb DriveThanks to MKBT by Bart, you can now easily copy the boot sectors onto the USB thumb drive.You can download the file.Open a DOS Window, and go to the directory where you extracted MKBT.Type mkbt -x bootsect.bin G: as shown in the example below, remembering to change G: to the drive corresponding to your thumb drive:C:WindowsSystem32cmd.exeD:Downloadsmkbt20mkbt -x bootsect.bin g:Copy Files to the Thumb DriveNow that the drive is bootable, you can put the essential files onto it. Copy all of the files that you put on the A: drive earlier on to your thumb drive.Be warned that if your floppy has a.BAT or CONFIG.SYS file and they use absolute path referencing to the A: drive, this could be a problem.Restart and Go Into the BIOSRestart your PC, and go into the BIOS by pressing the Del button on your keyboard. ( F1F2Insert, and F10 are all alternative keys that may be used here, depending on your model.

Sometimes the PC will display a message telling you which key to press.)N.B.: Some laptops allow you to set the boot devices using a Windows application. Toshiba, for example, does this with some of their laptops. The application is either a standalone application or an applet in the Control Panel.BIOS SettingsDepending on the BIOS of your computer, you can set the USB stick as a boot device. If your PC's BIOS does not seem to support this, check if there is an update available. For some reason, most BIOS prefer to refer to the thumb drive than to a USB Removable Floppy Disk or to a USB Zip Disk.If the settings mentioned do not seem to work with your PC, then do the following procedure.Go into the BIOS, and go to the page that determines the boot order. (It is usually called Advanced Setup, Boot options, or Feature Setup.)Try all USB drive variants.

Start with USB ZIP, then USB FDD, USB HDD, etc.To speed up the testing, disable all other boot devices. This goes for the 2nd, 3rd etc, but also for Alternative boot devices.AMI BIOS AMI refers to AMIBIOS Simple Setup Utility.To access it, go to Feature Setup and enable the USB Function Support, USB Function For DOS, and ThumbDrive for DOS options.Go to Advanced Setup, and set the 1st Boot Device to USB RMD-FDD.Reboot the PC. It should now boot from the thumb drive.If this doesn't work, go to USB Mass Storage Device Configuration Emulation Type and set it to Hard disk.Go to the Boot Menu, and set the 1st boot device to USB-Stick.Now you can exit the BIOS after saving the changes. If this does not seem to work, then you can try setting the Emulation Type value to Floppy or Forced FDD.Phoenix/Award BIOSTo access the Phoenix/Award BIOS, go to Advanced BIOS Features.Go to the 1st Boot device, and set it to USB-ZIP.Sometimes the device is listed as a USB hard drive under the hard drives menu.

Finish by rebooting.What Is MKBT? Introduction to MKBTMKBT is used for installing boot sectors. It supports FAT, NTFS, and RAW boot sectors. It allows you to transfer a boot sector to floppy images. This allows you to create a bootable 2.88MB floppy image without needing a 2.88MB floppy drive.MKBT is compiled as a Win32 executable and runs on Windows 95/98/ME (FAT) and Windows NT4/2000/XP (FAT and NTFS).MKBT copies parts of the boot sector.