Install XP Professional SP3 from a USB Flash Drive

1). I do not want my usb flash drive to be a bootable?.
2). But an actual install medium?.
Well if you DO NOT want your flash drive to be bootable how the hell are you going to load XP?
Let a lone having it as a install medium.
You better get a DVD drive and then do it from there.
It is like saying "i want a printer but i do not want to buy paper". Well something is going to have to give, you are going to have to give out some cash and buy the DVD drive. Period.
Welcome to computers.

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Have you created your Recovery CD's. If not it would be advisable to do so if you are able to, as the PC may have a Hidden Recovery Partition that may be deleted if you are not careful.



Win XP



If you haven't already Partitioned and made the USB Stick Active you may need to create a Bootable CD with Fdisk.exe on it to prepare the USB Stick. If you haven't a Floppy Drive don't worry as this is covered later. You will need a DOS Boot Disk which can be downloaded from below. How to use fdisk: http://home.pacbell.net/dbk4297/fdiskformat.html



http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm



Download these files and add the new fdisk.exe to the floppy when it is created.



Tip. Dont forget to modify Autoexec.bat and Config.sys so that they don't reflect any Drives. Sample and an alternative way: http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootablecd Read the documentation below.



Windows 98 SE Custom, No Ramdrive


Updated fdisk for Windows 98 bootdisks



Because a lot of newer PC's don't have Floppy Drives anymore I use Virtual Floppy Drive. VFD. Read the vfdhelp.txt that is with it.



http://chitchat.at.infoseek.co.jp/vmware/vfd.html#beta



How to make a bootable CD



http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000669.htm



How to Make Bootable CDs



http://www.pcsupportadvisor.com/bootable_%20CD_page1.htm



If you have access to the necessesary equipment keep the Active Partition at 2GB Read On.



Download the MS-DOS 7.10 Installation CD ISO Image



MS-DOS 7.10 Installation CD ISO Image:



http://ms-dos7.hit.bg/#msfv



Burn it to CD using Nero or any other Software that will support the ISO Image.



How to burn an ISO Image:



http://www.ubcd4win.com/burn.htm



Ensure that you have an Active Partition on the new Drive and it is Formatted FAT32 You will be preparing it as a Hard Drive if you can't achieve this you will need to try another USB Stick.



Disconnect the Hard Drive from the PC that you have been using. Set it to Boot from CD in the BIOS. Connect your USB Stick and turn on the PC.



Insert the DOS CD that you created and follow the prompts to install it to the USB Drive. When you have finished installing DOS shutdown the PC and reconnect the Hard Drive.



Restart the PC and reconnect the USB Stick, now you will need to copy the I386 Folder from your XP CD to the USB Stick.



When you have finished doing that, disconnect the USB Stick and insert it back into the original PC. Turn on the PC and you should end up with a DOS Prompt. Now you will have to remove the Non DOS Partition using fdisk, delete the NON DOS Active Partition. It should read {Partition 1} {Status A} {Type NTFS}, if it has a Volume Label you will have to type it in. Once that is complete recreate the Primary Partition and make it Active, exit out and restart the PC.



When you get back to the DOS Prompt type in CD I386 and press Enter. Type winnt.exe and press Enter. Follow the prompts.



Hint! You may as well copy the Motherboard Device Drivers to the USB Stick at the same time as you are going to need them, also copy your Antivirus Sofware that you are going to install



Keep us informed as to your progress if you require further assistance.



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