Installing Windows XP from USB flash drive

What do you do when there is not optical drive in your PC and you want to install a new operating system on it ? before you invest in new optical drive we will tell you about a more cost effective solution. You can make a install windows XP by your USB flash drive. Follow this step by step instruction to make a  Bootable USB flash drive.

Step 1: Download the software 'Komku-SP-usb.exe' from the website mentioned earlier and execute it. The executable file will extract the necessary utilities to a folder called 'C:\kumku'.

Step 2: Once the package has been extracted, go to the folder 'C:\komku\PeToUSB' using Windows Explorer. Execute the file 'PeToUSB.exe'. Plug in the USB flash drive and make sure you choose the following (see image below) before clicking the start button. Select 'USB removable', 'Enable Disk Format', 'Quick format', 'Enable LBA (Fat 16x)' and finally give the drive a name under 'Drive Label'. Once it's done, click start to let the utility format the drive.

Step 3: Next you will need to start the command prompt. Click 'Start | Run', type 'cmd' and press [Enter]. Then go to the 'bootsect' directory by typing the command 'cd c:\komku\bootsect' and pressing [Enter]. Now type the command 'bootsect /nt52 F:' and press [Enter]. (The 'F:' is the USB flash drive letter represented in 'My Computer'. Check to verify the drive used by your USB flash drive). Let the utility do the needful. Do not exit the command Prompt yet.

Step 4: Now you will need to change to the directory 'Usb_Prep8' by using the command 'cd C:\komku\usb_prep8' and pressing [Enter]. Here execute the command 'usb_prep8' and press [Enter]. Press any key to continue and you will see a welcome screen with a menu appear in the Command Prompt.

Step 5: Now at this stage, you will have to insert the Windows XP installation disk into your optical drive. At the Command Prompt menu, type '1' and press [Enter]. A new popup will appear asking you to choose the location (path) of the Windows installation disk. Select the optical drive and click 'OK'. Next choose '2' from the menu and change the drive letter to any drive letter which has not been taken. It drive 'T:' by default and you can ignore this step unless you do have a 'T:' drive on your computer.

After this, choose '3' from the menu and enter the drive letter of you USB flash drive (in this case it would be 'F'). Finally choose '4' from the menu and press [Enter] wait for a few seconds for the process to complete and you will see a prompt to allow the utility to format the USB flash drive. Type 'Y' and then press [Enter] at this stage to let the utility proceed and install the necessary files from the Windows XP installation disk to the USB flash drive. This process will take a few minutes and depends on the speed of the flash drive.

Step 6: After the files are copied, you will see a popup window asking you for permission to copy files form the temp drive to the USB flash drive. Select 'Yes'.

Step 7: Next there will be another popup window asking you to allow the utility to change the boot drive letter of the USB flash drive from 'F:' to 'U:'. Select 'Yes'.

Step 8: Finally, after all the processes are complete, you will see yet another popup window asking if you want to unmount the virtual drive. Select 'Yes' Exit the Command Prompt now and you will see that your flash drive is ready to install Windows XP to another computer. To install Windows XP to the computer you will have to go to the BIOS and enable the option of booting from a USB removable device. This option is usually found under the boot sequence menu of the BIOS. Plug in the USB drive to the computer before you turn it on. Now your computer will beet form the USB flash drive and will be ready to install Windows XP. Follow the necessary steps to install Windows XP and your computer will be up, raring and ready to go and running Windows in no time.