creating bootable xp usb

Hi guys,

I wanted to create a bootable xp usb stick that I could keep on me because I work with a couple of, lets say careless, people who are constantly getting their computer into mischief. So I've got an Ubuntu install stick but I know my way around windows more so I've installed XP onto my stick but it won't boot from it? I just get a blue screen to say that the boot failed. From a little bit of research it would appear that XP doesn't play too well with the new way of doing BIOS (Uefi I believe). I just need the install so that I can run hardware diagnostics for hard drives etc.

Is there any way to get this to work or am I better off trying to make a bootable version of 7?

Thanks in advance for your help

Tom

tommatwalker said:

Is there any way to get this to work or am I better off trying to make a bootable version of 7?

You'd be better off using PE.

You could make a Windows to go USB (in which case 8 or 10 would be easier than 7) but PE is preferable (especially from a licensing point of view). See here for instructions TechNet Wiki

You can make a PE yourself using this project The Oven to add useful things like taskbar, GUI etc or there is a prebuilt one here you can start with which contains most applications you'd want Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums

Hi mate, thanks for this. I have not had anything to do with PE so I will do a bit of research now.

Thanks for the info

Tom

You are welcome. Try the rescue disk in the link above (will boot on BIOS and UEFI PC) first - it sounds like what you may want and you can always add extra programs if you need to.

The biggest advantage to PE over a full Windows install is the installation of drivers. PE has a small collection of widely compatible hardware drivers to just make the OS work, although possibly not at optimal performance. The full Windows install will contain a large number of more specific drivers and each time it is booted on a new hardware configuration will go through the lengthy process of setting up the best drivers it can find for that hardware configuration.

So I've burned that ISO to a memory stick using Rufus but I'm still getting a failure (blue screen that just says boot failed). What is the minimum space capacity required for installing windows PE?

Tom

tommatwalker said:

So I've burned that ISO to a memory stick using Rufus but I'm still getting a failure (blue screen that just says boot failed). What is the minimum space capacity required for installing windows PE?

Tom

You need enough RAM to copy the whole ISO into plus 500mb or so for scratch space. 3GB RAM works - I'm not sure if 2GB would be enough but I've not tried it.

For systems with less RAM you'd need a smaller (less comprehensive) PE environment.

You don't need Rufus (I always get confused by the options tbh) - just format the drive FAT32 and mark it active like this and it will boot on BIOS or UEFI.

Code:

PS C:\Windows\system32> diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.15063.0

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: MACBOOK

DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          113 GB  6144 MB        *
  Disk 1    Online         1927 MB   960 KB

DISKPART> select disk 1

Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> clean

DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.

DISKPART> create partition primary

DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.

DISKPART> format fs=fat32 quick

  100 percent completed

DiskPart successfully formatted the volume.

DISKPART> active

DiskPart marked the current partition as active.

DISKPART> exit

Leaving DiskPart...
PS C:\Windows\system32>

Then mount the ISO (double click on it) and copy the contents onto your flash drive.

Sorted! Thanks guys, great piece of kit that!