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How to Install Windows From a Flash Drive

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How to Install Windows From a Flash Drive

by rattakua on Wed 16 Dec 2009, 4:05 am

The first thing you need to do is download the three files below and save them on your desktop.

PeToUSB.zip

USBprep.zip

BOOTsect.zip

Once you have these downloaded, extract PeToUSB.zip and USBprep.zip separately. Then, copy
everything from the PeToUSB folder to the USBprep folder. Now, copy the USBprep folder and
place it in C:\
Also, extract BOOTsect.zip and put these files directly in the C:\ directory as well.

Next, you need to put your Windows CD in your optical drive and copy all of the contents from it
over to a folder in the C:\ directory. I named mine "XP" so it would be easier to recall later.

Navigate to the USBprep folder in C:\ and double click the usb_prep8.cmd file (yours may or may
not have the .cmd extension based on the Windows settings you are using. You can enable file
extensions by clicking Tools, Folder Options, View tab, then unticking "Hide extensions for known
file types" in the Advanced Settings list).

Clicking usb_prep8.cmd opens up the black and white command screen you see above. Follow the
directions on-screen by clicking any button and you will be greeted with another window,
PeToUSB. If you have your flash drive plugged in, the program should detect it and list it under the
destination drive.

Click "Start" in the PeToUSB window, select "Yes" to continue then again click "Yes" when it asks
if you are sure you want to repartition and format the disk. Once complete, click "Ok".

Leave all of these windows open and go to "Start", then "Run" and type in "cmd" to bring up the
console window.

Type "cd c:\", without the quotes and press Enter.

Now type "bootsect /nt52 M:", without the quotes. In this example, "M" represents the letter of my
flash drive. Yours will likely be different so be sure to check beforehand (it should be listed beside
your device name in PeToUSB - if not there, simply double click My Computer on your desktop
and locate the drive letter there.) then press Enter.
The command window will inform you that Bootcode was successfully updated on all target
volumes.

Now, close out of the current command window and also close PeToUSB. Doing this will bring up
a new set of options in the original command window, as seen above.

Press "1" then Enter and you will be asked to browse to the folder that you copied Windows to.
Select the folder then click "OK".

Click back on the command window and press "2" then Enter. You will be asked to enter a drive
letter that is not already taken. You may want to check in My Computer to be sure you select a
letter that isn't already being used. In the screenshot above, I selected "O". Press Enter after
selecting your drive letter of choice.

Press "3" then Enter and you will be asked for the drive letter of your flash drive. This is the same
letter that you used earlier in bootsect. For me, that letter is "M". Input the letter and press Enter.

Finally, press "4" then Enter. You will be asked if you want to proceed with the format. Type "Y"
then press Enter.

The system will pause a moment while the format takes place. Then you will be asked to press any
key to continue... do so. This starts the first phase of the process which will take a few minutes.
Once again, you will be prompted to press any key to continue... do so. Another dialog box will pop
up, asking you if you want to start the file copy. Click "Yes". The command window will again
activate and start copying files to the flash drive which will take a few minutes.

After a bit, you will be asked if you would like USB-stick to be Preferred Boot Drive. Click "Yes".

Finally, a dialog box asks if you would like to unmount the Virtual Drive. Click "Yes".

That's it, you are done! You can close the command window and any other relevant windows that
may still be open.

But, we are not done. Now comes time to install XP, which as you will find out, is a bit of a
different process when using a flash drive. Continue ahead as we walk through this procedure.

Installing XP

Once you have your flash drive loaded with XP, it's time to install it. As mentioned earlier, you
need to be sure that your computer supports booting from a USB drive.

Plug in the flash drive then turn on the computer and go into the BIOS (usually by pressing the
Delete key at the POST screen). In the BIOS, you will need to set the flash drive as the first boot
device, usually called something like "USB Hard Drive". Save and exit to reboot the system.
You will be greeted with the screen you see above which gives you two options: TXT mode or GUI
mode. Select TXT mode for now.

Setup will load as normal, but there is one catch that you need to be aware of here. If you are
formatting your hard drive and creating a new partition, you will need to turn off the computer
immediately after the partition has been formatted (before Windows starts copying files over). Turn
the system back on, boot back into TXT mode then direct Windows to leave the current file system
intact. This is done because the flash drive can't copy to the new partition unless the computer is
restarted and the flash drive is allowed to recognize the new partition. Strange, yes, but that's just
how it works. If you aren't creating a new partition, then just carry on as usual.

Once all of the setup files are loaded, the computer will reboot. This time, select GUI mode and
continue your installation as you normally would with a CD. It is important that you don't remove
the flash drive until you are totally finished with the installation or you may corrupt the install and
have to start over again.

This guide should allow you to quickly and easily install Windows XP on a computer without an
optical drive such as a netbook. You can, however, use this method on any computer to speed up
the installation process, as it is much faster to install from a flash drive versus an optical drive.

Source:http://www.ocia.net/articles/xpflashdrive/page1.shtml

Hello there.
rattakua
Senior Surfer

Posts: 370
Joined: 2008-03-05
Operating System: Windows 7

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usb bootable
by koolvikas on Thu 17 Dec 2009, 7:55 am

hii its a very good post but in cmd iam getting boot sect is not recognized as internal or external
command.please help

koolvikas
Unborn

Posts: 1
Joined: 2009-12-17
Operating System: windows xp

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Re: How to Install Windows From a Flash Drive

by zahidrocks on Tue 29 Dec 2009, 9:31 pm

bro,, my usb not shown in peto usb box,, why is that? even though my flash drive already in
plugged in my pc

zahidrocks
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Posts: 1
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Operating System: windows 7

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RE: How to Install Windows From a Flash Drive

by SpicyLobster77 on Sat 02 Jan 2010, 12:57 am

I did this and ran into both of these problems. Here are the solutions I found:
koolvikas - Your bootsect file is probably not directly in the C:. Make sure it is directly in the C
drive and try again (C:\BootSect.exe)
zahidrocks - You probably don't have administrator permissions (this happens on windows vista
and 7). Open notepad, type the following (without quotes): "net user administrator /active:yes".
Save it as ADMIN.bat (the .bat is very imporant), right click, and select run as administrator. Log
off and the administrator account should be available. Default settings has no password. (To
deactivate the account, do the same, but change the yes to a no in the text document)
Hope this helps
SpicyLobster77
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Posts: 1
Joined: 2010-01-02
Operating System: Windows 7

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Re: How to Install Windows From a Flash Drive

by sekharg2007 on Tue 19 Jan 2010, 8:30 pm

HI rattakua its working SUPERBBBBBBBBBB

sekharg2007
Unborn

Posts: 4
Joined: 2010-01-20
Operating System: Windows XP
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Error
by itachi666 on Tue 26 Jan 2010, 3:16 pm

Hey thanks for posting this. Worked great until Windows XP was about to intall. It copied the
necessary files but when it rebooted I got this error message. Please Help.

Winnt_root \System32\Hal.dll missing or corrupt: Please re-install a copy of the above file

itachi666
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Posts: 2
Joined: 2010-01-26
Operating System: Windows XP

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Re: How to Install Windows From a Flash Drive

 by sekharg2007 on Tue 26 Jan 2010, 6:45 pm

There have a one Option FIRST BOOT DEVICE MUST BE PENDRIVE or you select the boot
device Pendrive with the help of (F8 Key).
BOOT in pen drive You select 2nd option.okk.
It will work no probes

sekharg2007
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Posts: 4
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Re: How to Install Windows From a Flash Drive

by itachi666 on Tue 26 Jan 2010, 6:58 pm

sekharg2007 wrote:There have a one Option FIRST BOOT DEVICE MUST BE PENDRIVE or
you select the boot device Pendrive with the help of (F8 Key).
BOOT in pen drive You select 2nd option.okk.
It will work no probes

Exactly what I did. Wont work for me.

itachi666
 Unborn

Posts: 2
Joined: 2010-01-26
Operating System: Windows XP

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Re: How to Install Windows From a Flash Drive

by Gwennifer on Sun 31 Jan 2010, 4:12 pm

PEToUSB isn't recognizing my USB hard drive as a USB device, what do I do? I'm running it with
administrator rights,in windows XP.

Gwennifer
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Re: How to Install Windows From a Flash Drive

by srs_uk on Thu 04 Feb 2010, 7:11 am

Error

Post by itachi666 on Tue 26 Jan 2010, 2:16 pm

Hey thanks for posting this. Worked great until Windows XP was about to intall. It copied the
necessary files but when it rebooted I got this error message. Please Help.

Winnt_root \System32\Hal.dll missing or corrupt: Please re-install a copy of the above file

did you have any luck with this as i got the same message....

srs_uk
Unborn

Posts: 1
Joined: 2010-02-04
Operating System: XP Pro

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Re: How to Install Windows From a Flash Drive

by mlliso on Fri 05 Feb 2010, 5:45 pm

Hi,
I have following problem:
When it goes to file copy I get:
Creating LocalSource on Temporary Drive, may take a while ( a few minutes )

Press any key to continue . . .

Parse DOSNET.INF for making Windows XP Setup Bootfolder $WIN_NT$.~BT

The system cannot find the file specified.

File not found - ntdetect.co*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - ntkrnlmp.ex*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - setupldr.bi*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - txtsetup.si*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - biosinfo.in*
0 File(s) copied
The system cannot find the file specified.
File not found - hal.dl*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - halacpi.dl*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - halapic.dl*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - halaacpi.dl*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - drvmain.sd*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - setupreg.hi*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - setupdd.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - spddlang.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - bootvid.dl*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - kdcom.dl*
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0 File(s) copied
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0 File(s) copied
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0 File(s) copied
File not found - usbd.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - usbport.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - usbehci.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - usbohci.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - usbuhci.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - usbhub.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - hidusb.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - kbdhid.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - serenum.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - serial.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - usbstor.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - scsiport.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - usbccgp.sy*
0 File(s) copied
The system cannot find the file specified.
File not found - cpqarray.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - aha154x.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - sparrow.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - atapi.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - symc810.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - aic78xx.sy*
0 File(s) copied
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0 File(s) copied
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File not found - asc.sy*
0 File(s) copied
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0 File(s) copied
File not found - mraid35x.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - ini910u.sy*
0 File(s) copied
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0 File(s) copied
File not found - sym_hi.sy*
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File not found - dmboot.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - nvata.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - nvata.ca*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - nvata.in*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - nvcoi.dl*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - nvide.nv*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - nvuide.ex*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - SYMMPI.x8*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - NVRAID.x8*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - NVATABUS.x8*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - MEGASAS.x8*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - IASTOR.x8*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - CERCSR6.x8*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - AFAMGT.x8*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - AARICH.x8*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - AAC.x8*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - A320RAID.x8*
0 File(s) copied
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0 File(s) copied
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0 File(s) copied
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File not found - A320RAID.IN*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - A320RAID.CA*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - A320MGT.IN*
0 File(s) copied
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0 File(s) copied
File not found - aac.sy*
0 File(s) copied
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0 File(s) copied
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File not found - aac.ca*
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0 File(s) copied
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0 File(s) copied
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0 File(s) copied
File not found - nodev.in*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - oemsetup.in*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - DELL_XP.CA*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - DPCHFEN.CA*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - PCVENXP.CA*
0 File(s) copied
The system cannot find the file specified.
The system cannot find the file specified.
The system cannot find the file specified.
File not found - flpydisk.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - classpnp.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - disk.sy*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - ramdisk.sy*
0 File(s) copied
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0 File(s) copied
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0 File(s) copied
File not found - Bootfont.bi*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - Bootfont.bi*
0 File(s) copied
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0 File(s) copied
File not found - vga852.fo*
0 File(s) copied
File not found - l_intl.nl*
0 File(s) copied

Making Windows XP Setup Bootfolder T:\$WIN_NT$.~BT - READY

Copy XPSOURCE folders cmpnents and i386 to TempDrive folder $WIN_NT$.~LS

C:\xp\i386\!DELL_XP.CAB
C:\xp\i386\!DPCHFEN.CAB
C:\xp\i386\!PCVENXP.CAB
C:\xp\i386\12520437.CP_
C:\xp\i386\12520850.CP_

Can you help me?

Best regards,
Michal

mlliso
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Operating System: Windows XP

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Re: How to Install Windows From a Flash Drive
by ameyaapatil on Mon 22 Feb 2010, 12:20 pm

this method worked 100%.........

but i was unable to install ms office 07

ameyaapatil
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