Installing Windows XP from USB pen drive

Question

I want to install Windows XP on my desktop computer (only XP), but my CD drive is not working.

I've only found installation tutorials on how to install it on the pen drive rather than from the pen drive.

How can I install Windows XP from a USB flash drive?

Solution 1

The easiest way:

WinToFlash starts a wizard that will help pull over the contents of a Windows installation CD or DVD and prepare the USB drive to become a bootable replacement for the optical drive.

WinToFlash is freeware and portable.

Solution 2

It is very easy also using YUMI which, although is intended for Linux, also works for other OSes including Windows XP:

If you want to keep the data on the USB pen drive don't check the Format E:\Drive (Erase Content) checkbox.

If you happen to not have the ISO image of the CD you can create one if you don't know how you can create it using CDBurnerXP.

And this is how you do that Copy Data Disc:

Solution 3

Rufus is also an excellent tool:

It can be especially useful for cases where: you need to create USB

• installation media from bootable ISOs (Windows, Linux, UEFI, etc.) you
• need to work on a system that doesn't have an OS installed you need to
• flash a BIOS or other firmware from DOS you want to run a low-level utility

Solution 4

We actually did just this recently for an Acer nettop. I found Win2Flash and other USB booting to be extremely slow, unreliable, and ran into numerous problems. As soon as we ordered a $30 external USB DVD drive, it was installed in seconds.

It's entirely possible to do this via USB, but if time / future instances are a concern, the drive is a worthy investment.

Solution 5

Use YUMI – Multiboot USB Creator to make your pen drive bootable.

After making the pen drive bootable, restart your system and boot your pen drive. After that, the steps are easy to follow.

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Comments

[o8t3]

it's just such a handy tool, i wish it had been available 2 yrs ago when the first eee pc hit the market ... all the time wasted with writing neat tutorials :)

[Art Shayderov]

May be it wasn't but as of February 2013 this thing is an adware. It tries to trick you into installing browser bars, change home page, may be something else. After I carefully deselected all checkboxes it complained that it won't proceed further without me installing something. Couldn't even close it, only kill through process explorer.

[barlop]

@ArtShayderov I don't recall if unetbootin can put cd to usb including windows one. but may be worth a try

[barlop]

@ArtShayderov also maybe it'd run ok in a sandbox e.g. sandboxie

[fixer1234]

Thanks for the addition, but can you expand your answer a bit? Just pointing to a product doesn't really explain how to accomplish the solution, and it's often viewed as spam. It's better to include some instructions on how to use the product to solve the problem, or at least describe what makes the product a good solution. Good guidance on recommending software here: meta.superuser.com/questions/5329/….

[Vladimir Despotovic]

This site doesn't exist any more. How can I find wintoflash?