How to: Install XP from U3 USB key, easy!

First found here:

http://forums.msiwind.net/post42824.html
http://www.u3community.com/viewtopic.php?t=434

File to download are here:

Universal Customizer: http://www.hak5.org/packages/files/Univ ... omizer.zip

This one is optional (I used it because I used a sandisk 8GB Cruzer).

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GIT0SPXV

Required:
U3 USB key
ISO of Windows XP that is bootable
Winzip/Winrar or some other software that can extract the contents of the zip files downloaded above.

Steps.

Back up the contents of your U3 drive.
Extract the Universal Customizer contents to a folder
If using the other download, extract and copy the contents to the same folders in the Universal Customizer folder (overwriting)
Copy your XP ISO to the BIN folder.
Rename the existing U3CUSTOM.iso file to something else.
Rename your XP ISO to U3CUSTOM.iso
Run Universal_Customizer.exe
Follow the prompts. It will take some time for it to upload the XP ISO to the key.

*Important*
Do not have anything plugged into the USB ports other than the key. Mice/receivers/etc will give you a BSOD!.

Test your key by pressing F12 on bootup, and you should see 3 bootable devices, 2 sandisk and one being your hard drive. There should now be an emulated CD-ROM that is run from USB key. Select the option to boot from the CD-ROM.

I tested using an nlited XP SP3 as well as TinyXP and installation was fast, no hiccups, it is as if you were actually installing from an optical drive.

******************Edit****************************

Seems there are some issues with installing the basic XP. Not 100% sure at this point if it is a driver issue or not. I haven't tried a basic XP installation, I've slipstreamed drivers into the ISO I was using. I will test further.

***************************************************************
I hope this makes installing XP easier for everyone. Enjoy!

 

Post moved to the correct forum.

 

Found out for some reason that trying to install TinyXP with any usb device connected (data device) will give a blue screen. Do the first part of the install (text mode) without a usb device connected other than the U3 usb key. It's ok after that.

 

I just try this install from U3 4GB USB key with xp sp3 nlite and it very fast install os to AA1 in 11min. :shock:

Use instructions like he say and it work #1 and no need to delete another partition if have two on one hd drive, all data on another partion stay ok.

Thank you goofball now no need to buy dvd for AA1 :ugeek: , made the install key at work computer.

Sorry for bad english.

 

Can this method be use with installing Vista??

:?:


OK. Tested working with Vista installation.

 

Yep, this method should work for installing any OS as long as the ISO is a bootable installation CD (XP/Vista/Linux or whatever).

 

hi i have just installed xp on my aao but it only boots from usb and not from the hdd.....i didn't installed xp using your method but i cant't find where is the problem ...can u help me please?

 

repair using XP recovery console. fixboot and perhaps fixmbr as well.

If you did it using my method, you wouldn't have this problem

 

i have formatted a USB stick using PeToUSB and then copied tiny XP onto the stick. When I try to boot from the USB stick I get the message " Remove disks or other media. Press any key to restart".

The same thing happened when I tried to use microXP.

What am I doing wrong please?

 

That's not a method that will work. TinyXP doesn't have manual install files included.

 

how do i get tinyXP on please? I am finding the full bloated xp runs very slowly. I have tried using xplite but despite removing about 2/3 of it the speed is the same and the file space is still the same at over 2gb.

 

so how do i get tinyXP on then please?

 

How do we undo this and clean the flash drive when done so we can go back to using it as a regular flash drive?

Also, has anyone gotten this method to work with the GParted Live CD ISO?

 

use the U3eraser.exe if you like or download u3uinstall.exe

 

Follow my first post. Do you have a U3-enabled USB key? If you do, then just follow what I have written.

 

Hi

I did not realise that a U3 enabled key is different from an ordinary flash drive. Universal Customiser could not find a U3 device. If I get a U3 device will your method install tinyxp onto the SSD or will it remain on the U3 to be run from there?

I have seen a thread here to install XP from a USB flash drive.
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=4900&st=110

but I cannot get it to work with tinyXP, probably due to my limited knowledge and I do not have the expertise to know what elements of Xp can be removed with nLite . Are there any guides on which elements can be removed to cut down xp using nLite or how to install tinyXP using an ordinary flash drive?

thanks

 

No, TinyXP needs the manual install files and that is why that does not work all the time. I could not get a regular USB key to work installing XP if I removed the manual install files using nlite.

If you get a U3 key (I got a Sandisk Cruzer 8GB for $17 after all said and done, so they aren't really any more expensive than regular keys), you can install as if you were using a real cd-rom. Whether it installs on the SSD is dependent on hardware support from the version of XP you are using.

 

I've had big problems trying to get XP on to my machine. couldn't figure out how to solve it with a reg. USB w/o getting the hal.dll file missing. none of the solutions worked for me. finally got a U3, but think i messed it up a bit, trying to put an iso file in there without having an iso file..

anyways, what I wanted to say was for you guys that can't mount the iso file in vista on to your U3 USB, try doing it in XP. After a week of frustration, I now finally have XP!

for you trying to find tinyXP, there are some good ones on piratebay.org and isohunt.com (make sure you have all your legal documents and licenses in order

 

Hey, I booted my TinyXP USB into my AAO, it worked beautifully the first time..
I managed to get to the partition menu, but i hit a wrong button and it froze. So, I shut down the computer, now the boot freezes at the "Tiny XP Rev 09" logo.
How can i fix this?
Thanks.

EDIT: Nevermind, i changed the boot order in the bios and everything worked again. dont know if that was the fix, but it worked for me~

 

ok Ive been using this program to install did it fine using mce but somehow got virus's on computer so i wanted to format so i did then I went to try to use program again with same mce and when the setup was copying files for install multiple files were missing does that have anything to do with the customizer or what cuz its driving me nuts i totally i dont have the recovery partition anymore i was a dumb idot and deleted it so what should i do?