Live USB XP Solved

Question

Good evening,

I’m desperately looking for a way to boot XP from a USB key. Just to clarify, I’m not looking to create an installation USB for XP, but a USB that boots XP like a LIVE CD.

I’ve tried quite a few things but nothing works =( I have a 32GB Corsair USB and an 8GB Kingston USB.

Thank you for your help and best wishes to everyone.

krazykat · Accepted Answer

You might need to copy the content of your CD to your hard drive...
Try creating a Live CD to see if the problem comes from the ISO compilation or the Live USB creation (unlikely, but you never know).
--
Google is your friend =^-^=
The "Search" function of Comment Ça Marche is useful too

krazykat · Answer

Hello,
Why do you want a Live USB XP?
Even if you installed Windows XP on a USB stick, you wouldn't be able to use it on any computers other than the one you initially used (driver issues, I believe).

You need to create a Live USB of BartPE. All the info HERE.
First, you create the ISO, just like you would to create a Live CD, then you create a Live USB using the PEtoUSB software: https://www.pcastuces.com/logitheque/petousb.htm

PS: an 8 GB stick is more than enough.
Google is your friend =^-^=
The "Search" function on Comment Ça Marche is too.

darkwall_37 · Answer

This is a SE project I have to do for class, for Linux and XP I need to explain how to obtain a bootable USB key for these two OS, I personally do not want to have a bootable XP on USB, I just have no choice. The good thing is that at least for Linux it’s straightforward, but for XP I'm struggling. Knowing that I also have to find a way to integrate certain software for XP...

Thanks, I will try again with BARTPE and I'll keep you posted.

darkwall_37 · Answer

It's still not working... I'm using an official Windows XP SP3. "Disk error, press a key to restart."
When compiling, PEBuilder doesn't ask me anything about the license as mentioned in the tutorial, maybe that's where the problem lies?

My laptop is indeed compatible with USB boot, as it works with Linux. So no issues there. Do you have any ideas?

Thank you.

jong7 · Answer

if you followed the procedure described on S. Terrier's site, it should have worked
another simpler tutorial:
https://www.erenumerique.fr/

be sure to set the BIOS to boot from USB

to add software, the easiest way is to open the ISO with PowerIso and place standalone (portable) software in it

darkwall_37 · Answer

I don't have a CD (physical), I mount the ISO and open the virtual drive to retrieve the files.

krazykat · Answer

Do you use petousb?  -- Google is your friend =^-^= The "Search" function of Comment Ça Marche also

darkwall_37 · Answer

Yes, I've actually tried plenty.

krazykat · Answer

I see. If it comes from the compilation, you should try with another XP ISO. -- Google is your friend =^-^= The "Search" function of Comment Ça Marche also

darkwall_37 · Answer

I've tried tons of them, that's the most frustrating part. And official versions! Normally, PEBuilder is supposed to request the license at compilation. It has never asked me for it!

krazykat · Answer

I'm so c...!
Here are the parameters for Petousb:
USB Removable selected
Enable Disk Format checked
Uncheck everything except Enable LBA (Fat16X)
Check Enable File Copy
Select Overwrite Always

I remember I struggled too...

EDIT: I just recompiled BartPE, it didn't ask me for my license. So, it's normal with this version.
Google is your friend =^-^=
The "Search" function on Comment Ça Marche too.

darkwall_37 · Answer

Have you ever managed to make XP bootable?

I reconfigured PEToUSB as you showed but it didn't change anything, it's still not working! Disk error... I'm desperate, I've tried so many tutorials and nothing works, it's really outrageous.

Here's the content of my USB stick if it can help you identify any potential issues. I still believe that the problem comes from the boot files and not from the versions of XP that I can use.

##################################################
Contents of the ISO I'm using for the compilation
##################################################
24/04/2010 01:17 <DIR> .
24/04/2010 01:17 <DIR> ..
28/02/2006 14:00 110 AUTORUN.INF
24/04/2010 01:15 <DIR> DOCS
24/04/2010 01:15 <DIR> DOTNETFX
24/04/2010 01:17 <DIR> I386
28/02/2006 14:00 34 301 README.HTM
28/02/2006 14:00 1 314 816 SETUP.EXE
28/02/2006 14:00 85 792 SETUPXP.HTM
24/04/2010 01:17 <DIR> SUPPORT
24/04/2010 01:17 <DIR> VALUEADD
28/02/2006 14:00 10 WIN51
28/02/2006 14:00 10 WIN51IP
28/02/2006 14:00 10 WIN51IP.SP2
7 file(s) 1 435 049 bytes
7 Dir(s) 18 754 416 640 bytes free

##################################################
Contents of the USB stick after using PEToUSB and the ISO from the compilation
##################################################
F:\>dir
The volume in drive F is called LIVEXP
The volume serial number is 86DC-43E6

Directory of F:\

24/04/2010 12:06 167 winbom.ini
28/02/2006 14:00 260 272 ntldr
28/02/2006 14:00 47 564 ntdetect.com
02/11/2004 15:04 46 autorun.inf
24/04/2010 01:31 2 048 bootsect.bin
24/04/2010 12:07 <DIR> minint
24/04/2010 12:25 <DIR> Programs
24/04/2010 01:30 0 WIN51IP
24/04/2010 01:30 0 WIN51IP.SP2
7 file(s) 310 097 bytes
2 Dir(s) 1 784 905 728 bytes free

Thank you for your help.

krazykat · Answer

I have been using two USB drives BartPE for two years, without any issues; one of them is a UBCD4Win (an enhanced BartPE, specialized for repairs).
I have been using BartPE for a long time, so I had forgotten the details for creating a USB drive.

For example, PEToUSB creates a Live USB from the BartPE folder, created at the same time as the ISO, and not from the ISO, as I had mentioned earlier.
One small detail, my USB drives have no problem booting from a BartPE, however, they do not boot from Linux, so try with a different USB drive...

For your information, I use a slimmed XP Pro ISO, my original XP Pro CD doesn't even have SP1. The contents of my ISO are slightly different, but I don't know if it's important.
--
Google is your friend =^-^=
The "Search" function on Comment Ça Marche is helpful too.

darkwall_37 · Answer

I really don't understand why it's not working.
I have my ISO of Windows XP Professional SP2 that I compile under BartPE. Then I use PeToUSB to create the live USB of XP. That's what's explained. Yet every time I test booting from the USB key, I get the error "disk error". I've tried with several keys, it doesn't work, I've tried with several versions of Windows and it doesn't work. Yet with Linux it works perfectly fine. So I don't think the problem lies with the USB key. I think I must be doing something wrong with PeBuilder...
Otherwise, is there a place where I could get your ISOs?

Thank you for your help =)

darkwall_37 · Answer

Doesn't work -.-, it's always the same... No need to compile with PEBuilder? Has that already been done?

darkwall_37 · Answer

I tested it on 1, 2, 8, and 32 GB... So did it need to be compiled with BartPE for your ISO or not? I directly used Petousb?

darkwall_37 · Answer

It's not working. I admit I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown right now :D

darkwall_37 · Answer

I'll do it right away and let you know.

darkwall_37 · Answer

All my CDs are dead! What was your track?

darkwall_37 · Answer

It drives me crazy! I don’t understand what’s wrong!

darkwall_37 · Answer

Yes, the SGF FAT does not accept files larger than 2GB in size. You need to switch to Linux to partition using parted or gparted. But anyway, that's not the main problem... It doesn't even work with 1.2GB USB drives...

darkwall_37 · Answer

I followed another tutorial that you kindly recommended http://www.supinfo-projects.com/fr/2006/winxp_sur_usb_2006/2/ and now it boots, that's already something. However: blue screen when loading XP -.-" There's already some progress...

darkwall_37 · Answer

I used a different ISO and now it's booting ;D!!! However, I can't use the keyboard -.-". Have you experienced this problem? I need to integrate software into the ISO like OpenOffice, do you have any idea how to do that?  Thanks for your help.

darkwall_37 · Answer

I'm booting on my laptop, so it's a pre-wired keyboard. I don't think there are any options to check to enable the keyboard when compiling BartPE. Thanks for the links, I'll take a look at that. For portable software, you just need to put them in a folder at the root of the USB drive, and that's it, handy ;D

darkwall_37 · Answer

No, I produce the BartPE under W7.

darkwall_37 · Answer

Well, it works when I put it on a drive that's less than 2GB. But as soon as I try to use my 32GB drive partitioned to 512MB, it doesn't work anymore. That is, it doesn't even boot -.- I can't figure it out anymore.

krazykat · Answer

It is possible to launch BarpPE, on Windows: go to the key, folder Programs, Nu2Menu, and launch nu2menu.exe At the bottom left, you see the Bartpe launcher: GO Then click on a43 File Management Utility  If it doesn't launch, right click, compatibility mode XP, run as Administrator.  If you still have issues, download the portable version of BartPE here: http://www.nu2.nu/download.php?sFile=pebuilder3110a.zip Unzip it. Right click on PEBUILDER.exe, compatibility mode XP. Run it as administrator. Create your Bartpe folder and an iso file, if possible.  Right click on the petousb.exe file, XP mode and Administrator. Create your bootable key.  If it doesn’t work, you will need to burn your iso at someone's place or at your training (if I’m not mistaken^^) and test your CD. Because right now, we don’t even know if the problem comes from the compilation or the key. You can even borrow a USB keyboard or mouse, it would make things clearer ^^  Regarding drivers, SP3 contains many more drivers than SP2. To retrieve your driver, there are software options, driverMax works on Windows 7.  -- Google is your friend =^-^= The "Search" function on Comment Ça Marche is too

darkwall_37 · Answer

Yo !  Good news! I tried with another key and everything is working perfectly. I made a C program that automates all the tasks, basically you fill in your .ini and your live works by itself ^^ If you’re interested, I can pass it on to you, I owe you that.  In any case, thanks for the help you gave me, it was really appreciated. As far as I know, I shouldn't have any other problems, but you never know. So I wish you all the best, man ;)

bouctin · Answer

Thank you for your response. Yes, I tried 2 SATA cables, still nothing! I can boot with USB BarpPE but not in administrator mode. Flashing my BIOS has to be done in administrator mode, and that's where it gets stuck! I have the new BIOS on my BarPE USB stick, but it's not that simple! Do you have a solution?

bouctin · Answer

Thank you krazykat. I hadn't thought of that solution, I have an old 4GB hard drive and I hope that's enough to install XP. I'll test it and let you know the result. Thanks again.

bouctin · Answer

It's me again! I couldn't install XP on my 4GB, but I found a 40GB IDE in my archives, great, installation of XP OK. I was able to update my BIOS. But the 250GB SATA hard drive is still not recognized, so it's going to the trash. I just bought another one: WD 500GB 8MB cache (it's little but it will be enough), only €43, so I didn't hesitate. So my problem is solved. Thanks to everyone (and anyone) who helped me.

bouctin · Answer

Yes, if you want, I can sell it for cheap, but who would want it? It only works via USB, what could its price be?

bouctin · Answer

Yes, indeed it can be useful to me one day; I will keep it to save data on an external hard drive via USB. Thank you for the info.

Live USB XP

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