Although Windows XP is no longer officially supported by Microsoft it’s still a hugely popular operating system. Now is obviously a good time for people to move to Windows 7 or 8 if possible, but not everybody can or wants to completely leave XP for various reasons. Time moves on though, and things like software compatibility and especially driver support will eventually become more of a problem if you use newer hardware for your Windows XP equipped computer.
Insert Windows XP’s setup disc into the optical drive, but do not run setup. Exit the installation when it starts. Double click on the modified mkrecovery.cmd to run it. During the process it will download the HP USB Dos format tool and launch the setup file. Install this tool just like any other software. If you have Microsoft Windows XP with service pack 3 installed, you have a great operating system running on your machine. Yet, this operating system cannot.
One area where Windows Vista, 7 and 8 have greatly improved over XP is driver support out of the box which is partly why the XP install disc is a CD and the others are a DVD. This is obviously a great help because having the video, motherboard, drive controller, sound and networking hardware detected and the drivers installed automatically can save time and effort, especially if you can’t access the internet to download any drivers because your network adapter has no driver installed.
It can become quite tough finding all the right drivers when you reinstall Windows, some may come from the manufacturer website, others could be for unknown or discontinued hardware. DriverPacks is a set of hundreds of drivers which you integrate into a Windows XP install disc, and then while Windows is installing, any needed hardware drivers contained in those packs are automatically installed as well. It’s a nice solution when you have to do nothing but wait a few extra minutes instead of playing detective or using another computer to get your drivers for a clean install.
DriverPacks also produce packages for Vista and Windows 7 but they are less useful because the DriverPacks system has never been updated to support them. There is another method for Vista and 7 whereby you can create a DVD/USB to install drivers after the operating system has been installed.Here we show you how to create a Windows XP setup disc which will install most, if not all of your important drivers. You will need a Windows XP install CD. Note you can create the disc using a Windows vista/7/8/8.1 system but it will obviously only install Windows XP.
1. Insert your Windows XP install CD and copy all files/folders to a folder on your computer, for example C:WindowsXP.
2. Download DriverPacks Base and place the self-extracting executable file into a new folder, e.g. C:DriverPacks. Execute the DriverPacks Base file and let it extract its contents.
3. Download the Driverpacks you want for XP. There are several available but we would advise you just stick to the most critical drivers to get your computer running properly, namely Chipset, Graphics, LAN, WLAN, Sound and Mass Storage. Packs like Webcam or Bluetooth are less important and 3rd party meaning they are not officially tested and could cause problems.
An important note is these days the DriverPacks are only distributed as torrents so you will need either a torrent client or use something like Bitlet which allows you download torrents through your web browser. Packs are always well seeded and should download quickly.
If you want to reduce space and only include one set of drivers for your own PC for instance, download the Graphics pack which contains the required drivers. For example, Graphics A contains most of the nVidia and AMD/ATI drivers, Graphics B includes the Intel video drivers and etc. A similar thing applies to Sound packs.
4. Copy the downloaded packs to C:DriverPacksDriverPacks or the folder you created in step #2. Do not unpack them as they are 7z archives.
5. Run DPs_BASE.exe from the C:DriverPacks folder, expand the Settings tree and click on Location. At the page asking you to select location of platform, make sure “disc” is selected, click Browse and locate the folder you copied the Windows XP CD contents to in step #1. It will then identify the operating system inside the folder.
6. Go to Settings > DriverPacks and select the packs that you want to integrate and click Next. The Mass storage text mode at the bottom is useful if you use a SATA or RAID controller on your computer, read our article on SATA/RAID in XP to find out more.
7. In the Settings > Driverpacks method window make sure “method 2” is selected. Click Overview to review your settings or simply click the Slipstream! button to begin the process, it should take no more than a few minutes.
8. There are a couple more steps to go through to get your XP + drivers disc to actually install, first you need to create an ISO file and then burn it to disc or USB. To create the ISO download RVM Integrator which is a tool a little similar to nLite.
9. Run the executable inside the archive and go to the Make ISO tab, click the button to browse to the location which holds the XP folder from step #1, then click the button to give a filename and folder for the new ISO file. Click Make.
10. The last step is to either burn the ISO image to DVD or write it to USB. We have a list of 10 tools that can burn ISO images to disc or alternatively for a bit more speed during install, write the Windows ISO to USB flash drive using one of the 10 Windows to USB tools in our article.
Now all you have to do is boot your computer to USB or CD/DVD as you normally would to install Windows and go through the setup and install process. Before you reach the blue XP setup interface, the Driverpacks will begin extracting themselves to the hard drive ready for installation later in the process.
If all goes well your Windows XP will be installed and all the important drivers will already be installed meaning you can get on and do other things without the hassle of searching for and installing compatible drivers.
Note: There are many other extras you can add into an XP installation disc with slipstreaming tools such as nLite, things like individual drivers, service packs and hotfixes etc. If you are doing this as well you need to make sure the Driverpacks are added last, so use nLite or RVM Integrator first, then use the Driverpacks in this guide after.
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3 Apps to Create a USB or DVD with All Hardware Device Drivers for Windows XP, Vista and 74 Ways to Detect and Install Network Drivers OfflineCreate An Integrated Up To Date Windows 7 Install Disc![How To Make A Windows Xp Install Disk How To Make A Windows Xp Install Disk](/uploads/1/2/5/6/125632821/802141920.jpg)
10 Comments - Write a Comment
Perfect, this will come in handy.
STUMBLED!
Why thanks a lot for the tip. I made a “All you can eat XP DVD” for work and it’s already come in handy in installing missing drivers for a network controller (so much easier then the old route of guess and check)
Much appreciated. You’ve won yourself another frequent. ;)
Wow, thank you very, very much!!!
Thanxs a lot.I rebuild computers for the Computers for Kids project here in SE Ky and I run into all sorts of hardware.This helps a lot.
i’ve done it!
thanks ray!
keep it up!!!
super blog!!!
thanks ray!
keep it up!!!
super blog!!!
Thanks raymond, bout this article. It helps a lot for me being a technician
thank u very much. this will help me a lot ..
if this works you’ll have made my workdays much easier, knowing the fact that i do work as a IT&C Technical support specialist, i deal with system reinstalls all day, and this may be very helpful!
Thanks in advance!
very informative!! thanks a lot
sweet! Nice info, Raymond.
Install Windows XP ISO: Many people want to know How to Install Windows XP from USB. There are many websites which suggest help. Most of these are really good. But considering the plethora of information and spam on the web, it’s important to introduce something really useful.
Since the time Microsoft launched Windows XP, it has been loved. Be it at the time of launch, or be it today after almost seventeen years, you can always find fans of Windows XP. Reason for such love? Well, Windows XP was one of the easiest to use and simplest in design Operating Systems.
That has let the OS continue with its fame. More than a hundred and fifty thousand internet users look for Windows XP ISO files every month. In the US alone. That’s no small number. But is that where the pain ends?
You might be able to Download Windows XP ISO Files for your preffered versions, installing these old extensions might trouble many of the new generation kids. Trust us, that’s alright. To help you with that, we got your back here.
On this page, you will find a step-by-step tutorial on How to Install Windows XP ISO Files.
Step-by-step guide on How to Install Windows XP from USB!
As mentioned above, installing Windows XP from the ISO files can be troublesome. It can be really exasperating for those who are new to handling these files. Going through and following the steps below will surely help you.
If you still find yourself lost, you can watch the video that we are embedding here.
![Create windows xp boot cd Create windows xp boot cd](/uploads/1/2/5/6/125632821/841870849.png)
Step 1: Create Rescue USB Drive
- Download the PowerISO rescue media utility and Run it. (If you are using Windows Vista or newer OS, you will have to confirm the UAC dialog to continue).
- Insert the Windows XP USB Drive.
- Now the utility will ask you to choose Windows PE architecture and version.
- The suggested one is 32-bit architecture and Windows PE 3.11.
- After you make a choice, click Next.
- Now, select USB drive for output device and select the correct drive from the list. Then click Next to continue.
- The utility will now create USB rescue drive. It will check necessary components and download missing components from the server.Please notice that all existing data on the USB drive will be destroyed if you agree to this step. The program will alert you before writing the USB drive.
Click “OK” to continue. - Now copy the Windows XP ISO files to the USB. Ensure that there is i386 folder. You will need it.
Now, just look around for errors. If there are none, then only you’ll be able to Install Windows XP from USB.
Step 2: Configure the BIOS
The next thing you need to do is reboot the system and go into the BIOS configuration to boot from USB.
Steps for doing that can be very different depending on situations. For the most common cases, steps are as follows.
- Reboot the system.
- When the system is being reboot, you need to enter BIOS configuration. In order to do that you can simply hit F1, F2, Delete or Escape. If you have doubts, the same key instructions will be there on the screen.
- Now, move to the section containing your boot devices.
- Provided that your USB device is added, it will be displayed on the screen. If your device isn’t listed on the screen, it might be due to your system not supporting booting from USB.
And if it is visible, you need to promote your USB device to the primary boot device. - Save all changes and exit the BIOS configuration.
Note: Be very careful while carrying out these operations. If done wrong, it can brick down your computer.
Step 3: Boot from Rescue USB Drive
If you have done everything right by now, your computer should now boot from the the rescue USB drive. If anything seems fishy, ensure the following are happening or are there.
- Is your BIOS properly configured for booting from the USB device? (Is the USB device listed and does it have top priority?)
- Have you correctly prepared the USB drive in step one? (Restart the procedure.)
- Does your USB drive properly support being booted from? (Try another one!)
Step 4: Prepare the Hard-disk
Before you move ahead now, you need to ensure there are partitions on your hard disk. If in case you were using Linux or some other operating system on it, it becomes more crucial for you to do so.
The rescue drive contains file manager and command line utility. Make sure that you do the partitioning properly. If you are in any doubts, just skip this step and move to the next.
- Click the icon on task bar to launch a command line Window.
- Enter DiskPart to run the built-in disk management utility.
- Enter the commands needed to re-partition and format your drive. For example, try the following:-select disk 0 (select the first disk. On your computer, disk 0 may not be the correct disk, you can use “list disk” to find the correct disk.)
-clean (purges the entire drive, essentially resetting it)
-create partition primary (creates a single partition from the entire disk)
-select partition1 (select the partition created)
-format fs=ntfs quick (format the partition to NTFS system, and do a quickly format)
-assign (assign the partition a drive letter)
-exit (quits DiskPart).n/post-new.php
Step 5: Launch Windows XP Setup from USB drive [sociallocker]
Now your drive is ready. You can now launch the Windows XP setup with some custom parameters. Let’s assume that the files are available at E:i386.
Plugging in a device now won’t work. Remember that all USB devices will need to be plugged in right from the start while using the rescue drive.
Run the following command:
- Run E:i386winnt32.exe /syspart:C: /tempdrive:C: /makelocalsource. Replace C: with the drive you want to install Windows to.
- Move on with installation. Don’t convert the installation volume to NTFS. The setup program incorrectly believes that your USB drive (if is formatted as FAT) needs conversion. Turns out, it doesn’t.
[/sociallocker]
This program will now close. But don’t panic. It is supposed to be that way.
Step 6: Setup Windows XP from Hard Disk (Finishing Off)
- Restart your system.
- Take the USB device out.
- Change your BIOS settings back to boot from hard disk again.
- Simply continue to finishing the new Windows XP Setup.
How to Install Windows XP from USB? Video!
Well, I understand that the data above might be useful but not everyone wants to read much. Also, not everyone is able to comprehend without videos to guide them. For that reason, I am embedding a video tutorial on How to Install Windows XP from USB boot device.
To know more, just watch the video.
Final words
Windows XP is one of the most famous Windows operating systems ever. The fan base still stands strong for this one. We all know the reason. Hands down, it’s a long lived legend. Everyone wants to get a chunk of it.
Turns out, it isn’t the easiest to setup. For that reason, here we tried to help our readers with setting Windows XP OS up. I hope this article helped you. Stay tuned for more such content.