Program for burning a bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP. We create a distribution kit. How to create a bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP? Step-by-step instructions Which flash drives are suitable

Hello.

No matter what anyone says, the popularity of optical disks is rapidly falling: not even all computers and laptops have a drive for them anymore. And, perhaps, this is not surprising: after all, an ordinary flash drive that fits in any pocket can easily replace them.

To install Windows, it is also more convenient to use a USB flash drive (there is a USB port on any computer!). But for this it needs to be written down/prepared correctly.

In this article, I will consider all the typical issues related to creating installation flash drives: programs for this operation, step-by-step settings before recording, the process of creating flash drives with multiple OSes (multi-boot), UEFI flash drives. But first things first...

Note!

You might find this article useful on how to download an ISO image from Windows 10 [officially and legally] -

There are quite a lot of programs of this kind. To cover them all in one article is a thankless and unnecessary task. I will give below those programs that I used (and use) myself repeatedly when recording my bootable media.

Note : How to use this or that program will be discussed in the second part of this article.

Table No. 1 (main)

Support programs

A small free* program for working with images (supports a huge number of different formats: ISO, MDS/MDF, CCD, etc.). After installing this program, you will have a virtual drive in “my computer” (their number can be increased) in which you can open any of the images. For the computer, it will all look as if you had opened a real CD/DVD disc in the drive.

In addition to opening images, you can also create them from various disks. In general, an indispensable program on a PC (especially with the development and popularization of disk images).

*Note: in addition to the free version, you can find a paid version (with advanced functionality) on the developer’s website.

An analogue of Daemon Tools, it has the same functions: creating and opening images, supporting protected disks, etc. Alcohol 120% is a paid version of the program, there is a free version - Alcohol 52%.

In principle, you can work with both Daemon Tools and Alcohol. The choice is a matter of taste!

Step-by-step creation of a bootable USB flash drive

Windows XP

Once one of the most popular OS from Microsoft. Now, of course, its popularity is falling and yet quite a large number of PCs run on this OS. Therefore, I decided to include it in this article...

WinToFlash

In my opinion, the easiest way to burn a bootable USB flash drive with Windows XP is to use the WinToFlash utility. The fact is that it has a built-in wizard that will guide you through all the thorns... (by the way, the Lite version is enough for the job).

After launching the utility, click on the green checkmark (screen below) - " Windows Setup to USB Wizard".

WintoFlash - getting started with the wizard

Next step: you need to specify the path to the image file with Windows XP and select the flash drive on which this image will be written.

Actually, in the next step the program will warn you that all information will be deleted from the disk and will offer to continue. You agree and wait until all the files are copied to the flash drive.

To help! I have more detailed instructions for working with WinSetupFromUSB -

This program is somewhat different from the previous one. Firstly, there is no wizard who will guide you step by step (you need to enter all the settings yourself), secondly, there is no support for the Russian language...

First, insert the USB flash drive into the USB port and run WinSetupFromUSB and as administrator.

1. select the inserted flash drive;
2. Click the "Auto format it with FBinst" checkbox, file system - NTFS;
3. indicate the path to the folder with the Windows XP distribution (the ISO image can be unzipped using the WinRar program, or open it in Daemon Tools (links to the programs are provided above));
4. The final touch is to press the “GO” button.

In the next step, the program will warn you that all data on the flash drive will be deleted during the process of writing data to it. You're just confirming it.

If the flash drive was successfully written, you will see the “Job Done” window.

Windows 7, 8, 10

In principle, you can use the same utilities to record these OSes - the whole process is identical. Using the example of several utilities, I will show the whole process step by step.

Windows 7 usb/dvd tool

Despite the fact that this utility is intended for Windows 7, you can use it to burn a USB flash drive with Windows 8/10. Because This program is the simplest (it couldn’t be simpler) of all and the entire process of recording an image in it consists of only 4 steps, I recommend it first of all.

Step 1: specify an ISO image with Windows OS ("Browse" button, when the image is specified, click "Next").

Specify ISO file

Step 2: select the device on which the recording will be made. In this case, you need to select either a USB device or DVD. Let's choose the first one.

Step 3: select the drive letter to which the recording will be made (i.e., indicate the desired flash drive, because there may be several of them connected to the PC...).

Step 4: Recording process. When a message about the successful completion of the operation (Bootable USB device created successfully) is displayed, you can restart the PC and check the flash drive...

As you can see above, the whole process is extremely simple and does not contain anything superfluous.

Ultra ISO

Rufus

Article update from 01/24/2019: added screenshots of version 3.4. I also have instructions for working with Rufus 3.4 on my blog -

UEFI flash drive

UEFI is a new standard, a new interface (so to speak). It is designed to replace the "old" BIOS. One of the main tasks of UEFI is to protect the computer from boot viruses that are loaded along with (or before) loading the Windows OS (sorry for the tautology).

Therefore, in new computers/laptops, if you connect a flash drive created in the classical way to their USB port, the PC will not see it! In order for this flash drive to become visible: you need to switch UEFI to Legacy (the spelling may differ slightly depending on the BIOS/UEFI version) and turn off Secure Boot.

In this same part of the article, I will look at a couple of ways on how you can create a bootable UEFI flash drive (so that you don’t have to disable Secure Boot protection in the BIOS). So...

Method No. 1 - using the WinSetupFromUSB utility

First, run the utility as an administrator (how to do it: right-click on the executable file, then select the desired function in the context menu).

1. Select a flash drive (be careful, when writing, all data on the flash drive will be deleted!);
2. Click the "Auto format it with FBinst" checkbox and select the FAT 32 file system (do not touch the other checkboxes);
3. Next, select an ISO image file with Windows OS (in the example below I chose Windows 8);
4. Press the GO button and wait for the process to complete.

Setting up WinSetupFromUSB for writing a UEFI flash drive.

Method number 2 - using the Rufus utility

Rufus is an excellent utility for burning different types of bootable media. All settings are made in one window, everything is simple and fast.

You also need to run the utility as an administrator (screenshot below).

Rufus 3.4 - creating a flash drive for UEFI (GPT)

Multiboot flash drive (several OS on 1 flash drive!)

You can write not only one version of Windows OS to a flash drive, but several at once! For example, imagine you have the following OS on one flash drive: Windows XP 32 bit, Windows 7 64 bit, Windows 8 64 bit and Windows 10 64 bit. If something happens, you don’t need to carry around a bunch of flash drives with different OSes - you can immediately install the one you need with just one. Below I will consider in detail how and what is done...

To create such a flash drive, you need the following:

• several ISO images with the required systems (for example, Windows XP and Windows 7). By the way, it is better to take the Windows XP image with integrated SATA drivers, otherwise you will get a “blue” screen during installation on new motherboards;
• Daemon Tools or Alcohol (if you want to add Windows 2000, XP to the flash drive): programs that can open an ISO image (i.e. you will see a virtual drive in “my computer”, since this is not an ISO image, but a regular disk inserted into a CD-Rom. Presented in the first part of the article,) ;
• 8-16 GB flash drive (the more OS you are going to write, the more capacious the flash drive should be);
• program (presented at the top of the article,).

Step-by-step instructions for creating a multiboot flash drive

1. Launch the program WinSetupFromUSB as administrator. To do this, simply go to the folder with the program, select the executable file and right-click on it, then select “Run as administrator” from the context menu.
2. Next, in Daemon Tools, open the image with Windows 2000/2003/XP (those who will not write these OS to a flash drive can skip this step).

   

   Windows XP ISO image opened in Daemon Tools.

3. Insert the flash drive into the USB port;
4. Next you need to set the following parameters: 1) indicate the inserted flash drive (in my case, drive “E:\”); 2) Check the box "Auto Format it with Fbinst", select the NTFS file system (if you plan to create a flash drive for UEFI, choose FAT 32); the rest of the checkboxes are by default; 3) indicate the virtual drive in which the ISO image with Windows XP/2000 is open; 4) indicate the ISO image with Windows 10 (in my case, this particular OS was chosen for the multiboot flash drive); 5) Press the "GO" button - start recording the flash drive. All numbers are illustrated in the screenshot below.

   

5. Next, the program will ask you whether to start recording. By the way, it’s important that all data on the flash drive will be deleted!
6. Then the program will ask again - the answer is affirmative.

   

   Warning 2 - click "Yes".

7. Next, if everything went well, you will see a “green bar” at the bottom of the window - the program has started working. The recording time depends on the flash drive, the selected images, the speed of your USB port, the PC load, etc. On average, 5-20 minutes. to record multiple OS. At this time, it is better not to touch the computer and not run resource-intensive tasks on it: games, video/graphics editors, etc.

   

8. When the flash drive is written, you will see the inscription “Job Done”. In principle, the flash drive can already be used, it now has 2 Windows XP and 10 operating systems! Screenshot below.
9. To add another OS, for example, Windows 7, simply insert the USB flash drive into the USB port again, run WinSetupFromUSB (as administrator). Then: 1) select the desired flash drive (note: on which we previously recorded 2 OS) ; 2) specify the ISO image with the Windows OS to be added; 3) press the "GO" button. Note: Please note that you do not need to check the box next to “Auto format it with FBinst”, as we did before!

   

10. When another OS is added, you will see the usual window - the job is done. Now there are 3 OS on the flash drive: Windows XP (32 bit), 7 and 10 (64 bit).
11. If you want to add another OS, for example Windows 8, you need to do step 9 again (see above). In principle, this way you can add quite a lot of OS to your flash drive (let’s say, provide for all the options)...

Checking a multiboot flash drive

To check the created flash drive in operation, you need to do the following:

1. Go to the BIOS and put a USB flash drive in the boot queue (you can use the BOOT Menu). More details about the buttons for going to Bios and calling the Boot Menu are described here:
2. Insert the flash drive into the USB port and restart the computer;
3. A window should appear as in the screenshot below: for example, I selected the Windows NT 6 line (this is to select the installation of Windows 7, 8, 10).

After this, if you have 2 or more "new" OSes, you will see a list with all of them. Select the desired option and continue with the installation. The screenshot is below, the flash drive works!

On this positive note I conclude the article; as always, I will be grateful for additions.

Despite the fact that support for Windows XP will be completely stopped in April of this year, it continues to be one of the most popular computer operating systems to this day. But lately it has rarely been installed on powerful work machines, preferring to use it in netbooks.

There is just one small problem here: installing XP is theoretically possible only from a CD, for which these devices do not have drives. What to do? After all, installing Linux is most often pointless, since new varieties of popular distributions simply cannot be handled by weak hardware!

Flash drive is our choice!

Of course, you can attach a portable CD/DVD drive to your netbook, but why the extra complications? After all, there is a USB port on it anyway. Therefore, the only question is how to create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows XP. Let us immediately note that any user can do this.

A little about the media

First, you need to pay attention to the media you are using. Don’t think that any flash drive purchased at your local store will be suitable for this purpose. However, you can install the system on it, but the speed of operation in this case will be very low.

You should start with volume. The minimum allowed is 4 GB. In this case (if you have experience and desire), you can create a multiboot Windows XP flash drive. It can easily accommodate not only the system, but also various useful utilities.

The next important parameter is read and write speed. Cheap models are characterized by 2-3 MB/sec for writing, while reading parameters rarely exceed 8-12 MB/sec. Agree that buying a 32 GB drive, the data on which will be recorded for several hours, is not the best idea. And this often happens when buyers are tempted by the low cost of Chinese products.

You can often see 256 GB flash drives on store shelves, manufactured by the famous “NoName”. Do not take such removable disks, as their capacity almost always does not correspond to the declared one, and they break instantly.

So, before you create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows XP, you need to go to a specialized store. Spend some money on a decent media that will delight you with a high ratio of rewrite cycles and speed.

"WinSetupFromUSB 1.3"

First, let's look at an example where the wonderful program "WinSetupFromUSB 1.3" is used. Its peculiarity is that it is somewhat difficult to make a bootable Windows XP USB flash drive with its help, but even the most ancient computer will boot from it without any problems (as long as it has a USB port).

The other good news is that there are versions for 32- and 64-bit systems. So even with the new Windows 8 you will not experience any problems.

Where to begin?

First, get a normal image of Windows XP itself. We strongly recommend not to use so-called “assemblies”, since their performance cannot be guaranteed by anyone! no need, since the program will do everything for you.

Launch

Note that the "WinSetupFromUSB 1.3" utility itself does not require installation, so you can make a bootable Windows XP USB flash drive without loading your computer with unnecessary programs. To run it, you need to right-click on the executable file, and then select “Run as administrator” from the context menu.

We look at the very first item called “UDB disk selection an format tools”. By clicking on the drop-down icon, you will see a list of all the USB drives that are on the system. Select the required flash drive. Be careful, otherwise you may lose your important data!

The next item is “Windows 2000/XP/2003 Setup”. It must indicate either the path to the physical media (optical disk) or to the virtual drive on which the disk with the system is mounted. Please note the points below: if you need a multi-boot flash drive (Windows XP + Vista/7), mark them, indicating the location of other media.

Let's move away from the topic a little. We have already said that for the best result, you will need an image of the OS that you intend to run from a removable disk. It is best to do it yourself using the "Alcohol 52%" or "UltraISO" programs.

Immediately after clicking the "OK" button, the "Microsoft Widows EULA" license agreement window will appear in front of you, with which you will have to agree ("I Accept"). Please note that in the main program window there is a button "Auto format it with FBinst". There is no need to touch her. When activated, a special utility is launched to prepare the media. There is nothing wrong with it, but Windows XP written this way does not run on all computers.

Bootloader entry

But, before you create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows XP, you will need the "RMPrepUSB" button. It will also launch a utility that will write the MBR bootloader and prepare the recording media.

So, click on the button of the same name, after which the “RMPrepUSB v.2.1.714” dialog box appears in front of us. Before proceeding further, be sure to make sure that your flash drive is listed in the top field! Sometimes it happens that inattentive users mark their own hard drive in this field. If it is bootable (on which the OS is installed), then the system itself will not allow you to do anything. But if there is a collection of some kind of media files on it, then the results can be very sad...

In the field called “Boot sector”, check the box “XP/BsrtPE bootable”. We go a little lower, to the “File system” item, where we mark the position “FAT32” (since it is more universal). Opposite it there is a checkbox for the “Boot as HDD” option.

Before creating a bootable USB flash drive with Windows XP, all we have to do is click on the “Prepare Disk” button. A small dialog box will appear in which you need to click “OK”. A warning will immediately appear stating that formatting will delete all files. Click “OK”, after which we wait for some time for the work to complete. When everything is ready, you need to click on the “Exit” button, and then close the “RMPrepUSB” utility dialog box.

Direct system recording

Go back to the main dialog box “WinSetupFromUSB 1-3”. Here you need to enable the “Show Log” option. More precisely, there is no particular need for a visual display of the process, but it is much more reliable, because if something goes wrong, you will see at what stage the process stalled.

If this happens, then you can look for a solution to your problem. As a rule, problems most often arise only if there is some kind of defect in the flash drive. If it is new, you can try to make a full data format (remembering to uncheck the “Quick Format” checkbox).

All! Click on the “GO” button, after which the process of writing working files to the flash drive starts. As a rule, this takes about 15 minutes, but the time here depends entirely on the characteristics of your computer. A signal for complete completion of work is the appearance of the “Job done” message. Click on “OK” and wait a little while the program writes the last kilobytes of information to the media. That's it, it's ready to use!

How does it all work?

What to do next, and how to install Windows XP from a flash drive? Everything here is quite simple, but some explanation is needed. The fact is that it is better to connect the media not to the front, but to the rear connectors. This is due to the fact that the front ports often provide lower speeds, and they cannot always boast of operating stability.

Turn off the computer. We insert the flash drive into the appropriate port and turn on the machine again. There is no point in describing the procedure for entering the BIOS at length. As a rule, login is performed by pressing (preferably multiple times) the DEL button on the keyboard, but laptops and netbooks often have other options. You need to find out by reading the instructions for your gadget.

To install Windows XP from a flash drive, you need to set the appropriate item in the BIOS settings. How to do this, you will again have to look in the instructions for your device.

After the start, the “Grub4Dos” bootloader window will appear in front of you. There will be one item in it - “Windows 2000/XP/2003 Setup”. Accordingly, if you created a multiboot flash drive, there will be more of them. Press “Enter” and go to the next menu.

To use a flash drive, you need to select “First part of Windows XP Professional SP3 setup from partion 0”. After this, the same installation process will follow, which would be launched when installing from an optical CD.

What if additional programs are needed?

All of the above applies only in cases where you need a convenient and practical medium for installing the system. But what to do when you need a “lifebuoy” that will have an antivirus, a defragmentation program and something else?

There is only one answer - you need a bootable USB flash drive with utilities! Since we have already started talking about XP, we will not consider the option of only a flash drive with programs. We're not afraid of difficulties, are we? Then let's get started!

"WinSetupFromUSB"

Naturally, we will again use a very useful, compact and nimble program. By the way, is it created in exactly the same way? Not strong in terminology? Then let us explain that this is the name of a flash drive from which you can boot, obtaining a completely functional Windows OS.

If you often have to work on other people's computers, then you yourself will understand all the advantages of this approach. However, enough words. There is an important note. Since we need a flash drive with the system and various programs, we will have to look for the image ourselves. Of course, you can create it yourself, but for beginners such a task is virtually impossible.

We run the program as administrator. We will not repeat ourselves, since all the instructions are above. Immediately after launch, you will be presented with a rather ascetic dialog box, at the top of which there is a drop-down list. As you might have guessed, clicking on it will display a list of all flash drives that are currently connected to the computer.

Making the media bootable

The creator offers exactly two methods for this: “Bootice” and “RMPrepUSB”. Since the first one is much simpler and more understandable, we suggest you use it. What needs to be done for this?

First, click on the “Bootice” button. A small dialog box will immediately open in which you need to activate the “Perform Format” option (the far right button). The next dialog box is the most important. So, if you plan to use your flash drive paired with old and not very new BIOS, we recommend that you select the “USB-FDD” option. But! This way you won’t be able to create a multiboot, and therefore most often you will have to use the “USB-HDD mode” (“Multiple Partitions”) item. It is recommended to choose NTFS as the file system, but FAT32 is also suitable.

Click on the “Next-Step” button and agree with all the warnings that in case of an error, your data will be irretrievably lost. Click “OK” and wait. If you don't have a very powerful machine, this may take a relatively long time.

Copying installation files

To do this, in the main dialog box of the program, select the item at the very end of which there is the phrase “BartPE”. Next, click on the button with the ellipsis and point the program to the directory in which the disk image is stored.

After that, click on the “GO” button and wait for the process to complete. We recommend checking the “Show Log” option. As in the case we described above, this will allow you to follow the process. After successful completion of the process, you will have a bootable Windows XP flash drive in your hands. The launcher starts after setting the appropriate settings in the BIOS. Since we talked about this above, we won’t repeat it.

Using other programs to create bootable media

Since the names of all the utilities described above are unlikely to be familiar to ordinary users, we will talk about simpler options. So, it will help to create. It’s very easy to do.

As in all previous cases, you will need a normal image of a clean system.

Having launched "UltraISO" (again in administrator mode), go along the "File-Open" path, indicate to the program the path to the system image, and then click on the "Open" button in the dialog box. To make a bootable USB flash drive from ISO, the next step is to go to the menu item “Boot - Burn hard disk image”.

A dialog box opens in which you need to select the flash drive on which you will write OS files. We set the option “USB-HDD” or another, guided by our instructions above.

Have you chosen? Then click on the "Record" button. You will again be warned about the irreversible destruction of data that may be on the flash drive. Are you sure there's nothing there? Then click “OK”, the media will be formatted. We drink tea, watch a movie or do something similar until a window pops up notifying us that the process has completed. All! You can install Windows XP via a USB flash drive.

Other options

It would be a mistake to say that this is the end of all available options. There are hundreds of utilities for creation, and therefore it is simply unrealistic to describe them all within the framework of one article.

But we will tell you about one more utility that is well known to “advanced” domestic users. We are talking about the Command Line program.

So you can also create Windows XP on a USB flash drive using it. It is available on every Windows computer.

Details

Firstly, it must be run as an administrator. To do this, you need to click on the “Start” button and type “cmd” in the search bar. A list of found files will open on the right side of the window. Right-click on the desired file, and then select the same “Run as administrator” item.

If you do this on Windows 8/8.1, the procedure changes slightly. First, you need to go to “ModernUI” (also known as “Metro”), click on the small “Down” arrow, which is located in the lower left corner. For devices with a touch screen, you can simply scroll down.

A window will open with a list of installed programs, in the upper right corner of which there is a search field. We drive “CMD” into it, after which the search result will open. Right-click on the desired program. A list of possible actions will appear at the bottom of the window (there are no context menus here!). As you understand, you need to select “Run as administrator”.

Then in the console that opens, type the line (or you can simply copy) “DISKPART”. This command launches a special software shell that allows you to manage disks (including removable ones).

The next command is “List disk”. If you know even a little English, then you can see for yourself that it displays a list of external drives. It is advisable to connect only one flash drive to the computer, otherwise you may very well make a mistake. If Windows XP is in this mode, try formatting it with the FAT32 file system.

How to do it? Open “My Computer”, right-click on the desired flash drive, select “Format”. Naturally, if the removable disk is not even in this folder, then it is better to change it. There is clearly some kind of malfunction in it, due to which you may lose all your data.

After that, enter the “Clean” command, which will additionally clean the disk. After the message about the completion of the process “Disk cleanup completed successfully” is displayed, enter the line “Create partition primary”. It creates the primary active partition.

The next command is “Select partition 1”. It allows you to select a previously created partition. The “Active” option will make it active.

We recommend formatting your drive by entering a command like “Format fs=NTFS”. If you have a FAT32 file system, replace the appropriate part of the command. We enter “Exit”, which is where our “console epic” ends.

Then we copy all the necessary files to a removable disk. How to do it? If you downloaded a disk image in ISO format, then you can use any available archiver (“7-ZIP”, for example). Launch the program, follow the “File-Open” path, where you specify the path to the image file. You unpack everything onto your flash drive, prepared in the manner described above.

Attention! The described method does not provide a 100% guarantee that the installation program will run on old hardware, so if you have such a need, it is better to use the method that was described first in our article.

Other nuances

Of course, we have already talked about how you can make a disk with the system and utilities “in one bottle.” But what to do when you only need one program that can be launched from the BIOS?

The solution is no different from what we did before. For example, consider the Acronis program, a bootable flash drive with which will allow you to resize partitions, partition the hard drive, or perform a complete and irreversible format.

The easiest way

In this case, we will need Acronis True Image installed on the computer. This set of programs is very useful, so we recommend installing it for “preventive purposes.” After launching the utility, the first dialog box will open in front of you.

In it, select the item “Go to main window”. The following window will open in which you need to activate the “Create bootable media” option. A “Wizard” will open, with which you will perform all subsequent operations. Click “Next” in the first window to get to the next settings item.

In it you need to check the box on the “True image Home” settings item. Click “Next” again and you will be taken to a window with a choice of removable media. Select yours, then select “Next” again. After this, another window will pop up, in which there will finally be a “Proceed” button. After some time (depending on the characteristics of your computer), a completion message will appear.

Second way

This time you should have an "Acronis True Image" image. To write it to the media, we will use the “WinSetupFromUSB” program, which we already described at the very beginning of the article. The process is practically no different from what we have already discussed.

First, run the utility as an administrator. In the first window we also select our flash drive, but then we go along a different path.

Click on the “RMPrepUSB” button. An additional utility window will open, in which you again need to specify your media. Check the option (“BOOT OPTIONS”) “NTLDR” and set “NTFS” in the file system selection line. Be sure to check the boxes next to “Boot as HDD” and “Use 64hd”. There is no need to mark anything else, and therefore you can safely click on the “Prepare Drive” button.

A small window will pop up warning you that the process has begun. Click "OK". After this, a second dialog box will appear, warning you that formatting will destroy all data.

Once again, make sure that there is no data on the disk that is of any value to you. If you make a mistake, it will be difficult (if not impossible) to restore them.

We agree by clicking “OK” again. Formatting will be performed for some time, after which we will be transferred back to the main program window. Here you need to check the box whose name begins with “PartedMagic”. Here we click on the button with the image of an ellipsis. “Explorer” will open, in which you will show the utility where the “Acronis True Image” image is located.

Press the “GO” button and wait until the message “Job Done” appears on the monitor. All! The bootable media with the utility is ready!

Greetings to you friends and readers of my blog!

I understand that most of you switched to the brand new Windows 10, while the rest remained faithful to the good seven. However, there are still those who use the much-loved XP. For example, it is perfect for an office netbook or an old desktop computer in some run-down post office or somewhere else.

Therefore, I keep this OS on one of the weaker laptops so that, if something happens, I can find or check something on a new machine. Therefore, today I will tell you what creating a bootable Windows XP flash drive is, how it happens and what is needed for this. Go!

What flash drives are suitable?

Of course, the carrier is the most important part of our entire enterprise. Since we are talking about the Windows XP operating system, we can immediately say that it takes up little space, both packaged and unpacked from the iso image. Let's first understand the media type.

USB type. The most suitable option. Firstly, all computers have such a port. secondly, you don't need a card reader. Thirdly, these are the cheapest flash drives you can find on the market. You can try to order more original models from online stores with a protected case, a waterproof shell, and also with a full set of protection, even from a magnetic storm. But in general, among all these parameters, simplicity is important. The fewer parts there are in a device, the less it will have to break. Consequently, the gadget will last longer.

SD and MMS. A type of media for which there is already a port in laptops and all card readers. Used in cameras and video recorders. They are quite cheap and are quite suitable for us to record a bootable device with a “piggy” (Windows XP) on board. To boot from such a card, you will need a card reader that will connect via USB.

MicroSD. Such a device is found in almost every cell phone, tablet and camera. It will require either a card reader or an adapter to SD type. The drives are cheap, but the cost depends on the class of the gadget. They are divided into 2, 4, 6, 10. The higher, the faster the flash drive will work.

Now let's look at the ports. This applies to USB devices. They come in versions 2.0 and 3.0. The first type works on all computers and laptops. These are standard USB connectors. But the second ones are the blue ports, which are faster. If your computer does not have USB 3.0, but the flash drive runs on this format, it doesn’t matter, it will function quite well on 2.0, however, the speed will be standard. Accordingly, the cost of devices differs greatly due to these parameters. I do not advise spending money for the sake of an increase of several megabits per second, if we are talking specifically about the XP operating system.

Volume. This is an important aspect of choice. New operating systems take up a lot of storage space before they are installed. From 6 to 20 gigabytes. At the same time, they take much longer to install. And the operating system discussed in the article weighs very little. Only 4 GB will be enough, and there will still be plenty of space left for drivers, office programs and other software.

What needs to be done before recording?

Since I want to describe the whole process to you in detail, with all possible software, here is a list of software. which needs to be downloaded.

Ulta ISO – download here. The main tool for creating bootable flash drives. The most popular among ordinary users without special skills.

Rufus - take right here. A very useful thing. The software writes bootloaders very quickly. There are more settings here than in the previous software, but the software is also more professional. Download, install.

Winsetupfromusb 1.7 and another product that works on more modern systems. For example, with some versions of the programs described above, problems may arise in Windows 10. And this software works great on new operating systems.

Follow the link here.

Scroll the page to the very bottom.

You open the downloaded file in the browser directly through it.

poke this rectangle on the right

Then you click it again.

Text will appear in English, which you don’t really need, just move on.

Again text about licenses and other things. Let's move forward.

An offer will appear that we do not need. Click here.

Check the boxes everywhere if they are not there (although usually they are immediately by default).

Again, we poke the squares once and move on...

There will be unpacking, then the installation of the software itself. This will scan your laptop. You may be able to install several useful programs for free.

Click on the finish button.

The client window will appear, which means the installation is complete.

With the help of this software we pull from here- XP 64 bit version.

You can start burning.

Flash drive recording

We'll start the process with Rufus.

Rufus open the software as administrator. In the first position we place our flash card. In the second – the recording method is set to “ MBR for computers with BIOS or UEFI" This is an important aspect. Otherwise, when loading, the BIOS simply will not be able to detect our device and we will have to redo everything all over again. But we don’t need it, do we? Now let's start.

We agree with the warning that appears that all files will be erased and the device cannot be turned off.

Now we can see the recording progress, which will be right on the screen. It displays the creation of the boot sector itself and the transfer of files. 5 minutes is the average waiting time. Don't rush to leave the computer.

After completion, our flash drive can be used!

Now let's look at UltaISO.

So, we start our software exclusively on behalf of the administrator.

In this position you indicate the storage medium (flash drive), our recording method is always USB HDD+ and no other. I wouldn't do any formatting, but if you want to, you can. It’s just that the container will still be erased when recording starts.

That's it, now, after the burning process is completed, you can use our card to boot Windows.

Well, now let's try to do the same with winsetupfromusb.

First you need to select our flash drive in the program interface. It is advisable to format it first, just in case.

We check the box in auto-format, specify the system FAT32, then in the align department, and also click in copy BPB. That's it, we're done with putting down what we need here.

Here you need to indicate where exactly on your hard drive the ISO image file with the operating system is located.

Now let's start and write.

If you see a picture like this, it means the recording went well.

How to do this on UNIX systems?

Among you, my dear readers, there are those who use Linux systems. I will explain to you how to make a bootable USB flash drive in Ubuntu.

From here download the WinUSB software. By the way, there are instructions on how to install it. Be sure to read it if you have no skills in this aspect of computer topics.

Click here.

This is the interface that opens.

In the top position we select our flash drive. At the bottom we position (target) our information carrier. Next we make a recording.

When the process is finished, you will see a sign like this. Don't be afraid of the red icon; it only warns you that the operation has completed.

Afterword

I would like to immediately explain why “piggy” is better on older PCs. The system not only weighs little and works quite quickly. The most important thing is that it does not require a lot of resources from the computer. For example, even with a laptop with 2 gigs of RAM and a single-core processor, the OS will work stably and quickly. However, for Windows 10, such parameters are minimal, not even recommended. Therefore, it will simply slow down, or it will not start at all.

I will also mention that you cannot create a bootable USB flash drive using daemon tools. A disk is possible, but a USB drive is impossible. Therefore, without the additional programs described above, such an operation is almost impossible, unless you use the command line. Remember this.

And one last piece of advice. Such procedures cannot be performed on mac os. All the programs that I mentioned above only work under Windows or Linux. They simply will not be installed on a Mac OS. There is other software for it, which I will talk about in another article.

Conclusion

This is where I will end the article. By the way, here is a video on our topic. Take a look, you will learn a lot of new things for yourself if you are not familiar with this aspect.

All the methods that I gave you above will allow you to create a Windows bootloader completely free of charge. I hope you will share this article with your colleagues and friends on social networks. And also subscribe to my blog, and you will always know when new materials appear. With this I say goodbye to you, all the best to you and see you again on the site, my dear readers! See you in touch!

I don't remember the last time I used an installation disk Windows or Ubuntu on PC. Every time I create a bootable USB flash drive, or an installation one, as it suits you, I use the same method, which I want to talk about in this post, providing step-by-step instructions with screenshots.

I have to install Windows from a flash drive quite often! I always use the same flash drive. I can’t say the exact number of computers on which I had to install Windows from a flash drive, there were approximately a little more than 20, that’s for sure!

During all this time, installing Windows from a flash drive, I have not encountered a single problem, and I wish the same for you!!!

I use a completely simple flash drive. And the flash drive itself is already old, only God knows how old it is.

In general, the simplest and most common 4 gig flash drive.

Preparing a flash card.

Preparing a flash card consists of one simple thing. It needs to be formatted in the file system NTFS. This can be done without any problems using standard Windows tools. Go to my computer and right-click on the flash drive icon, from the context menu select “Format ...”

In chapter " File system" you are taking NTFS and click the “Start” button in the warning window and agree by clicking the “ok” button.

This completes the preparation of the flash card, now all that remains is to prepare the image with Windows.

Preparing a Windows disk image.

Windows preparation consists of unpacking all files from “ ISO» Windows images. It can be done this way.

1 – Unpack with a regular archiver “Win ​​RARom" To do this, open the iso image file using “Win ​​RAR"

And unpack all the files into the previously created folder, for example “win7”.

2- Use the “Ultra ISO” program; the principle of action is the same.

Open the image, select all the files and drag them into the “win 7” folder Or whatever you called it there!

The windows files are unpacked and that’s all, you can start creating a bootable flash drive.

Create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows.

The flash drive is ready, the Windows files have been extracted from the ISO image, there is still a little time left and the bootable flash drive will be ready for use.

Download the program “WinSetupFromUSB” (Link at the bottom of this post). And we launch.

In the main program window, click the " Bootice»

In the next window, make sure that the flash drive you need is selected in the drop-down list and click the “ PerformFormat»

Here you need to select “ USBHDDmode (SinglePartiton) "And press the button " NextStep»

In the next window, select the NTFS file system and click the “ok” button

After clicking ok, respond positively to all warnings received. Then close all windows and go to the main program window.

Check the box next to " Vista / 7/ Server 2008…… " and select the same folder "win7" where you previously unpacked the Windows files from the iso image.

All that remains is to press the “GO” button and wait about 10 minutes until the program finishes its work.

It is worth noting that the program may not respond and simply freeze; in this case, you do not need to turn it off. In fact, it works, you just have to wait. After some time, the program will come to its senses and you can observe the progress of the work.

Hello readers of the site, in the last articles I focused on installing operating systems, it remains to talk about Windows 7, in the last article I talked about, as well as. But he didn’t tell me how to burn Windows XP to a USB flash drive (create a distribution). A wonderful program that has always helped me out will help us with this! 🙂

And the program has a name WinSetupFromUSB. Take a look at this article and you will see for yourself that it is easy to use.

How to record or make a Windows XP distribution on a flash drive?

You can, of course, use the UltraISO program, but some people get an error: txtsetup.sif is corrupted or missing. Therefore, I will show you how to record bootable windows in the old and proven way, which did not fail.

First, insert the flash drive, open my computer and right-click on the flash drive you want write distribution. The following menu will appear:

Select format.

Select everything as in the picture and click begin. Once the flash drive is formatted, the fun begins.

To begin with, our distribution kit with Windows XP needs to be unpacked. This can be done with any archiver, winrar or free. And also by copying in programs DAEMON-Tools or UltraISO, we'll talk about them later. After unpacking, let's start creating Bootable Windows xp on a flash drive.

Creation of a distribution kit.

WinSetupFromUSB and launch it (32 and 64 bit versions in the archive).

Immediately check the box Auto format it with FBinst and everything else is as in the picture. This is necessary for the program to format the flash drive to suit its needs.

Now preparing for records completed. Let's choose a distribution. In the first paragraph Windows 2000/XP/2003 setup put a checkmark and opposite where there are 3 dots, click on the button and select the distribution that we extracted.

Having selected a folder, click OK, Then GO. When the recording is complete, restart the computer, and in the window that appears, select Start Vista/Win7/Server 2000 Setup…

That's all, recording bootable Windows XP distribution completed, I hope everything was clear, successful installation, see you in the setup article :)