How to install Windows XP from your USB stick

To install Windows XP from your USB drive, there are a couple of quirks you have to deal with.

First, set your usb drive as the default boot device in your bios. Windows setup will reboot several times during installation, and EVERY time, it must boot from the usb drive. For an unattended install, this is essential. Otherwise you will have to sit by the computer and select the usb drive every reboot.

Also important is that you leave your usb drive connected throughout install, just like you would a cd-rom. Do not remove it until setup has completed, and you are at your windows desktop.

First step is to select the text mode setup.

You will get the familiar startup screen.

You will see a noticeable increase in speed over the cd-rom setup in loading files.

From here, there are two scenarios to follow.

Scenario One; installation hard drive is unpartitioned.

You will notice that your hard disk is empty, and your usb drive has been assigned C:

 DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT select enter at this point. Choose c to create partition.

Once you create the partition, you will notice your drive letters are incorrect.

Press F3 to quit.

Press F3 to confirm. Your computer will reboot.

After reboot, choose text mode setup again.

Now your drive letters are correct. Press Enter to install windows.

Scenario Two; installation hard drive is already partitioned.

If you are reinstalling windows, you can delete your C: partition.

At this point, you can safely select enter to install on the selected partition (windows will automatically partition the unpartitioned space and assign C:)

Or you can create a partition (or partitions; any size of your choosing) and it will be assigned C: Then press enter to install windows.

Finishing text mode setup

Choose format or quick format using the file system of your choice.

From this point forward, assuming your bios boot settings are correct, and you built your unattended setup correctly, there is no user intervention required.

It should only take a few seconds for a quick format.

This is where you are going to a see HUGE increase in speed over CD-rom setup.

What used to take several minutes, now takes about 20 seconds (depending on the speed of your USB drive)

Setup will reboot, and then onto the GUI portion of setup.

Continuing on with GUI mode setup

Again, there is no user intervention required here assuming you used my menu, or configured yours correctly to default to Start Windows GUI setup. But you will likely monitor your setup the first time (you should to make sure everything is correct). If you don't want to wait for the time-out, just press enter.

If you used my nLite settings, setup will complete on its own.

This portion of setup completes in about 3/4 of the time of the standard setup.

This is the part of setup where any addons you integrated with nLite will install.

Once setup completes you can remove the USB drive if you wish.

And you can now go back into your bios, and reset your hard drive to the default boot device.

As an aside, if you do reboot with your USB drive connected and set as the default boot device, no worries; the USB boot menu will default to Start Windows XP GUI setup, which at this point, will boot XP from your hard drive.

I know this may seem complicated, and it may seem like more work than it is worth, but really, it is not. If you build an unattended setup, it is actually much easier than using a CD. And it takes about half the time. And you can integrate drivers and hotfixes. All in all, it is worth it.