Guide - Install WinXP From HDD or USB Drive or CDROM [ ver 1.3 Final ]



Here the guide in steps :
Method 1.



Step 1 - Preparation:
a. Make ur drive active and pri partition [using Diskpart or another tool like HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool]
b. Use bootsect.exe to make it nt52 bootable

Step 2 - file management:
a. Copy ur WHOLE Windows Xp CD to c:\
b. Copy SETUPLDR.BIN TXTSETUP.SIF NTDETECT.COM to c:\
c. Rename SETUPLDR.BIN to ntldr
d. Rename I386 Folder in c: to $WIN_NT$.~BT
e. copy whole asms folder to c:\I386
f. copy the list files in SYSSETUP.IN_\SYSSETUP.INI\[ProductCatalogsToInstall]
like
[ProductCatalogsToInstall]
NT5INF.CAT, 1
NT5.CAT
SP3.CAT
NTPRINT.CAT
MAPIMIG.CAT
HPCRDP.CAT
wmerrenu.cat
IASNT4.CAT
MSTSWEB.CAT
OEMBIOS.CAT
netfx.cat

to folder c:\I386

Step 3 - editing:
a. Open TXTSETUP.SIF and rename I386 folder to $WIN_NT$.~BT
WARNING!!!!! don't rename the folders in winnt dir just those are relevant to setup

*******************************************
Step a in more details
here the list u shouldnt rename:
39 = "Driver Cache\i386"
Architecture = i386
1,"Driver Cache\i386"

here a list of what u should rename
all in the lines in subject
[SourceDisksNames.x86]
exclude
2 = "%cd2name%","%cd2tagfilei%",,\cmpnents\tabletpc\i386
3 = "%cd2name%","%cd2tagfilei%",,\cmpnents\mediactr\i386
4 = "%cd2name%","%cd2tagfilei%",,\cmpnents\netfx\i386

*******************************************

b. Add SetupSourceDevice = \device\harddisk0\partition1 to TXTSETUP.SIF\[SetupData]

*Notice if u use usb then change to harddisk1 however i didnt had problem leave it like that i choose to boot usb from bios & didnt need to change it its
*Notice usually its F12 to run the bios menu for booting
check pic here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...st&p=844270

i test it with unattained & nlited windows xp the Whole setup goes normal no problem at all


i gonna test it again soon to make sure its work properly
Edited:
i test it again its working



Method 2 [ only for ntfs much easier ]


1. install hardlinkshellext
[ download from here: http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellex...xt.html#contact ]

do all Step 1
do step 2 just a,b,c
make hard link to i386 to $WIN_NT$.~BT
do step 3 b only

and u finished



common errors:

when the setup ask for cd the hdd or partation is not right
[ SetupSourceDevice = \device\harddisk0\partition1 ]


Images:

set ur vm (step 0)


the diskpart.exe process (step 1.a)


the bootsect.exe process (step 1.b )


copy the cd to drive (step 2)


after mapping and copy the files set the files (steps 2/3)



setup is ready

Hi, nice topic!!

it worked for me with a Nlite-XP with a USB-stick.

Additions:

-- Formated USB to NTFS. Can for example be done with Paragon Partition Manager
Fat32 might also work, will test later

-- bootsect.exe is a Vista-file

-- made a cmd-file with entries

bootsect.exe /nt52 i: (i:=USBdisk)
pause

and used it ;-)

-- Copied complete NLited"-cd to USB

-- Copied SETUPDLR.BIN and NTdetect.com from \i386

-- Renamed SETUPDLR.BIN to ntldr

-- Copied txtsetup.sif from \i386 to \ and deleted txtsetup.sif in \i386


-- In txtsetup.sif renamed all i386 --> $win_nt$.~BT except "Driver cache \i386" and "Architecture i386"

-- In txtsetup.sif added SetupSourceDrive =device\harddisk1\partition1 ( in my case USB is disk1 )

-- renamed \i386 to \ $win_nt$.~BT

-- Booted from USB

Installation went OK, but it asked about ten times for a directory ( I typed d:\$win_nt$.~BT to continue).
All related to files from PS3.

Maybe I have to rename the "Driver cache"-entry also


MGE

GOOD.

Just a note:
If the stick is formatted through the HP USB formatting utility or through my batches (run on win2k/xp/2003), there won't be the need for the Vista bootsect.exe.
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=5000

If you work on Vista or WinPE 2.x, you can use diskpart directly on the USB stick, only be aware of this possible problem, that might prevent the stick partitioning from being "kosher":
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21186
Registry settings to check:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931760/en

.reg file:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...21186&st=18

jaclaz

try use bios menu to start the boot from usb so its will called c:\ drive

thx for ur supports and for info

Good one

A few questions:
1. Does boot files (NTLDR, BOOT.INI and NTDETECT.COM) get copied to the internal disk? What are rdisk values in it?
2. Has anyone tried it with USB memory stick? With USB hard disk when booted from it SetupSourceDevice should be as mentioned harddisk0, but with USB memory stick it becomes harddisk1 etc. as mentioned in the related topic. Has anyone observed different behavior?
3. I guess USB hard disk gets drive letter C:, correct? Using migrate.inf should help as no driver is used to patch removable/fixed result.
4. Why putting XP source in ~BT folder? Should be easier to copy it as it is in own folder, and give this path in txtsetup.sif:
SetupSourcePath = "\xppro\"

thx
1.
when u say internal disk u mean the disk u gonna install xp ?
if yes then yes but the setup system think about usb drive as prim drive and start the boot from there its could be fixed manually
2.
yea check post num 2
3.
i didnt try usb drive i guess ur are right its need driver
to enable the usb 2.0
4.
well setup use ~BT to load boot the system and then load the setup
and then check for installation files that why i put all in the same dir
if u wanna u could make 2 installation in the same disk
with txtsetup editing and setupldr hex loading too
then its useful
but then u need to use nt6 booting mode and edit the bcd store

Hi,

I use a USB-stick (Sandisk Cruzer)

Jaclaz is right. Making a bootable USB-stick with "HP Windows Format Utility for USB Drive Key" works
I used version 2.00 and formatted NTFS.
I had no success with FAT32.

Changing BIOS-settings did not solve the asking for "missing" SP3-files

Screenshot shows file names of "missing" files.

After setting BIOS-setting back to HD-boot something strange happened.

I can not install XP now from the same USB-stick!!.
Booting is OK, files are transfered, but at reboot HAL.DLL is missing.

@mg.eggink

Yes, there is something still not fully documented, about FAT32 not booting.

Basically it is due to "unbalancing" between CHS and LBA data.

Try again using my batches (link above) or fuwi's batch:

which does use the HP utility, but adds some (hopefully) fixes.
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21702

When something like what you describe happens, best thing is to wipe first, say 100, sectors and start from scratch:
http://www.msfn.org/board/USB-Booting-issu....html&st=13
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=3453&st=8

jaclaz

Can you please elaborate on this unbalancing or give some links with more detail about it?

Remember, you actually asked for it :

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=5924
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...c=6165&st=0
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21914
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21136

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21702
particularly here:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...1702&st=129

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=2959

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=22016



jaclaz

Hello everyone

Just registered on these forums after straying across them- I've been looking at a quite a few and your methods seem to be the best mixture of concise vs. round the houses bloat and command line hackery vs. gui frustration. I followed the instructions, and had to change SetupSourceDrive =device\harddisk1\partition1 just like mr.egglink (thanks) however, I seem to be stuck in an endless loop now that when xp setup has finished copying the files and reboots, it goes straight into the initial install screen, enter to install, r to repair f3 to quit etc. I took the usb drive out and tried it and it says there is a drive error.

Does anyone have a solution?

Many thanks

hey and welcome
for now u need to fix the boot

cos the setup using the usb drive as ntldr and then point the system to load the os from the hdd drive

i dont get why the setup didnt change the files on the usb drive [maybe access denied ?]
the ntldr is STILL the setupldr.bin
that why u get that err
when i tested it in vmware and installed it from hdd
its was ok the setup process did replace that file with the "real" ntldr

so what u need to fix it

bootsect.exe the hdd and place the "real" ntldr and ofc NTDETECT.COM
[the setup think that usb drive the "hdd" that boot first the system that why its loop]


and thx u i was i n the same problem like u

btw i gonna try install the system from usb to test it soon gonna check what its all about

Hi there,

Thanks for the reply, unfortunately I didn't really understand your instructions.

I'm trying to load XPProSP2 on my Dell Mini9 netbook, so I can't bootsect.exe the destination drive, I tried it by running the bootsect.exe command when logged into the recovery/repair console and it didn't work. I also copied over the ntldr file and NTDETECT.COM file and again, it didn't make any difference.

Any ideas?

Many thanks

WinsetupfromUSB:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=120444

Works with the mini12:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=130809
it should as well work with the mini9.

jaclaz

Hi thestonegroover

I had the same with endless reboot and install.
I use a Dell Vostro. When I select USB-stick as first boot device in Bios Setup (Dell =F2) it reboots and installs over and over.

Choosing the boot-device USB-disk during booting ( Dell= F12) it went Ok and restarted from the original HD.

MGE

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the tips. I went to the WinfromUSBsetup thread as sugested, used the GUI etc and when I booted off it, it started in the second part of the original install process! I had to get GParted on to a USB stick and format the SSD again, then when I tried the WinfromUSB'd stick, I got a Hal.dll error, same as other methods I've tried before. I'll have another go with your method here using the now it's been pointed out very obvious method of setting to boot from SSD first but changing temporary boot options on the initial boot.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Cheers!

I test it under VMWARE.

2 disks, one is booted as installation source (harddisk0), the second is target disk. When guibooting, a lot of .CAT file not found correctly(default is c:\i386), as well notepad.exe and other dll file lost.

the ntldr on the harddisk0 is changed to normal, and boot.ini was put on it too.
the RDISK() is wrong:



The installation procedure I can understand, but what confused me is that why installation files havn't been deleted? Migrate.inf is not be used.

Also above wrong directory, how to correct it?

...

Check \windows\system32\$winnt$.inf where Setup looks for the source files. Check setup log files in \windows too.
What did you put as SetupSourcePath in txtsetup.inf?
Were those missing files from a slipstreamed SP or updates? Check paths to them in txtsetup.sif, they may differ from those of a 'regular' source file.

This is expected behavior- Setup would put boot files on the first fixed hard disk according to BIOS order. In case of USB stick which is normally 'removable', Setup puts them on the first fixed disk.

rdisk value is not wrong. According to BIOS order the second disk, where Windows is being installed to, is rdisk(1). There is still need to mess up with BOOT.INI later on.
The only way we found to avoid this behavior was to "break" HD order using grub4dos map command. Seems at that stage grub4dos mapping is still in effect. Setup would detect a strange situation and will use HD signature along with ARC path- e.g. signature(de33eaf8)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS. Note, rdisk value is the desired one. Those were tests with USB sticks. Signature part also seems to cause delay during boot, longer or shorter, depending on the system.
Read around this post for details:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...st&p=646746

Read here:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...st&p=776205

In short- if MsDosInitiated="1", then SetupSourcePath and SetupSourceDevice are ignored, it defaults to $WIN_NT$.~LS, source files gets deleted as the source path is considered as temporary, saving disk space as the installation goes along.
MsDosInitiated="0"- SetupSourcePath and SetupSourceDevice are taken into account, source path is no longer considered as "temporary", no files are deleted.

I havn't checked it yet. I will test it tonight.
I set SetupSourcePath = \device\harddisk0\partition1 in txtsetup.sif


The XP is sp3 from msdn CD.



The value rdisk(0) after "defaut =" is not equal to the one in [operatins systems] which is rdisk(1).


If the file system not NTFS, boot.ini can be fixed by DD comand of grub4dos.


Thanks a lot.

You meant SetupSourceDevice = \device\harddisk0\partition1, right? What was SetupSourcePath?

I thought it was a typo. Maybe on real hardware result will be different

That's restrictive, I personally would always use NTFS plus one may want to install windows on the second or third internal HD. Maybe search for a tag file...
In other hand, binifix.cmd at start of GUI is a proven to be working option.

Yes, you are right.
SeupSourcePath, I did not change it.

You get up so ealier.

I'd try with a source in a folder too.

Nah, just the time zone. As for waking up early mornings- that's never been my strong side

I may add that however, grub4dos dd should be able to change a single byte even on a NTFS filesystem with no problems, haven't tested it, but from the grub4dos readme:

should mean that it is possible that a problem happens, not necessarily that it will happen.

The difficult part would be to tell it WHICH byte to change, i.e. somehow scripting the feature, both finding the "address" that needs to be changed and the right "value" to write.

The "z-1" concept was devised to work on "ANY" setup :
http://www.msfn.org/board/How-to-boot-inst...html&st=240
and following.


jaclaz

Here already such dd example in Chinese: http://bbs.znpc.net/viewthread.php?tid=550...t=dd&page=4

The 60th topic.

I translate here


We can study above to chang boot.ini without dificculty.

Well, not so easy.

I have full faith on the power of grub4dos dd command, but alas not yet enough on grub4dos scripting language.

You may have a "strange" BOOT.INI already on the target machine.

See the example posted here:
http://www.msfn.org/board/How-to-boot-inst...html&st=244

Are you positive that you can find a way (entirely in grub4dos) to detect the position of z, both here:

and here:


And later read the z value, calculate the z-1 value and write it in both places?


jaclaz

You give a special example which is difficult to deal with.
For fresh instll xp on a new partition, boot.ini is simple and easy to revise by grldr.

Yep.

But it would be a little limitative, as I see it, being comaptible ONLY with a newly formatted drive and with ONLY one NT/2K/XP/2003 and no multibooting.

jaclaz

I am testing your method.

I am curious about what is to be renamed in TXTSETUP.SIF - i386. Is this what is supposed to be renamed?

I've tried a couple of times, and I can't get it to work correctly.

Regardless of what I do, I get a boot error message after reboot after initial (textmode, the grey on blue) install phase.

Depending on BIOS I get:

* USB drive highest prio. Textmode install lists hard drive as C.
* USB drive lower prio, use F12 to manually select USB to boot from. Textmode install lists hard drive as E or something.

One thing, I am using



I am not sure how things are related here, so if that affects anything.

/mawi

in [winnt] subject u have i386 folder too that should be unrenamed

Hmm, do you mean [winntdirectories]? I can't find a [winnt] section.

Winntdirectories has one occurence of i386:

yep only them

OK, I have changed from the above to this (only one line, the one with 40 at the beginning):





I also discovered that I must use harddisk1, as you mentioned:



So, as a side note, if I try SetupSourceDevice with harddisk0, it tells me "No previous version of Windows NT can be found..." [press F3], like so:
Click to view attachment


I have two problems that I will see if I can solve now:

(1) Reboot after "blue"/text phase doesn't continue install
(2) I get (E:) as letter for the harddrive

/mawi

So, here I continue.

Problem (2) above depends on my own doing:
- I have two partitions on the harddrive, and
- as I repartitioned and reformatted the first - so I could retry installing - the second partition got assigned letter C: and the first partition got E:, for some reason. Bah.


But problem (1) is left. What happens is this:

* Boot from USB goes fine, I use F12 to temporarily select USB
* The first part of setup (blue, text phase) goes nicely.
* I reboot after partitioning and the copying is done, then:

* I think it tries to boot from harddrive, but it doesn't seem to work, for some reason.

I get the following screen with the text starting with
"Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem.
Could not read from the seleected boot disk. Check boiot path and disk hardware.
Please check the windows documentation about hardware..."

Click to view attachment



What could the problem be?
What can I do about it?
Have I missed some step?


Thanks for your replies and your time!

/mawi

Wrong rdisk value in boot.ini on the internal disk...

OK, so I used a PE boot disk (on another, small USB disk) to check what was on the harddrive, and it had accumulated different installs.

After erasing, I decided to clear all partitions and start from scratch.

After first phase (blue/text mode) reboot, I then get a new error message:

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll
Please reinstall a copy of the file."

Click to view attachment

I have tried this twice now, and I get the same error message.


It seems that I may have missed some edit in TXTSETUP.SIF?
If so, what?


Thanks again!

/mawi

PS
Here is my complete TXTSETUP.SIF:
Click to view attachment

This one should be because of wrong partition(X) value in boot.ini. Did you start from USB the second time? Does partition number in boot.ini match the partition number you installed to?
Do rdisk values in boot.ini on the internal hard disk match?

Since you can boot from PE disk you should post the relevant information, this would save both parties time.

In other hand- what are you trying to accomplish? Need one-off install or you are willing to experiment?

After reboot, I try to boot from hard drive.
That is how I interpreted the instructions. Should I start from USB disk the second time?
I am assuming for this procedure, that I should not, is that false?

About boot.ini: I don't know, right now I just have one partition on the harddrive, so it should work, I guess...



How do I check this, these so called rdisk values - boot.ini on hard drive or USB drive? Do I match that against values in some other file?



I would like to get this install to work. I dont have access to CD right now. I have tried many methods, this one seems to be close.

It would be nice to not have to experiment. But like one poster said, many instructions are complicated or large. I have tried the GUI, but I didn't get it to work either, I posted about the 16 bit CONFIG.NT problem. Maybe I will retry using it.


Again, thanks for all your help and time.

/mawi

From PE disk, boot.ini on the hard drive. When you open it there are 2 lines with rdisk in it. Both values should be the same.

Well, you have hit a thread with a method, which is relatively new and barely tested. Unless you have the time and willingness to experiment I'd suggest you to stay with the proven to work and well tested methods:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=111406
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=120444
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=121446

Using (heavily) modified sources makes the things trickier, but I do not remember a case in this subforum, which has not been resolved.

Setup started by WINNT.EXE from DOS and WINNT32.EXE from PE environment are always an option too.
And you got reply. Rebuilding the USB disk in order to gather the required information would have not costed you much time, would it? I guess not more than 10-15 minutes with USB hard drive formatted in NTFS.

I'll check this as soon as I get time (which sadly means tomorrow). Could this really be the culprit for the hal.dll not found problem?


I do realize that this is newer. I meant that I would have preferred to not have to experiment. The reason for trying this method is simply that the others I tried did not work.



The one proven that I tried didn't work in my situation.

I don't know which of these are more proven than the next. It may be obvious, to you, that one is better than another, but as one new here, looking for a solution, it is really not that obvious.

One proven would be easy to get started with. These first and last look experimental to me. I tried the GUI one, second link.






The only modification I have is added driver, without which setup wont recognize my disks. I never doubted anyones ability or good intentions. I am sure the answer is out there, somewhere.



I tried this but I made some mistake and didn't get far.



Yes I got a reply, I never said I did not. I'm merely answering your question, explaining where I ran into a snag.



Hmm, what is the point of this? (Shall I say: "Oh, I did wrong. I repent, I am sorry. I will not ask anymore questions." ? Silly.) I am trying the best I can, I hope you see that.


I will retry, tomorrow!

Again, I do appreciate your and everyone elses help and time. And I understand that you must get frustrated at times! I sure do.


/mawi

ok one things ur txtsetup is not right u changed it

39 = "Driver Cache\$WIN_NT$.~BT"

try use f12 button when the system start to load the bios boot menu

and choose directly the hdd / usb that have the setup files

if its not working try change back to hdd(0)

"No previous version of Windows NT can be found..." [press F3], like so: "

i had that problem while making this but i solve it

maybe u missed do something try to make it from the guide from start

aviv00

Maybe you could edit your initial post adding in it some more explicit instructions, like which exact lines need to be edited, instead of this:


or possibly attach an already edited and known to be working TXTSETUP.SIF, I could put together a simple batch to do "automagically" just the needed edits....

jaclaz

i found the problem DOSNET.INF should rename there too

i will post good list soon

edited:

i didnt find the problem so i find way to bypass it check in post number #1

and post a better method to solve it check method 2

None of this is getting me anywhere..
It boots, it loads all files, and when "starting windows" I just get the good ol' BSOD everytime....

I used DBAN on the HDD after several attempts, and now that the drive is wiped clean, I'm still getting the BSOD.

I tried changing the Setup data, by adding this line :
SetupSourceDevice = \device\harddisk1\partition1
And even tried changing from 1 to 0 and back, to no avail....
I don't believe the actual HDD is even being seen, honestly - but I don't get far enough to know......

What does the blue screen say? This is the interesting part, not the blue screen itself
If it's the 0x0000007B error try the modified ntdetect.com as mentioned in the pinned FAQs topic. Cure for other error messages are also mentioned there.

I can't test it at the moment because I'm formatting the HDD ( Well, "C" drive, anyway - I hope that's the **** hard drive or I'll be making the USB bootable again, lol...)

Got a quick link to that FAQ, by chance ? ( sorry, I'm doing 3 things here at once...)

EDIT : OK, that didn't help ( modified NTDETECT.COM )........

I have an empty C: drive with a dos partition on it now, but booting to it no other drives show up.

someone pm and told me he had the same problem

he change the volume of the cd so that what happend

i think the volume of the hdd need to be the same of the disk

btw he burned with the original volume and its got fixed
so pretty sure its the problem

anyway to fix it ?

Is there any progress on this yet? I tried your dd command approach to change the rdisk value in boot.ini, but it gives me a fatal error screaming something about "Cannot write resident/small file! Enlarge it to 2KB and try again"

I just know you guys are on to something as I can fully understand the problem here and also searching for alternatives and manipulating the boot process for the GUI mode to start correctly without editing the boot.ini manually.

Just a quick test where I got the error:

Have you tried enlarging it?

See this example by Mdgx on how a boot.ini can be
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...129604&st=8
"enlarged" by adding lines of text BEFORE first section.

BTW, WHICH version are you using?

Get LATEST here:
http://nufans.net/grub4dos/




Absolutely NOT relevant to the problem you are experiencing, but you can use relative paths:


jaclaz

Is it right that I don't need to expand the files copied to I386 (IMS.CAT, NTPRINT.CAT and SP3.CAT are already expanded but the rest are .CA_)?

Is there any need to delete the TXTSETUP.SIF in $WIN_NT$.~BT after copying it to the root?