Takeaway: You can't boot Windows XP from a floppy disk the way you used to be able to with DOS.

One handy way to easily boot XP is by using a S! flash dri"e. #ere's how to make it work. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $ %lmost e"eryone who has worked with computers for any length of time at all has run into at least one situation in which a problem left a P& unbootable. What if you could return the machine to a bootable state 'ust by inserting a S! flash dri"e though( !elie"e it or not) it is actually possible to install a bootable copy of Windows XP onto a flash dri"e and then boot a P& off of the flash dri"e. *rom there) you can use applications that you ha"e installed on the flash dri"e +anti "irus) anti spyware) disk repair) etc., to fi- the P&'s problem. .n this article) . will show you how.

What's the catch?

%s with most cool new techni/ues) there are a few catches. *or starters) not e"ery P& is capable of booting from a S! flash dri"e. *or the most part) computers manufactured within the last two years are generally able to boot from a flash dri"e. Older systems may re/uire a !.OS update) or might not be able to boot from a flash dri"e at all. %nother catch is that not e"ery flash dri"e will get the 'ob done. 0he primary factors that limit your use of a particular flash dri"e are capacity and speed. 0echnically) speed isn't really a limiting factor) but booting Windows will be painfully slow unless you use a flash dri"e that supports S! 1.2. 0he flash dri"e's capacity is actually a limiting factor though. Surprisingly though) there are si3e limits on both the upper and lower end. Your flash dri"e can't be too large or too small. 0here isn't really a documented minimal si3e for a flash dri"e. You 'ust need something large enough to hold Windows XP and a few applications. %s you probably know) Windows XP normally consumes o"er a gigabyte of disk space. 4ater . will show you how to use a free utility to trim the e-cess fat off of Windows XP and make it a whole lot smaller. 5"en so) . still recommend that your flash dri"e be at least a minimum of 167 8! in si3e. %s . mentioned) there is a ma-imum si3e for the S! flash dri"e that you can use. &urrently) S! flash dri"es e-ist in si3es of up to 9 :!) and ; :! flash dri"es are e-pected to be a"ailable by the end of the year. %s nice as it would be to ha"e ; :! to play with) the flash dri"e that you use for this pro'ect can be no larger than 1 :!. 0he reason for this is because you will ha"e to format the flash dri"e using the *%0<=7 file system) which has a 1 :! limit. Presently) you are stuck using *%0<=7 because most computers will not recogni3e a flash dri"e as being bootable if the dri"e is formatted with anything other than *%0<=7.

Preparing your Windows installation CD

One of the re/uirements for creating our bootable S! flash dri"e is a Windows XP with Ser"ice Pack 1 installation &D. .f your Windows XP installation &D doesn't already include Ser"ice Pack 1) then you will ha"e to make a &D that includes Ser"ice Pack 1 through a techni/ue called slipstreaming.

Other requirements
.n addition to your Windows XP installation &D) there are a couple of other things that you are going to need. *or starters) you will need the #P S! Disk Storage *ormat 0ool. You can download this tool for free. %nother utility that you are going to need is !art's Preinstalled 5n"ironment !ootable 4i"e Windows &D > D?D) or !artP5 for short. You can download this utility for free from the !artP5 Web site. .n addition to the software re/uirements) you must "erify that the P& that you will be using to create the Windows deployment has =.6 :! of free hard disk space +minimum, and supports booting from a S! de"ice. . also strongly recommend that the P& be running Windows XP Ser"ice Pack 1. Prior to Ser"ice Pack 1) Windows XP sometimes had trouble interacting with S! storage de"ices.

Formatting the lash dri!e

@ow that you ha"e all of the prere/uisites taken care of) it's time to actually start setting up our flash dri"e. 0he first step in doing so) as strange as it sounds) is to format the flash dri"e. Windows will actually let you format a flash dri"e in the same way that you format a floppy disk. #owe"er) formatting a flash dri"e in this way will not work for this pro'ect. *urthermore) using Windows to format a flash dri"e directly has been known to destroy some types of flash dri"es. .nstead) you must format the flash dri"e by using the #P S! Disk Storage *ormat 0ool that you downloaded earlier. 0o do so) simply open the utility) select the de"ice followed by the *%0 file system option and click Start. Once the de"ice has been formatted) you must make it bootable. 0o do so) you must copy the !OO0..@.) @04DA) and @0D505&0 from the root directory of your P&'s boot dri"e to the flash dri"e. 0hese files are hidden by default) so you will either ha"e to configure Windows 5-plorer to show hidden files +including protected operating system files, or you will ha"e to open a &ommand Prompt window and use the &OPY command to copy the files.

.f you choose to use the Windows 5-plorer method) then open .nternet 5-plorer and enter &B into the address bar so that you are looking at your local hard dri"e. @e-t) select the *older Options command from the 0ools menu. When the *older Options properties sheet opens) select the ?iew tab. @ow) 'ust select the Show #idden *iles and *olders and deselect the #ide 5-tensions for Cnown *ile 0ypes and the #ide Protected Operating System *iles check bo-es. &lick OC to continue.

"ooting rom the #$" lash dri!e

@ow that you ha"e formatted your S! flash dri"e and installed the boot files onto it) the ne-t thing that you must do is to configure your P& to allow you to boot from the flash dri"e. 0his is all done through the computer's !.OS Setup. . can't gi"e you specific instructions for this part) because e"ery computer is different. . can gi"e you a few pointers though. You can access your computer's !.OS by pressing a specific key immediately after you turn the P& on. 0he key "aries) but it is usually either D*=E) D*1E) or DDeleteE. Once you are in the !.OS Setup) you should "erify that all of your computer's S! options are enabled. 0his might include things like support for legacy S! de"ices or support for S! 1.2. .f there is a time out setting for S! de"ices) you should set it to the ma- to insure that the system doesn't time out while waiting on the S! de"ice to boot. @e-t) find the section on boot de"ice priority. @ormally) a S! flash dri"e +which is usually listed as S!<#DD) but may be listed as a remo"able de"ice, will ha"e a "ery low boot priority. .f the S! flash dri"e's boot priority is lower than the hard disk +listed as #DD, then the only time the computer would e"er boot off of the S! flash dri"e is if the system were to fail to boot from the hard disk. You must therefore rearrange the boot de"ice priority so that the flash dri"e has a higher priority than the hard dri"e.

Con iguring Windows

@ow that we ha"e finally made it through all of the prep work) it's time to start setting up Windows. %s you ha"e probably already guessed) the process of installing Windows to a flash dri"e is /uite a bit different from your normal) run of the mill installation. 0here are a couple of reasons for this. *or starters) a full blown Windows XP deployment takes up o"er a :igabyte of hard disk space. When you are installing to a flash dri"e) disk space is a scarce commodity. 5"en if you ha"e o"er a :igabyte of space on your flash dri"e) you probably don't want to use it all on Windows. .t would be nice to ha"e room to install a few applications. 0herefore) you need to trim the e-cess fat off of Windows.

0he other reason why the installation process is so different from the usual Windows installation is because Windows Setup is not designed to install Windows to a flash dri"e. You therefore ha"e to configure Windows using an alternate method. 0he P5!uilder utility that you downloaded earlier can take care of both of these issues. P5!uilder is designed to create a build of Windows XP +or Windows Ser"er 122F, that does not take up as much space as a full blown installation. Once you create this new build) you can copy it to the flash dri"e. *or right now) . will show you how to create a basic Windows build and copy it to the memory stick. nfortunately) it's rather difficult to install applications once Windows is up and running. 0herefore) after . show you how to create a basic Windows build) . will show you how to create a build that includes some applications. !egin the process by opening P5!uilder. When you open P5!uilder) you will see a screen similar to the one that's shown in *igure %. Simply enter the path to the Windows installation files +the ones from your Windows XP with Ser"ice Pack 1 installation &D,. @e-t) "erify that the &reate .SO .mage and the !urn to &D check bo-es are not selected and then click the !uild button. P5!uilder will now create the new Windows build. Figure %

You must use P5!uilder to create a Windows build that will work with a flash dri"e.

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@ow) it's time to copy Windows to the flash dri"e. 0o do so) you will ha"e to use a special batch file that's included with P5!uilder. Open a &ommand Prompt window and na"igate to cBGpebuilderF=FGpluginGpeinst. @ow) insert an empty flash dri"e into the computer's S! port and then e-ecute the file P5.@S0.&8D. You will now see a menu appear as shown in *igure !. Figure "

P5!uilder uses a batch file to install Windows onto a flash dri"e.

0ype = and press D5nterE and you will be prompted to enter the path to the build that you ha"e created. 5nter &BGpebuilderF=FG!artP5. @ow) type 1) press D5nterE) and you will be prompted for the target path. 5nter the dri"e letter that Windows has assigned to your S! flash dri"e. %fter doing so) the menu is updated as shown in *igure &. 0he menu now displays the source path and the destination dri"e. 0ype 6 and press D5nterE to install Windows to the flash dri"e. Figure C

se menu option 6 to install Windows to the flash dri"e.

&nstalling applications
@ow that . ha"e shown you how to create and install a basic Windows build) . want to talk for a moment about how you can add an application to the build +prior to creating it,. 0he P5!uilder program comes pre<configured to support a number of common Windows applications) but does not come with the applications themsel"es. 0he reason why installing applications can be a little bit tricky is because most Windows applications modify the Windows registry. 0he build that you are creating is basically a collection of installation files) and the build itself does not contain a registry +the registry gets created when Windows is installed onto the flash dri"e,. %s such) P5!uilder uses a sort of registry emulator. .f you go to the &BGP5! .4D5AF=FGP4 :.@ folder) you will see sub folders for a number of different applications. .f you open one of these application folders) you will see that the folder contains an .@* file and a *.45S folder. 0he .@* file contains all of the information that would normally go into the registry) and the *.45S folder stores all of the program's files. 0o see how this works) let's install an application that .'m sure most of you are familiar withH @ero. !egin by installing @ero onto the machine that's running P5!uilder) as if you planned to run @ero locally on that machine. When the installation completes) copy all of the files from &BGProgram *ilesGaheadG@ero to &BGpebuilderF=FGpluginGnero burning romGfiles. .n this particular case) the @ero burning rom folder is the folder that has been set aside for the @ero application. 0he *iles sub folder is intended to store @ero's system files. @ow) you must take care of @ero's registry entries. 0o do so) go to the &BGpebuilderF=FGpluginGnero burning rom folder and open the P5@5AO..@* file using @otepad. %s . e-plained earlier) the .@* file in an application's folder is used to store the application's registry entries. *or @ero and all of the other applications that P5!uilder predefines) the .@* file is pre<configured. You 'ust ha"e to make a few changes that are specific to your system. .n this particular case) the P5@5AO..@* file is designed to support both @ero "ersions 6.- and 7.-. .nitially) the lines for both "ersions are commented out. You must therefore determine which "ersion you ha"e and then remo"e the semi colon from the beginning of the lines that apply to that "ersion. .f you look at *igure D) you can see how the two "ersions are separated.

Figure D

%n application's registry entries are stored in an .@* file.

Once you uncomment the appropriate lines) 'ust replace IYour @ameI) IYour &ompany @ameI and IYour Serial @umberI with your name) your company's name) and your @ero product key. Sa"e the file) and your set to go. 0he ne-t time that you click the !uild button) @ero will be included in the build.

Putting 'P in your pocket

Aunning Windows from a flash dri"e isn't an e-act science. Sometimes the process 'ust doesn't work and there is no good reason why. %s more P&s start to support booting from S! de"ices though) S! boots should become more standardi3ed) and the techni/ue should become more reliable.