How to Make A Boot Disk For Windows xp

[JCB1]

In this guide I am going to show you how to make a boot disk for windows xp which will include lots of useful tools such as system recovery programs, partition editors, virus scanners, testing tools and more. You can also add and remove tools as you wish from the boot disk for windows xp.

To make a boot disk for windows xp we are going to make a usb drive bootable using a program called Grub4DOS. Grub4DOS is a boot manager that can easily be installed and configured on to a usb drive. Grub4DOS enables booting to multiple operating systems which are stored directly on the usb drive. In this guide I will show you how you can create a nice looking menu like the one below to launch your applications.

Requirements For : How to make a boot disk for windows xp

-USB Drive, the larger the better, min 1gig
-Grub4DOS install files, Link below
-Applications you wish to use, Listed Below


Contents For : How to make a boot disk for windows xp

• Step 1 – Installing Grub4DOS
• Step 2 – Download Additional Files
• Step 3 – Testing The Grub4DOS Boot Disk for Windows xp
• Step 4 – Customising Your Boot Disk for Windows xp
• Step 5 – List Of Applications That Can Be Added To Our Boot Disk

Step 1 – Installing Grub4DOS

First thing to do is insert your USB drive in to your computer, Now backup any data you want to keep on to another drive, then format the USB drive.

Now we need to download the Grub4DOS installer,

Grub4DOS Installer http://www.themudcrab.com/downloads/grubinst-1.1-bin-w32-2008-01-01.zip To check for a newer version go to Index of /grub4dos

Extract the files in to a folder on your local hard-drive. Browse in to the Grub4DOS Installer folder and double click on the grubinst_gui.exe file. You will get a screen like the one below open

1 – Click on the disk radio button
2 – Press the refresh button
3 – Select your USB drive from the drop down menu. Be very careful, If you select the wrong drive you might harm your windows xp system.

1 – Click on the refresh box next to the “Part List”
2 – Click on the drop down box and select “Whole Disk (MBR)”

Under options tick the box “Don't search floppy” and make sure all the other boxes are unticked. Now click on the” install” button at the bottom of the window. If all has gone well you should get a black popup window saying “The MBR/BS has been successfully installed, Press ENTER to continue ...” Press enter to close the window.

Now download the Grub4DOS OS files which is located HERE. Extract the files on to the root of your USB stick. We are done creating the boot disk for windows xp, now we need to test and configure the boot disk.


Step 2 – Download Additional Files For Our Boot Disk For Windows xp


We now need to download a few files in order for our boot disk to work correctly.

First we are going to download microsoft diagnostics and recovery xp, This program is not available on the Microsoft website any more so we will need to download this program via a torrent. Go to google and search for “microsoft diagnostics and recovery xp torrent” Once you have downloaded the program copy XPLOADER.BIN file in to the images folder on your USB boot disk.

We need to download the latest .iso file for the anti-virus. Go to Rescue CD and download the rescue CD. Now extract the zip file and rename the .iso file to f-secure.iso (All lower case) then copy this iso file in to the images folder on your


Step 3 – Testing The Grub4DOS Boot Disk for Windows xp


Insert the USB stick in to your computer and turn on your computer. We now want your computer to boot to the USB stick, You might need to go in to the BIOS and configure the USB to be the 1st boot device. When your system has booted to the USB stick you should see a menu like the one below.

Step 4 – Customising Your Boot Disk for Windows xp


I have made it easy for you to add your own programs to this boot disk if you wish. From the main menu if you select “Windows XP Misc Tools” you will go to a menu to can easily customise. Open the file misc.lst on the root of your USB boot disk with notepad. If you want to add a program download the file and place it in the images folder, then edit the misc.lst file as follows.

Find the text

title
root

And replace with

FOR Iso Files

title %YOUR TITLE HERE%\n%YOUR DESCRIPTION%
map (hd0,0)/images/%FILE NAME%.iso (hd32)
map --hook
chainloader (hd32)
boot

if the above doesn't work try

title %YOUR TITLE HERE%\n%YOUR DESCRIPTION%
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /images/%FILE NAME%.iso
map --mem /images/firadisk.gz (fd0)
map --mem /images/%FILE NAME%.iso (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
chainloader (0xff)

For .img Files

title YOUR TITLE HERE%\n%YOUR DESCRIPTION%
fallback 1
map --mem /images/%FILE NAME%.img (fd0)
map --hook
chainloader (fd0)+1
rootnoverify (fd0)

Below I have made a list of all of the applications I could find on the internet that you can use to add to your boot disk for windows xp.

Step 5 – List Of Applications That Can Be Added To Our Boot Disk

All In One Applications

• Ultimate Boot CD Ultimate Boot CD - Download the UBCD One of the best free recovery boot disks available on the internet
• Hirens Boot CD Download Hiren's BootCD 13.0 Another greate boot CD, includes 100's of free to use tools

Anti-Virus Scanners

• Kapersky Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10 Download
• F-secure Rescue CD Rescue CD
• Bit Defender Index of /rescue_cd
• Avira AntiVir Avira AntiVir Rescue System - Download
• Trinirty Rescue Kit Trinity Rescue Kit: Download
• Avg rescue CD AVG - Rescue CD | PC Rescue and Repair Toolkit
• Sardu SARDU - Shardana Antivirus Rescue Disk Utility
• DrWeb cd Dr.Web CureIt! — download free anti-virus! Cure viruses, Best free anti-virus scanner!

Other Useful Links

Recovery Disks
Reset Your Password on Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 2003 Server, Windows NT using USB Drive | twit88.com
http://tuts4tech.net/2009/07/14/creating-a-usb-bootable-xp-recovery-console/trackback

 

[Steve6375]

you may find 21 - GRUB4DOS Tutorial - How to use grub4dos and make pretty menus! - RMPrepUSB of interest?

RMPrepUSB allow you to format your drive (even if FAT32 and above 32GB) and install grub4dos. The tutorial has lots of examples of how to add extra titles and other tutorials (nearly 30!) are on the site - e.g. Install any OS (from XP to Server 2008 R2) from the same USB flash drive.

 

[CarNikola]

Can i put in images whole ERD50_x86_WinXP_SP3_blueforce.iso file, will it work? And i can't extract it. i don't know where to find XPLOADER.BIN? HELP!

 

[JCB1]

Can i put in images whole ERD50_x86_WinXP_SP3_blueforce.iso file, will it work? And i can't extract it. i don't know where to find XPLOADER.BIN? HELP!

You can do it by booting to the iso directly. Put the ISO file at the root of the USB drive, then edit the MENU.LST file and add the following lines

title YOUR TITLE HERE\nYOUR DESCRIPTION
find --set-root /ERD50_x86_WinXP_SP3_blueforce.iso
map /ERD50_x86_WinXP_SP3_blueforce.iso (0xff) || map --mem /ERD50_x86_WinXP_SP3_blueforce.iso (0xff)
map --hook
chainloader (0xff)
lock

 

[CarNikola]

Thanks.

 

[JCB1]

no problem, let me know if you have any more questions