Add XP Install ISOs using WinSetupFromUSB

Modified Windows XP ISOs may not install correctly when used with E2B, For these ISOs, it is best to extract and modify the files inside the ISO file using WinSetupFromUSB. 

WinSetupFromUSB can install non-standard, non-Microsoft XP ISOs. You can make a WinSetupFromUSB USB flash drive and use that to install XP to your system.

You can also add WinNTSetup onto your E2B USB drive as a partition image.

How to make the Partition Image file

Note: You will need to install the E2B MPI Tool Kit first. You will need a spare USB drive.

We will use WinSetupFromUSB to make a bootable WinSetupFromUSB drive and then make an image of the USB drive which we can then add to E2B. 

1. Mount the XP ISO as a virtual CD using ImDisk (or extract the files from the ISO to a empty folder using 7Zip or similar software)

2. Insert a spare, freshly NTFS-formatted USB drive into your Windows system

3. Run WinSetupFromUSB and select the USB target drive in the drive selection box

4. Tick the Windows 2000/XP/2003 Setup box and use the  … box to select the source folder/drive letter that contains the files from your ISO.

5. Click on GO to make the USB drive

(you can test the WinNTSetupFromUSB now if you like).

6. Drag-and-drop the USB drive letter/icon onto the MPI_NTFS Windows Desktop shortcut, specify a destination path (e.g. C:\temp\XP_Winsetup.imgPTN) and when prompted, choose the Combine option to combine the WinSetupFromUSB menu.lst with the CSM menu.

Note: If there are System Volume Information and $Recycle.BIN folders on the drive, it may cause problems with the MakePartImage or produce a larger .imgPTN file than is necessary, so to avoid this, copy the WinNTSetup drive’s files and folders to an empty folder on your system disk first (e.g. C:\temp\WinSetXP) and drag-and-drop the WinSetXP folder onto the MPI_NTFS shortcut.

7. Copy the resulting XP_Winsetup.imgPTN file to the \_ISO\MAINMENU or \_ISO\WIN folder of your E2B USB drive (Flash drive or USB HDD).

Tip: If you are using E2B+agFM, you may find it more convenient to change the file extension to .imgPTN23.

How to use E2B to install XP onto another system

1. Connect the E2B USB drive to the target system and boot from it to the Main menu
2. Select the XP_Winsetup.imgPTN menu entry to get to the CSM menu
3. In the CSM menu, choose the Windows XP/2000/2003 Setup menu option
4. If the target system contains a non-IDE hard disk (e.g. SATA/RAID/SCSI) run the Auto-detect and use F6 SATA/RAID/SCSI Driver menu option
5. Now choose the First part of Windows XP setup menu entry and proceed with the normal XP textmode setup process until it reboots.
6. Reboot back to the E2B USB drive again (don’t boot from the internal hard disk yet!) and select the Second part of Windows XP setup menu option to start the 2nd GUI install stage.
7. Allow it to reboot from the internal hard disk to complete the install.
8. You can modify the CSM \menu.lst file to change the menu colours and remove any menu options you don’t want. You can also add the \winsetup.lst menu contents into the \menu.lst menu if you wish and remove the ‘title Windows XP/2000/2003 Setup menu’ entry.

WinSetupFromUSB FAQ here
Please ensure that you only install XP onto a legally licensed system. Systems with an XP Pro or Vista Pro Certificate of Authenticity sticker on them can be legally installed with XP Pro (or if your establishment has a Volume Licence agreement).