This article is also available as a and a.The ability to boot Windows XP from a USB Flash Drive (UFD)offers endless possibilities. For example, you might make an easy-to-usetroubleshooting tool for booting and analyzing seemingly dead PCs. Or you couldtransport your favorite applications back and forth from home to work withouthaving to install them on both PCs.However, before you can create a bootable UFD, you mustclear a few hurdles.

1. Windows Xp Portable Usb Edition

You saw that one coming didn't you?The first hurdle is having a PC in which the BIOS will allowyou to configure the USB port to act as a bootable device. The second hurdle ishaving a UFD that that will work as a bootable device and that's large enoughand fast enough to boot an operating system such as Windows XP.

The thirdhurdle is finding a way to condense and install Windows XP on a UFD.If you have a PC that was manufactured in the last severalyears, chances are that its BIOS will allow you to configure the USB port toact as a bootable device. If you have a good quality UFD that's at least 512 KBand that was manufactured in the last couple of years, you've probably cleared thesecond hurdle. And once you've cleared those first two hurdles, the third oneis a piece of cake. All you have to do is download and run some free softwareto create the bootable UFD. I'll start by showing you how to determine whether your PC's BIOS will support booting from USB and explain how toconfigure it to do so.

Then, I'll show you how to download and use the freesoftware to create a bootable UFD running Windows XP Professional. The UFD hurdleYou probably noticed that I didn't mention how to determineif your UFD would support being configured as a bootable device, except that itmust be a good quality unit of recent manufacture. Well, I've discovered thatwhen it comes to the actual UFD, you'll just have to try it and see whathappens. As long as you have a PC with a BIOS that will allow you to configurethe USB port to act as a bootable device and you have configured theinstallation correctly, it shouldwork.

If it doesn't, you probably have a UFD that can't boot.I tested three UFDs on two newcomputers and had mixed success. First, I attempted to use a 128 MB PNY Attache but received an error message that said 'Invalid ordamaged Bootable partition' on both PCs. Next, I tried a 1GB Gateway UFD and itworked on both PCs. Then, I tried a 256 MB Lexar JumpDrive Pro and it worked ononly one of the PCs.

You can find lists of UFD brands that others have hadsuccess with on the Internet. Checking the BIOSNot every new BIOS will allow you to configure the USB portto act as a bootable device. And some that do allow it don't make it easy. On oneof my example systems, it was a no-brainer. On the other, the UFD had to beconnected to the USB port before it was apparent that I could configure it as abootable device.

Let's take a closer look.On the test system with a PhoenixBIOS version 62.04, Iaccessed the BIOS, went to the boot screen, and found that USB Storage Stickwas one of the options. I then moved it to the top of the list, as shown in Figure A, thus making it the firstdevice to check during the boot sequence. (This particular BIOS also allowed meto press the F10 key during the boot sequence and select any one of theavailable bootable devices, so it really wasn't necessary to move it to thetop.)Figure AThe settings on the Boot Screen of the PhoenixBIOS made it a no-brainer toselect the device.

On the test system with an AMI BIOS version 2.59, I accessedthe BIOS, went to the Boot Sequence screen, and didn't find a USB boot option,as shown in Figure B. I then wentone step further and checked the Hard Disk Drives screen and still didn't finda USB boot option, as shown in Figure C.Figure BA USB boot option didn't appear on the Boot Sequence screen.Figure CThe Hard Disk Drives screen only showed the SATA hard disk.I then plugged a UFD into the USB port, booted up the system,and accessed the BIOS. When I checked the Hard Disk Drives screen, the UFDappeared in the list and I could select it as the first drive ( Figure D).Figure DWith the UFD plugged into the USB port, I could configure the UFD as abootable device.When I returned to the Boot Sequence screen, the UFD wasindeed set as the first bootable device ( FigureE).Figure EAs the Boot Sequence screen indicates, the UFD was set to be the first bootable device.Rounding up the softwareTo condense and install Windows XP on a UFD, you'll need aprogram called PE Builder by Bart Lagerweij. You'll also need two files fromthe Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1. And of course, you need to have aWindows XP Professional CD.You can download PE Builder from. At the time of this writing, the most current version of PEBuilder was 3.1.10a.You can download Windows Server 2003 SP1 by following thelink in the Knowledge Base article Besure to get the 32-bit version!Keep in mind that at 329 MB, Windows Server 2003 SP1 willtake some time to download.

And although you need just two small files, theonly way to get them is to download the entire package.WarningDo not run the Windows Server 2003 SP1 executable file! Doingso will completely corrupt Windows XP.

We will use a set of special commands toextract the two files and then delete the rest of the package.Preparing the softwareInstalling PE Builder is quick and easy. Just run theinstallation program and follow the onscreen instructions. To make things simpler,I installed the program in the root directory in a folder called PEBUILDER3110a.Once PE Builder is installed, you'll need to create a folderin C:PEBUILDER3110a called SRSP1, as shown in Figure F.

This is the folder in which PE Builder will look for theextracted Windows Server 2003 SP1 files.Figure FOnce PE Builder is installed, you'll need to create folder called SRSP1 inC:PEBUILDER3110a.Now, you can begin extracting the two needed files fromWindows Server 2003 SP1. When you download the Windows Server 2003 SP1, theexecutable file will have a long name: WindowsServer2003-KB889101-SP1-ENU.exe. Tosave on typing, you can rename the file to something shorter, such asWS-SP1.exe.To begin, open a Command Prompt window and use the CDcommand to change to the folder in which you downloaded the Windows Server 2003SP1 executable file.

I downloaded the file to a folder called Downloads. Now,to extract the files contained in SP1, type the command WS-SP1.exe -xYou'll immediately see a dialog box that prompts you toselect a folder in which to extract the files and can type the name of the samefolder, as shown in Figure G. ClickOK to proceed with the extraction procedure. When the procedure is complete, justleave the Command Prompt window open.Figure GYou can extract the files into the same folder containing the WindowsServer 2003 SP1 executable fileThe extraction procedure will create a subdirectory calledi386 and extract all the Windows Server 2003 SP1 files there.

Windows Xp Portable Usb Edition

Use the CDcommand to change to the i386 folder and then copy the setupldr.binfile to the SRSP1 folder with the command: copy setupldr.bin c:pebuilder3110asrsp1Expand the ramdisk.sy file to theSRSP1 folder with the command: expand -r ramdisk.sy c:pebuilder3110asrsp1These three steps are illustrated in Figure H.Figure HYou'll copy and expand the two necessary files to the SRSP1 folder.Now, using Windows Explorer, verify that the two necessaryfiles are in the SRSP1 folder, as shown in FigureI. Once you do so, you can delete all the Windows Server 2003 SP1 files.Figure IYou'll want to verify that the setupldr.bin and ramdisk.sys files are in the SRSP1 folder.Running PE BuilderNow that you've extracted the necessary files from theWindows Server 2003 SP1 package, you're ready to use PE Builder to create acompressed version of Windows XP. To begin, place your Windows XP ProfessionalCD into the drive and hold down the Shift key to prevent Autostartfrom launching the CD. Then, launch PE Builder.In the Source field on the main PE Builder screen, simplytype the letter of drive in which you put the Windows XP Professional CD, asshown in Figure J. Make sure thatthe Output box contains BartPE and that the None optionis selected in the Media Output panel. Then, click the Build button.Figure JFill in the Source field on the main PE Builder screen.As PE Builder compresses Windows XP Professional into abootable image, you'll see a detailed progress dialog box. When the operationis complete, as shown in Figure K,click the Close button.Figure KPE Builder displays a detailed progress report.Preparing the UFD to boot Windows XPAt this point, you're ready to format and copy the WindowsXP Professional bootable image to the UFD with the BartPEUSB Installer.

To do so, open a Command Prompt window and use the CD command tochange to the pebuilder3110a folder. Then, insert your UFD into a USB port andtake note of the drive letter that it is assigned. On my example system, theUFD was assigned drive E.Now, type the command pe2usb -f e:You'll then be prompted to confirm this part of theoperation, as shown in Figure L.While the operation is underway, you'll see progress indicators.Figure LYou'll be prompted to confirm that you want to format your UFD.Once the BartPE USB Installerfinishes its job, you'll be prompted press any key to exit the program. Now youcan use your UFD to boot your computer into the BartPEinterface for Windows XP, as shown in FigureM.Figure MThe BartPE interface provides you with a pareddown version of Windows XP.You can find a list of on Bart's Web site, which you can install on your UFDas Plugins. For example, you can find such things asFirefox or McAfee command-line virus scanner. ConclusionBooting Windows XP from a UFD requires that your PC's BIOS support booting from USB and that you have a UFDthat can be formatted as a bootable device.

If you can meet these tworequirements, all you need is PE Builder, a couple of files from the WindowsServer 2003 Service Pack 1, and a little effort to configure a UFD to boot the BartPE interface to Windows XP.